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IN VIEW
A DEMONSTRATION OF INTENT
Special report by Ged Henderson
Five Hanger sits deep inside British Aerospace’s Warton facility. From the outside there’s little to distinguish it from the myriad of buildings that make up the plant but inside expert engineers are at work delivering the future.
The UK’s major combat air industry partners, including BAE Systems, are on a mission to create the nation’s first flying combat air demonstrator for a generation, with much of the activity taking place on the banks of the Ribble.
The Flying Technology Demonstrator, first announced by the government in 2022, is set to take to the air within the next four years as a vital part of the project to produce the UK’s next generation supersonic stealth combat aircraft, Tempest.
It is being designed using a range of innovative digital techniques and transformative processes, with Lancashire engineers playing a leading role in its development.
The project is also being used to pass on the skills needed for the UK to remain a global leader in defence and aerospace capability and to capture the imagination of young people that will help recruit the next generation of engineers. It has been described as the UK industry “building up its muscle mass.”
Work on the demonstrator continues to gather pace and the progress being made on several fronts was revealed at a media briefing held at Warton in June. A significant proportion of future development work is set to take place in the county.
Inside the cavernous Five Hanger, 10 test pilots from the defence giant, Rolls-Royce and the Royal Air Force have already flown more than 150 hours of the demonstrator aircraft in a new bespoke simulator, providing crucial evidence to support flight trials.
Tempest is no longer
just an idea or concept on a computer; our industry partners have made real, tangible progress and are bringing the programme to life
In a first for military aircraft design, BAE Systems’ engineers based in Five Hanger have used auto coding to create safety-critical systems software in a matter of days rather than weeks.
This allows rapid assessment of the flight control systems during more complex flight manoeuvres, with the simulator capturing “crucial data” about how the jet will handle and perform, years before its first flight.
Steve Formoso, head of flying at BAE Systems, is one of the 10 test pilots who have taken the controls, flying the simulator over mocked-up landscapes of the UK. He explained the team
regularly comes together to discuss and give constant feedback on the system. He added: “It is developing all the time.”
Jon Wignall, one of the senior BAE Systems test and evaluation engineers involved this part of the project, said: “It is a lot more than a video game.
“When you drive a car people can drive very smoothly or very aggressively. Pilots are very similar. The flight control system must be able to cope with all the different flying styles.”
He says of the development work being carried out: “It is challenging and stretching but we are making it work and we are learning a lot.”
The simulator is just one part of the picture. Experts from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK, MBDA and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are collaborating with a range of SMEs to develop the technologies needed to deliver Tempest.
Engineers have been carrying out aerodynamic engine testing, harnessing new advanced manufacturing processes to produce an engine duct, made at BAE Systems’ Samlesbury plant. It is uniquely shaped to slow the air from supersonic to sub-sonic speeds at the engine face.
The intake has fewer moving parts than a traditional fighter jet, enhancing the aircraft’s ‘stealthy’ design. The test on it was conducted at Rolls-Royce’s site in Filton, Bristol, in the same facility where the Concorde Olympus engine was tested in the 1960s.
In another development, working alongside UK crew escape specialist Martin Baker, a
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