September the 10th, UK and Italy signed a Declaration of Intents to collaborate in the Tempest program at the DSEI (Defence & Security Exhibition International).
UK ministry of Defence says that “UK and Italy are natural combat air partners”. In fact, Italy and UK share know-how and objectives that are required to develop the next generation aircraft. This collaboration between those two countries was predictable:
First of all, the Italian and Royal Air Force share the same needs in finding a replacement for the Eurofighter and Typhoon. Moreover, the Italian Leonardo is involved in the Tempest program. Finally, both nations are F-35 partners: UK is a Tiers 1 and Italy is a Tiers 2.
Different Italian companies will collaborate on the project: Avio Aero, Elettronica, Leonardo and MBDA Italy (the last two ones are already involved in the project through their British subsidiary).
Rome is following Sweden in signalling its intention to collaborate with UK on the Tempest project. As a reminder, Stockholm has signed, in July 2019, a one-year study phase supported by Saab, which is intended to determine whether its future combat aircraft requirements and schedule align with those of its potential partner.
Others Tempest’s updates
MBDA has published an infographic showing some of the weapons that this 6th generation of aircraft will be able to carry:
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