Britain has recently showcased their latest creation which aims to dominate the skies in the future. The fighter jet is named The Tempest, and it is co-developed by British aerospace companies BAE Systems Plc, Rolls Royce Holdings, MBDA UK and Anglo-Italian firm Leonardo SpA.
Tempest was announced by the British Defense Secretary, Gavin Williamson. He will be overseeing the project himself while it is under development. A model of the Tempest in its final form was shown at the announcement ceremony. However, it will not be operational until 2035. If the project proves to be viable, it will get the green light to develop to its final stages.
The goal of this unveiling was to show that Britain can maintain itself as a ‘tier one’ military power with or without the aid of EU. The consequences of Britain leaving the EU will be felt mostly by the corporations, businesses, and citizens who travel to EU countries since they might need a visa to travel to the EU countries. The technologies which have been introduced in the Tempest enables it to join the “Sixth Generation” fighters.
The most impressive technology of the new warplane is the Optional Manning. This enables the fighter jet to fly without a pilot present in it. It can also coordinate a swarm of drones which makes it more lethal in combat. Another technology introduced in the aircraft is called “cooperative engagement capability” which enables the machine to send and receive information with other aircraft, drones, and war machines.
In case of raw weaponry, the aircraft supports Hypersonic Weapons which can go beyond the speeds of 5 MACH. This gives the aircraft an upper hand in both air to air and air to ground combat. It is also reported that the aircraft supports energy weapons that have non-kinetic effects. It means that the fighter can have laser or electromagnetic weapons which don’t use firepower but are equally deadly. The model displayed at the Farnborough Air Show didn’t have any machine gun mounted on it. This also supports the claim for having the latest weapons.
The Tempest is also open for export which will also increase the chances of creating new employment opportunities for Britain. According to Gavin, the Tempest project will support 18,000 direct jobs along with 100,000 in the supply chain. This is a bold move by Britain after Brexit, and it will be worth seeing how this goes with other EU countries.
