Originally Posted by
unmanned_droid
The farnborough
PR machine is in full flow. Unlikely to lead to much concrete action.
Have been partly involved with a small project with a customer based in Japan. It's a complete pain all in the name of being polite and showing deference to the customer e.g. meetings carry on until the customer is happy - I left after being half hour over the end time on the last one. Also the time difference will cause integration problems. These may seem like small problems but will make life harder than it needs to be.
What have Warton actually done since the end of Typhoon major design? A lot of concepting and in service support on existing products. Unless something really interesting has been happening in the middle of nowhere Australia I think there will be some interesting times ahead. The exception to this is the work they've been doing in Turkey - I saw this as a means to get in to the actual Tempest program when jobs were being advertised during covid, but since clearances were apparently taking months because UKCS was/is on a go slow I couldn't wait around to find out.
I have low confidence we'll see a demonstrator in under 7 years if it even happens (and I'm going to say they'll claim virtual twins will allow them to not make a demonstrator....).
There is
afaik no indication that Japan and Britain have agreed on the purpose of this 'demonstrator'.
While the basic technology may be common, there is a world of difference between a long range strike aircraft and a European air superiority fighter.
Presumably the hope is that melding British engine and aerodynamics know how with Japanese manufacturing capabilities, electronics and software skills will allow both parties to benefit.
However, I don't know of any such prior effort being successful.