EXTRA – Tempest, turning sci-fi concepts into flying reality

Tempest will be the RAF’s next generation fighter jet, and the heart of the new Future Combat Air System. After a decade of conceptual development work is now underway to turn it into reality, with a first prototype due to fly in around 3 years. Will it really be equipped with laser weapons or brain scanners in the pilot’s helmet? That’s still secret, but Sitrep has been told the much of the initial design is now locked down. Air Commodore Martin Lowe talks us through the progress so far, and tackles the tough question of whether it can truly be delivered on time and on budget ready for service in little more than a decade.