(by Andrea Pinto) The defense chiefs of Britain e Italy they will visit Japan this week to hold meetings with their local counterpart, Japan's defense minister said yesterday Yasukazu Hamada. A trilateral meeting with the British defense secretary is scheduled for Thursday Ben Wallace and the Italian defense minister Guido Crosetto.
The three nations announced last December the launch of the joint military program Global Combat Air Program (GCAP), in order to develop a sixth generation jet by 2035. An amalgamation of the English program Tempest British-led with the program FX of Japan.
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The three nations will discuss the new jet fighter design, which marks Japan's first major industrial defense cooperation since World War II.
The Chief of the Italian Air Force on the GCAP program
Il Gcap program specified the general of the air force, Luca Goretti, last week, to the Defense Commission of the Chamber of Deputies “it comes from the natural need to replace obsolete machines. Technology is the blood that flows in the Air Force as the aircraft tool lives off of it. To be relevant, defend yourself or be on a par with others, software is the keystone of military aircraft: we need to grow our industry and create effective devices to put inside the box".
The initiative with the British and Japanese “it is an opportunity for universities and industries to compete and grow. The aircraft is a system of systems to hook up to take and disseminate data. The program is a research opportunity, rather than a military one: while before we offered proposals to universities, now we tell them what the threat is and this gives them the possibility to develop ideas that we need”.
"We chose the British because it is a natural alliance linked to complex industrial dynamics in Europe: where some countries try to lay down the law. Instead, we in Italy must defend our industries: the choices of the current and previous governments are linked to the need not to annihilate the sector, but to play the game. Maybe in the future there will be convergences with other countries”.
The program for a futuristic fighter
The ambitious project Italian-English-Japanese, by 2035, it aims to replace the current Eurofighter, F2 and F16.
The aircraft is not a simple fighter but the in-flight synthesis of various multi-domain technologies capable of being able to govern swarms of armed drones from above, or to conduct powerful cybernetic attacks and much, much more.
In Gcap studies and projects elaborated for the Tempest in the United Kingdom and the Japanese ones for the FX will co-flow. The US Air Force also gave a nod to the program, which in its "Next generation air dominance” could open to future collaborations. At the moment the United States has two projects: the “Penetrating Counter-Air”Of the Air Force - a long-range stealth fighter to escort stealth bombers - and the FA-XX of the Navy. So far only Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Northrop-Grumman have unveiled sixth generation concepts to the world.
Italian participation as first player the Gcap will allow the Italian defense industry to take a further step forward, thus establishing itself in a privileged position among the international industries in the sector.
In England Leonardo for the Tempest program it is present with various companies and the people who will work on the program over the next 25 years will reach 20 thousand units, considering the employees of Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries e Hey in Japan, Leonardo, Avio Aero, Electronics ed MBDA Italy.
The Tempest is a British program, financed with Defense funds for the development of new technologies entrusted to a team of companies in which it plays an important role Leonardo, which has 7 factories in the UK. Those in Edinburgh and Luton will be most involved in the Tempest programme. Bae Systems will take care of the development of the airframe and the aircraft as such, Rolls Royce of the engine and MBDA of onboard armaments (missiles but also lasers) and Leonardo will have an exclusive role in the sector of onboard electronic systems.
In Italy, in the multi-year planning document (Dpp) for Defense for the three-year period 2022-2026, the resources allocated for the Tempest go from 2 billion euros to 3,795 billion, with 220 million in 2022 and 345 for the next.
Italy has doubled the resources from two billion euros, distributed over fifteen years, with 20 million in 2021, as many in 2022 and 2023, 90 million in the two-year period 2024-26 and the remainder between 2027 and 2035.
Italy has been following the Tempest program for years, in stark contrast to the French-German-Spanish one called FCAS.
Franco-German-Spanish FACS programme
FACS - Future Air Combat System is France and Germany's program for a new fighter which Spain also joined later.
France and Germany signed a contract to develop a joint weapon system in 2018, securing a first study project contract worth €65 million (US$73 million) for Airbus and Dassault, while Safran Aircraft Engines and MTU Aero Engines have announced a partnership to provide the propulsion.
The FCAS program covers both manned and unmanned aircraft, and will enter service from 2040 to replace fighters French drafts and to the Euro Fighter currently owned by the German Air Force.
But what are the criteria, thought up, for the sixth generation?
The goal is autonomous flight, that is to design a machine not managed by people on board but by remote pilots, a tactical evolution of the current Apr aircraft. The study would include an American version without pilot and another Russian with edge.
American designers are working on a prototype capable of handling a disproportionate number of information with incredible resistance to overloads, only a robot can guarantee this capacity. The Russians, on the other hand, believe that no computer can operate a machine like a human being.
Another feature of these aircraft of the future is the low visibility. Today fifth generation stealth, it seems, is not totally immune to Russian S400 air defense systems. Those of the sixth generation will have to be completely invisible.
The next criterion is the speed. Today the fastest military aircraft in flight goes around Mach 3, the development of the sixth generation should be able to exceed the Mach 5 mark. Cruising speed (without turning on afterburner thrust), experts say, will definitely be supersonic. Most likely, the cruising speed of the future will be identical to today's afterburning speed – Mach 1,5-2. The aircraft will be able to fly without refueling for an extended period, and thus continue to patrol great distances away from its home base.
From a structural point of view, experts believe that the aircraft will be very ergonomic.
A credible example is a wing enclosed in the fuselage and will not feature a vertical tail surface. Perhaps the basis of aircraft design is the concept of "flying wing” (like the futuristic B-2, of the US Air Force).
The aircraft should be easy to maneuver in angles of approximately 60 degrees. The maneuverability allows the fighters to move within the framework of the "missile defense" trajectories. The aircraft with very high maneuverability will not have to fear any missile defense.
Interoperability must be total with the forces of land, sea, air, aerospace, space, cyberspace and even underwater. The myriad of information received from the various command and control centers will have to allow the sixth generation aircraft an absolute dominion of the skies and the sure victory against the adversaries.
The armaments will be supplemented by laser beams. Probably the last machines will be equipped not only with missiles, which are mainly used today, but also with laser installations. It is possible that the weapon will also be electromagnetic. Those kinds of missiles will fly at such a speed that the air defense system cannot keep up with them
The projects of Russia and China
PChinese rogetto
At the moment, China is finalizing the fifth generation fighter. This is the J-20 and J-Air 31. The Chinese designers are not very attracted to long-term programs and, like the Europeans, they are more oriented towards the development of a high-tech drone, which was called Lijian, characterized by low visible to the radar. Based on this development, experts say, there will be a sixth-generation fighter jet.
The Russian concept
The Russian designers seem to be the most active in the study activities of a new sixth-generation aircraft based on the T-50 machine.
Russian media report that the first prototype of the sixth generation aircraft, created by Russian engineers, will appear in the next 10-12 years, from the United Aircraft Corporation. If the estimates are respected, the Russians will surpass the Americans who, on the other hand, have estimated production no earlier than 2030.