Tony Osborne Details of the U.S. Air Force’s first hypersonic weapon show a concept not unlike the AGM-158B cruise missile, albeit 12.5 times faster.
Tony Osborne
The configuration of the New-Generation Fighter is far from final, but it will be much larger and heavier than the platforms it will go on to replace. Credit: Airbus Defense & Space
Four years after French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to jointly develop a new fighter aircraft, industry is bounding toward the development of a demonstrator platform.
In recent weeks, the parliaments of all three of the partner nations— France, Germany and Spain—have approved billions of euros in spending for the Phase 1B and Phase 2 elements of the European Future Combat Air System (FCAS). This allocation provides funding for the development of a demonstrator for the New-Generation Fighter (NGF), advanced engines, remote carriers—the uncrewed air systems that will support the NGF in battle—and the combat cloud network that will link the elements of the FCAS so-called system of systems.
In the early part of this year, however, the outlook seemed very different. There were fears that the trinational partnership would fracture over disagreements on workshare and intellectual property (AW&ST March 8, p. 42).
“It’s not a secret that the negotiations were tough,” Bruno Fichefeux, Airbus’ head of FCAS, tells Aviation Week. “There’s a lot at stake, and it is only natural that these types of discussions are not easy . . . but I think the hottest part is behind us.”
Discussions around the work on the NGF and the engine that will power it were among the most “difficult” subjects, explains Fichefeux.
“All three nations want to have a return on investment or participation proportional to the funding they are putting into the program, this is a condition we have to fulfill,” he says.
Political pressure “helped to move the discussion forward and sometimes unlocked some situations which could have been very problematic,” Fichefeux adds, a reflection of the determination of the three European governments to make the FCAS program work.
The outcome announced in May by the defense ministers of the three countries was a “balanced agreement” for each of the pillars of work associated with the FCAS program. Those pillars include work on the NGF itself, the engine, unmanned components, the combat cloud, simulation, sensors and low-observability technologies.
Work on each pillar is headed by a prime contractor supported by a partner. Development of the fighter, for example, is led by France’s Dassault Aviation, supported by Airbus in Germany and Spain, while work on the engine is led by a joint venture of Safran and MTU, called the European Military Engine Team (EUMET) partnered with Spain’s ITP Aero. Sensor work is led by Spain’s Indra supported by Germany’s Future Combat Mission System (FCMS) consortium of Diehl Defense, ESG (Elektroniksystem-und Logistik-GmbH), Hensoldt, Rohde & Schwarz and France’s Thales.
EUMET is currently the only joint venture established for FCAS pillar work—a need for additional joint ventures is not foreseen, at least for now.
Industry is currently working through Phase 1A of the FCAS program, concept studies that are defining the road map and technologies that must be developed for the FCAS and the demonstrator phases that follow. Launched in February 2020, Phase 1A is due for completion toward year-end, with Phase 1B due to follow immediately, starting the deep design work to support the Phase 2 demonstration phase, which should lead to an NGF demonstrator first flight in 2027.
Key areas being addressed by the demonstrator are manned-unmanned teaming, the ability of the NGF to work with remote carriers, low-observability features of the platforms as well as the connectivity that will support them. Industry envisages extensive use of artificial intelligence (AI) to support decision-making for pilots, but it will also have to show that the process the AI follows to reach a decision is explainable. The necessity of understanding the AI’s process aligns with Germany’s push to ensure that the autonomous capabilities of the FCAS are used responsibly and ethically (AW&ST June 1-14, 2020, p. 32).
Another task for the NGF demonstrator will be to demonstrate weapon release in supersonic flight under low-observable conditions. Airbus has been maturing its manned-unmanned teaming technology in conjunction with the German Air Force, too, controlling a fleet of adapted target drones from a Eurofighter aircraft in June with a level of control that allows the pilot to influence the target drone’s tasks and routings.
But while industrial agreements have fallen into place, Fichefeux says there may still be a reluctance among the partner nations to reveal sensitive capabilities built up by each nation, particularly in the area of low-observability technologies. Three years ago, Airbus revealed its involvement in Germany’s Low-Observable UAV Testbed (LOUT) to prove national stealth capabilities across a wide radar-frequency spectrum. Industry observers suggested the disclosure would give the OEM some additional clout in the development of FCAS.
But such projects are often closely guarded by governments, and Fichefeux admits there is unlikely to be a “big bang” when it comes to the nations immediately sharing capabilities in such areas. That will only come with building infrastructure capable of handling sensitive data, he says.
“It will be a case of building trust. The nations will say, ‘I show you something, you show me something, then I’ll show you more and you will show me more’ . . . it will be a step-by-step approach,” he says.
German lawmakers approved €4.4 billion ($5.2 billion) of spending on FCAS, but not all of this will be used to support the trinational program. Some of the money will be to fund national research and technology activities, while in Spain, Madrid has approved budgets for the trinational program only. In both countries, the funding will be provided through to 2027. As part of the FCAS financial approvals, German lawmakers have called for a review of the program prior to the launch of Phase 2 to ensure that the industrial workshare conditions are being met.
The first three phases of the FCAS program are expected to cost around €8-9 billion, Indra has previously told investors.
Industry has yet to conclude whether there will be more than one NGF demonstrator. Fichefeux says if there is to be more than one, they will be of similar design and will fly in all three of the partner countries during the demonstrator program. This follows demands from German trade unions that there be national demonstrators, one based on Rafale technology and another based on Eurofighter technology.
Phase 1A is studying options for the optimal design of the demonstrator in terms of size and configuration. Phase 1B will then select which of those configurations is most suitable and begin deep design. The configuration of the remote carriers will come later, as the individual nations are still working on the concept. Current thinking is that the demonstration phase will look at two sizes: one small, around the size of a cruise missile, and the other a larger recoverable platform, like a loyal wingman, weighing several tons. The partner nations are expected to want a remote-carrier capability in service during the 2030s to operate alongside their existing fourth-generation fighter fleets.
Another key element of the program will be the use of digital design and manufacturing, with ambitions to use the processes in developing the demonstrator. Fichefeux says the current plan is to run development in parallel with that of the Eurodrone medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned air system, on which many of the FCAS program industrial partners are working, including Airbus in Germany and Spain, as well as Dassault Aviation.
“We have two programs to learn and to mature [with the digital design and manufacturing], so it is pretty synergetic,” Fichefeux says.
The FCAS program also looks set to benefit from additional research and development initiatives to be funded by the European Defense Fund, with calls for proposals to research alternative propulsion and energy systems and development of an enhanced pilot environment for future combat aircraft.
There are also calls for research into new interoperability standards for collaborative air combat, potentially boosting interoperability between FCAS, the UK-led Tempest project and other platforms. Fichefeux says the EDF initiatives could allow new companies with disruptive technologies—including those from outside the partner nations and those from outside the aerospace industry—to engage in the FCAS program. The next step is to secure the endorsement of the customer nations to also support the EDF grants with national funding (AW&ST July 12-25, p. 25).
The FCAS program aims to replace the Eurofighters currently operated by Germany and Spain and the Dassault Rafales operated by the French Air Force and Navy. The latter plans to operate the FCAS NGF from its future 75,000-ton, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which is in design. The FCAS service entry is planned for around 2040.
