In Hangar 5 at BAE Systems’ sprawling factory in north-west England, test pilots are testing the world’s most advanced fighter jet. Pilots have flown more than 170 hours in 125 flights, but the plane itself has yet to be built; the flights take place inside a custom simulator in a cavernous space.
The virtual test will help inform field trials of a supersonic prototype scheduled to fly in 2027. It will be the UK’s first combat test aircraft since the Eurofighter Typhoon nearly 40 years ago. It is also a crucial first step if the UK and its partners Italy and Japan are to meet their commitment to fly a new generation of aircraft by 2035 as part of the trilateral Global Combat Air Initiative (GCAP).
Launched last December, GCAP is one of the most ambitious military programs ever undertaken. It merged Japan’s FX program with Britain’s and Italy’s Tempest programs, aiming to deliver the supersonic jet in about half the time and thus at a significantly lower cost than previous-generation aircraft such as the Typhoon.
Herman Claesen, managing director of future combat aviation systems at BAE Systems, who previously ran the Eurofighter alliance, said a radical new approach was needed compared to the Typhoon program, which took about 20 years to develop .
“There’s not enough money, there’s not enough time,” he added, “and we have to break the curve (long lead times and skyrocketing costs).”
Fighter aircraft are the most technologically complex and expensive aircraft.America’s latest-generation F-35 program is the most expensive military project in history, with the Pentagon estimated to have cost Nearly $1.7 trillion purchased, operated and maintained throughout its lifetime.
While the cost per aircraft depends on a number of factors including the type, some estimates for the F-35 jet exceed $170 million. The latest version of the Eurofighter Typhoon, a generation earlier than the F-35, costs about $110 million to $120 million per unit, according to analysts.
The Ukraine war has highlighted the importance of defense industry sovereignty, but GCAP partners know that new, more technologically advanced fighter jet programs must be cheaper.
Norman Augustine, the former chief executive of US defense conglomerate Lockheed Martin, famously predicted in the 1980s that given the exponential cost of new military aircraft, by 2054 the entire defense budget would be able to buy only A jet plane.
More than just an aircraft, GCAP will include manned and unmanned aerial vehicles and laser weapons.
To date, the UK Government has invested over £2 billion in the initial Tempest program alone, with industry partners around £800 million. Japan’s Ministry of Defense is seeking to set aside 72.6 billion yen ($494 million) for the GCAP program in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The funding will fund a so-called “concept and evaluation phase” until the end of 2025. The goal then is to initiate a development phase between the three countries.
To meet this ambitious timeline, the program’s key industrial partners – BAE, Italy’s Leonardo and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries – are investing heavily in digital design and innovative prototyping and engineering methods. Robots used in car factories have been modified to operate to the tolerances required in military aircraft and to work alongside humans.
For example, BAE has started using 3D printing to create molds for making carbon fiber parts. These “mold tools” are usually made of steel and take about 26 weeks to manufacture. Using 3D printing, the company can print it in 12 hours and have a complete tool ready in three weeks.
Using digital modeling will help engineers collaborate on designs, understand issues earlier, and speed up the regulatory certification process by reducing the need for costly physical prototyping.
“We believe that the digitally collaborative work environment we are building between Japan and Italy will be one of the most complex and largest in the world,” Kleinsen said during a tour of BAE’s Wharton facility.
The company highlighted the progress it has made. Rolls-Royce, one of the three companies developing the engine, has been testing the aircraft’s advanced technology in Bristol, while also conducting a successful ejection seat trial using a rocket-powered sled to travel at speeds in excess of 500mph .
While the work to build a “digital enterprise” continues, the partners must still decide which industrial structure to use to deliver the initiative given the number of parties involved.
Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that for the program to work, “industry, government and the Department of Defense all need to accept that the key authorities…”. . . manage”.
The partners “are getting closer to creating a permanent industrial building to realize the project,” said Guglielmo Maviglia, director of Leonardo’s global combat aviation program.
He added that talks had been held on “reassessing legacy project structures, infrastructure and performance metrics” and creating new structures.
Part of the challenge, says MHI executives, is that each company wants to take the lead on the most interesting parts of the development, including the cockpit, electronics, weapons control system and carbon-fiber wings.
“There are so many areas that everyone wants to work on,” said Masayuki Eguchi, defense chief at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. “Ultimately, work sharing will depend on factors such as how long it takes to develop the technology and how much it costs,” he said, adding that the partners have not yet determined whether they will share the workload. – A third time or whether it will be a different split.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which has primarily worked with US defense companies in the past, is also learning how to communicate most effectively with its British and Italian counterparts.
“Three countries are involved, and there are differences in language, culture, and way of thinking. Although all three companies have experience in making fighter jets, it does take time to understand each other,” said Hiroshi Umino, deputy general manager of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ GCAP project office, adding , they often draw illustrations or write mathematical formulas to make sure they understand each other.
Given the massive developments in digitization, one of the biggest challenges will be cybersecurity. Defense experts say one source of tension could be differences in cybersecurity between partner countries.
Japan is spending some of its increased military spending on strengthening its cyber defenses, but its vulnerability to cyber attacks has come under scrutiny. The country’s National Center for Incident Preparedness and Cyber Security Strategy revealed last month that its email system had been hacked. In July, the port of Nagoya was temporarily closed due to an alleged Russian ransomware attack, while The Washington Post reported that Chinese military hackers launched a massive attack on Japanese defense networks in late 2020.
BAE’s Claesen said security is “a key feature of GCAP” and that different governments are “developing security requirements…”. . . Usually the UK leads”. Japan “takes this issue very seriously”, he added.
“We believe our cybersecurity measures are comparable to those of other top overseas defense companies,” Eguchi said. “There is no doubt that cyber threats will increase as digitization expands, but digital tools will be adopted if advantages such as reduced development costs and time are deemed to outweigh the disadvantages of a certain level of risk. Data breaches.”
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