That removing stuff and developing and testing lighter landing gear and retesting for weight and balance still costs money. Plus a naval variant always costs more due to the increased landing gear requirements.
Future Combat Air System (FCAS) - France/Germany
- Thread starter randomradio
- Start date
That remains to be seen. Remember how expensive the last Franco-German collaboration was?It's less expensive than making a variant in cooperation with the British
But the statement is still false. You can't design a land variant and a naval variant for the same overall cost as just a land variant.
Safran and MTU Aero Engines achieve a major step forward for the engine of the Next Generation Fighter (NGF)
The FCAS (Future Combat Air System) program takes a major step ahead: Safran Aircraft Engines and MTU Aero Engines settled the details concerning their eye-level partnership to develop the engine of the next-generation European fighter aircraft NGF.
This industrial agreement relies on the principles of the Letter Of Intent (LOI) signed between the two companies in February 2019, which specifies that Safran will take the lead in engine design and integration, and MTU Aero Engines will take the lead in engine services.
In the framework of the contractual scheme defined by France and Germany, Safran Aircraft Engines will be the prime contractor and MTU Aero Engines the main partner for the first phase of Research and Technology (Phase 1A).
The two partners also agreed on the foundation of a 50/50 joint venture that will be incorporated by the end of 2021 to manage the development, the production and the after-sales support activities of the new engine that will power the Next Generation Fighter (NGF).
"This agreement is a major step forward, which reflects Safran Aircraft Engines and MTU Aero Engines' willingness to ensure a strong and effective management of the program relying on a balanced partnership and clear accountabilities," stated Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran Aircraft Engines, and Michael Schreyögg, Chief Program Officer of MTU Aero Engines. "Safran and MTU are committed to supply the Forces with an innovative engine architecture which will be a key asset of their operational performances."
The FCAS (Future Combat Air System) program takes a major step ahead: Safran Aircraft Engines and MTU Aero Engines settled the details concerning their eye-level partnership to develop the engine of the next-generation European fighter aircraft NGF.
This industrial agreement relies on the principles of the Letter Of Intent (LOI) signed between the two companies in February 2019, which specifies that Safran will take the lead in engine design and integration, and MTU Aero Engines will take the lead in engine services.
In the framework of the contractual scheme defined by France and Germany, Safran Aircraft Engines will be the prime contractor and MTU Aero Engines the main partner for the first phase of Research and Technology (Phase 1A).
The two partners also agreed on the foundation of a 50/50 joint venture that will be incorporated by the end of 2021 to manage the development, the production and the after-sales support activities of the new engine that will power the Next Generation Fighter (NGF).
"This agreement is a major step forward, which reflects Safran Aircraft Engines and MTU Aero Engines' willingness to ensure a strong and effective management of the program relying on a balanced partnership and clear accountabilities," stated Olivier Andriès, CEO of Safran Aircraft Engines, and Michael Schreyögg, Chief Program Officer of MTU Aero Engines. "Safran and MTU are committed to supply the Forces with an innovative engine architecture which will be a key asset of their operational performances."
So it turns out the FCAS's new engine will be variable cycle and the inlet temperature will be 2100K.
This is something the Russians have more or less already achieved with the Type 30.
This is something the Russians have more or less already achieved with the Type 30.
Future Combat Air System: Owning the Sky with the Next Generation Weapons System
When facing today’s uncertainties, air superiority, which was underpinning western military operations for over 40 years, is no longer a given thing. The playing field is levelled by opponents’ constant investment in integrated air defence systems, hypersonic weapon technologies and low observability technologies.
Western air forces need to regain their ability to counter threats by accessing highly contested environments in a scalable, flexible and dynamic way rather than a local and static one.
Airbus says the New Generation Fighter (NGF) being developed by Dassault Aviation will be more sophisticated and connected than current aircraft, and will set the next level of survivability in terms of stealth, both active and passive. (Airbus image)
By intelligently teaming sixth-generation manned fighters with unmanned platforms, the Next Generation Weapon System or NGWS will provide European air forces & navies with capabilities well beyond existing fighters. With no agreed definition of a sixth-generation fighter, Airbus’ understanding is that such a New Generation Fighter or NGF will be a more sophisticated and connected platform than what currently exists.
The NGF will set the next level of survivability in terms of passive stealth (signature reduction and electromagnetic emission control) and active stealth (electronic counter measures).
The heart of the NGF will be provided by its extremely capable avionics and sensor suite. The increase in processing power, storage and connectivity will grant the pilot with greatly heightened situational awareness and the ability to rely not only on its own sensors and effectors, but also on other platforms’ ones. Combined with the introduction of artificial intelligence and the ability to team with unmanned platforms, the NGF will become a battlefield management platform capable of operating deep within the enemy airspace.
Powerful engines equipped with thrust-vectoring nozzles combined with high-performance flight control system will ensure the NGF’s manoeuvrability, speed, and range. Innovative effectors will provide the fighter with unprecedented firepower, ranging from stand-off kinetic loads (including hypersonic ones) to directed energy weapons (lasers and microwaves) to electronic warfare capabilities (including cyberattack).
However, more sophistication also means higher development costs leading to a declining number of platforms and/or effectors. Eventually such dangerously low levels result in critical availability levels. This is problematic, as operational studies indicate that penetrating contested environments will require an adequate number of manned platforms. Hence, it is important to set the right level of capabilities for the NGF by taking a holistic approach when right sizing its stealth, velocity, manoeuvrability, range, sensing and effects generation’s capabilities.
The NGF alone will not suffice for the most demanding missions in highly contested environments. To counter such threats, the NGF will team with unmanned platforms called Remote Carriers or RCs acting as force multipliers. Adding capabilities in a scalable and flexible manner will enhance the overall mission effectiveness, efficiency and survivability of the NGWS.
RCs will be a family of unmanned platforms ranging from 200 kilograms for disposable RCs, to under 2 tons for recoverable ones and even several tons in the case of loyal wingmen. Airbus is currently studying and optimising with users their design. The RCs will provide various non-kinetic effects (Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance, Airborne Electronic Warfare) as well as kinetic ones (A2G SEAD/DEAD and Strike).
With “packs” of RCs teaming with NGFs, the NGWS will clearly establish a new operational dimension. An augmented level of effectiveness will be achieved by opening new fields of tactics based on collaborative combat, the use of deception and numeric superiority. Efficiency will improve by ensuring the required mix of capabilities for a given mission is deployed. The NGF will stay at a safe stand-off distance whilst closer RCs deal with the threats, thus keeping the pilots out of harm’s way and increasing the manned platform’s survivability.
Within the NGWS, the Air Combat Cloud or ACC will connect the manned and unmanned platform and provide the teaming intelligence for faster collaborative combat. The ACC will deliver common situational awareness by instantaneously capturing, sharing, merging and processing massive amounts of data from all connected NGFs and RCs. The ACC’s warfare analytics and real-time coordination will provide better situational awareness, tactical options, decisions and collaborative effects
Airbus has a leading role within the Next Generation Weapon System programme which will be the core of FCAS. Airbus is Dassault’s main partner for the NGF and the lead for the RCs and the ACC with MBDA and Thales as its respective main partners. This will benefit Airbus’ sites in securing work and maintaining technological excellence for decades to come.
When facing today’s uncertainties, air superiority, which was underpinning western military operations for over 40 years, is no longer a given thing. The playing field is levelled by opponents’ constant investment in integrated air defence systems, hypersonic weapon technologies and low observability technologies.
Western air forces need to regain their ability to counter threats by accessing highly contested environments in a scalable, flexible and dynamic way rather than a local and static one.
Airbus says the New Generation Fighter (NGF) being developed by Dassault Aviation will be more sophisticated and connected than current aircraft, and will set the next level of survivability in terms of stealth, both active and passive. (Airbus image)
By intelligently teaming sixth-generation manned fighters with unmanned platforms, the Next Generation Weapon System or NGWS will provide European air forces & navies with capabilities well beyond existing fighters. With no agreed definition of a sixth-generation fighter, Airbus’ understanding is that such a New Generation Fighter or NGF will be a more sophisticated and connected platform than what currently exists.
The NGF will set the next level of survivability in terms of passive stealth (signature reduction and electromagnetic emission control) and active stealth (electronic counter measures).
The heart of the NGF will be provided by its extremely capable avionics and sensor suite. The increase in processing power, storage and connectivity will grant the pilot with greatly heightened situational awareness and the ability to rely not only on its own sensors and effectors, but also on other platforms’ ones. Combined with the introduction of artificial intelligence and the ability to team with unmanned platforms, the NGF will become a battlefield management platform capable of operating deep within the enemy airspace.
Powerful engines equipped with thrust-vectoring nozzles combined with high-performance flight control system will ensure the NGF’s manoeuvrability, speed, and range. Innovative effectors will provide the fighter with unprecedented firepower, ranging from stand-off kinetic loads (including hypersonic ones) to directed energy weapons (lasers and microwaves) to electronic warfare capabilities (including cyberattack).
However, more sophistication also means higher development costs leading to a declining number of platforms and/or effectors. Eventually such dangerously low levels result in critical availability levels. This is problematic, as operational studies indicate that penetrating contested environments will require an adequate number of manned platforms. Hence, it is important to set the right level of capabilities for the NGF by taking a holistic approach when right sizing its stealth, velocity, manoeuvrability, range, sensing and effects generation’s capabilities.
The NGF alone will not suffice for the most demanding missions in highly contested environments. To counter such threats, the NGF will team with unmanned platforms called Remote Carriers or RCs acting as force multipliers. Adding capabilities in a scalable and flexible manner will enhance the overall mission effectiveness, efficiency and survivability of the NGWS.
RCs will be a family of unmanned platforms ranging from 200 kilograms for disposable RCs, to under 2 tons for recoverable ones and even several tons in the case of loyal wingmen. Airbus is currently studying and optimising with users their design. The RCs will provide various non-kinetic effects (Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance, Airborne Electronic Warfare) as well as kinetic ones (A2G SEAD/DEAD and Strike).
With “packs” of RCs teaming with NGFs, the NGWS will clearly establish a new operational dimension. An augmented level of effectiveness will be achieved by opening new fields of tactics based on collaborative combat, the use of deception and numeric superiority. Efficiency will improve by ensuring the required mix of capabilities for a given mission is deployed. The NGF will stay at a safe stand-off distance whilst closer RCs deal with the threats, thus keeping the pilots out of harm’s way and increasing the manned platform’s survivability.
Within the NGWS, the Air Combat Cloud or ACC will connect the manned and unmanned platform and provide the teaming intelligence for faster collaborative combat. The ACC will deliver common situational awareness by instantaneously capturing, sharing, merging and processing massive amounts of data from all connected NGFs and RCs. The ACC’s warfare analytics and real-time coordination will provide better situational awareness, tactical options, decisions and collaborative effects
Airbus has a leading role within the Next Generation Weapon System programme which will be the core of FCAS. Airbus is Dassault’s main partner for the NGF and the lead for the RCs and the ACC with MBDA and Thales as its respective main partners. This will benefit Airbus’ sites in securing work and maintaining technological excellence for decades to come.
2100 °K is the goal for the prototyp (derived from M88).
The serial engine will be hotter. Some said that 2300°K is the target.
I'm afraid this moke up is far from the real design...Any Information on the timeline ? beautiful design
With the skill of Dassault in Delta, I found that design strange... something to deceive the competitors (Tempest...) ?
I prefer this concept.
But it's only my opinion, without strong arguments.
Dassault rules out widening FCAS partnership
Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier has stressed that no more countries can be admitted to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme being co-developed by France, Germany and Spain, at least in the short term, for fear of delaying the effort.
Under the programme timeline, the partner nations – and their respective industrial champions Dassault, Airbus Defence & Space and Indra – are due to fly a demonstrator of the planned Next Generation Fighter aircraft by 2026, a schedule which is “pretty ambitious”, says Trappier. Dassault is leading the fighter development effort.
Source: Dassault Aviation
Although Spain was admitted into the programme earlier this year, Trappier does not want to see further countries join in the immediate future.
“If we change partners every six months we will not reach [service entry] in 2040,” he said during a half-year results briefing on 23 July.
Allowing Madrid to “jump in” was “complicated”, he says, but “feasible” at this relatively early stage.
”I don’t know if there will be new partners in the future so we should not exlcude them, but to come up with the result and deliver a combat aircraft, remote carriers and an engine… for 2040 we must not waste any time.”
A properly designed consortium could allow more countries to join later, he says, “but the architecture has to be done now.”
He argues that a tri-national project can be considered a European one. “Does it have to be all 27 [EU members]? No, I don’t think so.”
Trappier also ruled out any merger, at least in the short term, of the FCAS programme with the UK-led Tempest effort, which also includes Italy and Sweden.
“We should never say never, but in 2020, 2021, 2022, there won’t be a merger with Tempest. If there were then we would have to reset and go back to zero.”
Dassault, meanwhile, has continued deliveries of its current production fighter, the Rafale, handing over a combined seven examples to export customers India and Qatar in the first half; a total of 13 will be shipped over the course of 2020.
Discussions continue with the French government about adding to its current 28-unit backlog of the fourth-generation type, with Trappier hoping the quantity may be larger than previously planned.
However, any future export deals are likely to be on hold due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, he says. “There will be some delay in them. 2020 will not be a record year in terms of export orders.”
www.flightglobal.com
Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier has stressed that no more countries can be admitted to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme being co-developed by France, Germany and Spain, at least in the short term, for fear of delaying the effort.
Under the programme timeline, the partner nations – and their respective industrial champions Dassault, Airbus Defence & Space and Indra – are due to fly a demonstrator of the planned Next Generation Fighter aircraft by 2026, a schedule which is “pretty ambitious”, says Trappier. Dassault is leading the fighter development effort.
Source: Dassault Aviation
Although Spain was admitted into the programme earlier this year, Trappier does not want to see further countries join in the immediate future.
“If we change partners every six months we will not reach [service entry] in 2040,” he said during a half-year results briefing on 23 July.
Allowing Madrid to “jump in” was “complicated”, he says, but “feasible” at this relatively early stage.
”I don’t know if there will be new partners in the future so we should not exlcude them, but to come up with the result and deliver a combat aircraft, remote carriers and an engine… for 2040 we must not waste any time.”
A properly designed consortium could allow more countries to join later, he says, “but the architecture has to be done now.”
He argues that a tri-national project can be considered a European one. “Does it have to be all 27 [EU members]? No, I don’t think so.”
Trappier also ruled out any merger, at least in the short term, of the FCAS programme with the UK-led Tempest effort, which also includes Italy and Sweden.
“We should never say never, but in 2020, 2021, 2022, there won’t be a merger with Tempest. If there were then we would have to reset and go back to zero.”
Dassault, meanwhile, has continued deliveries of its current production fighter, the Rafale, handing over a combined seven examples to export customers India and Qatar in the first half; a total of 13 will be shipped over the course of 2020.
Discussions continue with the French government about adding to its current 28-unit backlog of the fourth-generation type, with Trappier hoping the quantity may be larger than previously planned.
However, any future export deals are likely to be on hold due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, he says. “There will be some delay in them. 2020 will not be a record year in terms of export orders.”
Dassault rules out widening FCAS partnership
Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier has stressed that no more countries can be admitted to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme being co-developed by France, Germany and Spain for fear of delaying the effort.
www.flightglobal.com
I think Tempest brings a new design concept that will give true stealth feature in 5th generation fighter ...that is internal exhaust and this will be next new feature after internal weapon bay in 5th generation fighters...
Similar to the B2 stealth tech