Carlson instead of Buri, but everything goes according to plan!
Pictures are great, of course. You can depict anything from a flying fortress to the Death Star. And it will look very realistic in the drawing.
However, if it comes to building in metal, everything may not be so rosy. Examples in stories More than enough, but perhaps the most important example is the Deutschland-class heavy cruisers, designed in Germany in the 30s. What was planned and what actually happened were two very different things, and, as usual, the result was far worse than planned. Slower, less armored, with outdated anti-aircraft armament. And all because "just" 3400 tons of displacement turned out to be "extra."
But today we're talking about an airplane. That same British Tempest, which in the UK is calling the aircraft of the future. New images of the demonstrator of the British stealth fighter have given experts so much food for thought that it's clear why so many are so excited.
Information about the configuration of the demonstration model becomes food for thought, because later it, the model, will form the basis of the Buri fighter, that is, the Tempest.
Unlike artistic renderings, which offer little indication of scale, factory photographs show technicians, assembly tools, work platforms, and production fixtures, providing immediate and useful reference points.
Even with the perspective effect taken into account, the demonstrator's central fuselage appears exceptionally wide and deep, giving the aircraft a sense of physical presence that is difficult to convey in computer-generated images.
When BAE Systems unveiled the first rendering of the British combat aircraft demonstrator last year, we finally saw the testbed that would form the basis for the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), which centers on the Tempest stealth fighter. Now, new images, but most importantly, a scale model, provide more detail and allow us to better appreciate the aircraft's size. And there's plenty to appreciate.
The company has released the clearest official photo yet of the demonstration model under construction.
The photo shows the aircraft's fuselage being assembled at BAE Systems' Salisbury facility. The wings and tail are assembled at Warton, where the aircraft is scheduled to take to the skies by the end of 2027.
Visualization of a combat aircraft demonstration model
In aerospace, a demonstrator or technology demonstrator is an aircraft designed primarily to test technologies, manufacturing methods, aerodynamic concepts, and systems integration, rather than to become an operational combat system.
As a precursor to a prototype that more closely approximates the final configuration, demonstrators are almost always smaller, simpler designs that use off-the-shelf components whenever possible to get them into the air more quickly and test core concepts and/or a set of concepts.
The last known UK-built fighter demonstrator of this class was the British Aerospace EAP, which first flew in 1986 and became the basis for the Typhoon that replaced it.
The combat aircraft demonstrator currently being assembled in Britain will form the basis for the sixth-generation Tempest fighter, which is being developed for the air forces of the UK, Italy, and Japan for use in the 2040s and beyond. Canada recently joined the program as an observer, and Germany is reportedly considering joining as well.
A model of the combat aircraft demonstrator unveiled at the Farnborough International Airshow in England earlier this week confirms the twin-engine aircraft has twin outward-canted vertical stabilizers and no horizontal tail.
Another important difference we know about concerns the powerplant. The combat demonstrator will be powered by the same EJ200 turbofan engines as the Typhoon. The production Tempest will feature a completely new powerplant, currently under development. However, officials have stated that the demonstrator will handle like a fighter, despite its size and lower thrust compared to the Tempest.
Overall, the demonstration aircraft bears some similarities to the F-35 (except for the horizontal tail), including forward-swept air intakes, which feature a dynamic nozzle design, and a prominent "chin" in the forward fuselage. The central fuselage is noticeably longer and wider than in Tempest renderings and models, but to a lesser extent.
The very first official rendering of the combat aircraft demonstrator
The inner leading edge of the wing is slightly curved, the trailing edge has a slight forward sweep angle, and the wingtips are sharply clipped. The result is something resembling a modified "clipped delta" wing, very different from the lambda wing seen on the very first Tempest concept and closer to the large-area delta wing seen on later Tempest concepts.
As for the tail unit of the demonstrator, it is simpler than that of the latest Tempest mock-up, and is trapezoidal in shape rather than five "sides".
The cockpit has limited rearward visibility. The lower fuselage is defined by its nearly rectangular contours, reminiscent of an hourglass.
The photograph, taken in the workshop, reveals technicians, assembly tools, work platforms, and production fixtures, providing immediate and useful information for analysis. Even with the effect of perspective, the demonstrator's central fuselage appears wide and deep.
Looking along the fuselage, the width of the central section is particularly striking. The absence of skin panels reveals a substantial interior space, home to discreet serpentine air intakes, and the distance between the outer parting line on each side further emphasizes the aircraft's impressive interior volume.
View of the air ducts inside the center section of the fuselage
Of course, perspective can distort the proportions, and this is more of a technology demonstrator than a fully-fledged GCAP combat fighter, let alone a Tempest prototype. The aircraft that ultimately enters service in the mid-2030s will undoubtedly differ from the prototype.
An earlier photo of a demonstrator of the combat aircraft being formed on the production line.
Commodore aviation Martin Lowe, the UK Ministry of Defence's Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme director, emphasizes this reality. He notes that the combat aircraft demonstrator is not a Tempest prototype, particularly "in terms of shape and size." The Tempest's final configuration has not yet been determined, but it will certainly be larger and more complex than the demonstrator. A new full-scale mockup of the Tempest was unveiled this week at the Farnborough International Airshow in England.
The latest full-size mockup of Tempest
While the combat aircraft's demonstrator clearly resembles the F-35, the latest Tempest mockup more closely resembles the F-22 Raptor. At least one recent rendering, shown below, appears to resemble a wider and stockier F-22, suggesting even greater internal capacity.
As previously reported by the media, the future combat aircraft is being developed with "truly enormous range" and a payload capacity approximately twice that of the F-35A. According to the manufacturer, the F-35A can carry over 18,000 pounds of internal and external weapons alone. This suggests the Tempest's payload will be approximately 4,500 kg, compared to the F-35A's 2,268 kg.
A mockup of the Tempest combat aircraft, created in 2024.
These requirements indicate that the aircraft must be significantly larger in size and have significantly greater internal volume than current fighters. They also reflect similar concerns that influenced the development of the Boeing F-47 for the US Air Force as part of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative.
The range of the Tempest depends largely on the amount of fuel it will store internally to maintain stealth, although conformal tanks that do not compromise stealth are not currently available. newsAt the same time, accommodating significantly more and larger weapons than those found on modern fighters requires larger weapons bays. Sixth-generation aircraft are expected to require unprecedented electrical power to support advanced sensors, electronic warfare systems, communications systems, onboard computing systems, and possibly advanced capabilities such as weapon directional energy.
A visualisation of a pair of Tempest fighter jets flying over the UK coastline.
Previous renderings gave us an idea of the shape of the future British stealth fighter demonstrator. However, the new model and production line photos allow us to examine the Combat Air Flying Demonstrator in detail, including an appreciation of its scale. Ultimately, when the Tempest arrives, it will likely be an even larger and more impressive aircraft.
No wonder appetites are growing. Airplanes need more... of everything. Rockets, fuel, sensors, sensor generators, and so on ad infinitum. It's enough to compare three mass-produced fifth-generation fighters to understand just how far things have come.
To say that the Chinese J-20 is significantly superior to American aircraft... But it is indeed larger. Which means the "most" rule is met. It's very difficult to judge armament; all three aircraft have a wide variety of missile combinations, but the Chinese one has three bays, so it can carry more. And speaking of external loadouts (goodbye, stealth!), there's a real freedom there, as you can hang anything you want, from fuel tanks to a second round of ammunition.
In "Beast Mode," the Chinese clearly have the edge, as they have more hardpoints. The only drawback is that they can't fit their largest missile inside the J-20 due to its size. There's no evidence that the J-20 can carry the PL-17 missile externally; at exhibitions, a mockup was displayed next to the fighter, but that doesn't prove anything.
The British have a similar problem with the Meteor missile. Although the Meteor is almost half the size of the PL-17 (3,67 meters versus 6,1 meters), the problem of accommodating long-range missiles in internal compartments remains. Mounting such large missiles externally would inevitably lead to a loss of the stealth that everyone is so concerned about, so the Buri really has only one option: increase the length of the weapons bay to accommodate the very weapons that, combined with stealth, could provide an advantage in combat.
It's very difficult to say what combat radius the Burya will need to have, or what kind of flights at what distances it will have to perform. Britain apparently has no interest in the vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean. However, appetite usually comes with eating. Considering that the F-35s, which are supposedly in service, don't have a particularly impressive range, and that a squadron of Penguins requires a flying tanker to follow, which is very convenient for the enemy, it's entirely possible that the Burya will be further beefed up by internal fuel tanks.
In general, everything depends on the tasks this aircraft will be tasked with. But it's already starting to look like instead of the elegant "Burya" (the word "tempest" is neuter in modern English) there will be a sort of combative Carlson. Meaning, moderately plump. Or not so moderately; it's not yet clear which measure will serve as a model for the new aircraft's dimensions.
But it's already becoming clear that the sixth generation will strive to completely erase the distinction between a fighter-bomber and a tactical bomber. At the very least, the former will offer a diverse armament suite, speed, and maneuverability, while the latter will offer range and payload capacity. All wrapped up in stealth.
It sounds like a plan, the only question is how effectively the British will implement this plan.
Information