The Tempest jet is expected to enter service in 2035, resulting in the creation of hundreds of high-skilled jobs in Britain’s world-leading defense industry.
The United Kingdom is collaborating with Italy and Japan to create a fighter plane employing artificial intelligence for future battles.
The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is a new partnership between the three nations that are expected to result in the creation of hundreds of high-skilled jobs in the United Kingdom over the next decade.
Today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will inaugurate the first phase of the collaboration during a visit to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, where he will inspect Typhoon aircraft, the workhorse of the nation’s aviation capability for the past two decades.
The goal is for the replacement of the Typhoon, tentatively designated Tempest, to be a jet of the next generation that will be operational by 2035, with capabilities such as fully autonomous control, advanced sensors, cutting-edge weapons, and novel data systems.
The technologies of gesture control and eye-tracking will be able to evaluate the pilot’s workload, indicating weariness and mental stress. If the pilot loses consciousness, the aircraft’s artificial intelligence will allow it to continue to engage in combat.
There will be no dials in the cockpit, and the jet’s superior stealth technology will render it nearly invisible to radar.
Last year, PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated that gaining the lead in creating such an aircraft could support 21,000 employees annually and provide £26.2 billion to the economy by 2050.
It is envisaged that allied nations will eventually join GCAP or collaborate on broader capabilities. The partnership’s combat aircraft would presumably be compatible with other NATO partners’ fighters.
The premier will declare: “The security of the United Kingdom, both now and for future generations, will always be the government’s top priority. To outpace and outmaneuver those who aim to attack us, we must remain at the forefront of breakthroughs in military technology.
“The international collaboration we launched with Italy and Japan today aims to achieve just that, demonstrating that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific areas are interdependent.
“The next generation of combat aircraft we create will protect us and our allies across the globe by leveraging the capabilities of our world-leading defense sector, thereby saving lives and creating employment.”
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will say, “This international partnership with Italy and Japan to create and design the next generation of Combat Aircraft represents the best collaboration of cutting-edge defense technology and expertise shared across our nations, creating highly skilled jobs across the sector and providing long-term security for the United Kingdom and its allies.”
The United States armed services debuted the B-21 Raider last week, their newest nuclear stealth bomber and the first new aircraft of its kind in thirty years.
GCAP is the most recent instance of British defense collaboration with international allies, joining the AUKUS partnership with the United States to construct nuclear submarines for Australia and NATO.
BAE Systems’ “factory of the future” in Lancashire has pioneered the use of advanced 3D printing and autonomous robots in military aircraft, making the British defense industry a world leader in advanced aerospace engineering.
