Airbus, Dassault and Indra reported the official launch of Phase 1B of the Future Combat Air Combat System (FCAS) program, which will result in the development of a flight demonstrator to be ready by 2028/2029.
The launch of Phase 1B of the Future Combat Air System consolidates the largest European defence program under Indra's leadership in Spain. #FCAS https://t.co/1CVvdF87ED pic.twitter.com/aBtdAuG4ac
— Indra (@IndraCompany) December 16, 2022
In the joint press release, the companies inform that on behalf of the governments of France, Germany and Spain, the French General Directorate for Armament (DGA) has awarded to Dassault Aviation, Airbus, Indra, EUMET and their industrial partners the contract for the Demonstrator Phase 1B of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). This landmark contract, amounting to € 3.2 billion, will cover work on the FCAS demonstrator and its components for about three and a half years.
This is a continuation of the successful R&D and development activities related to the Phase 1A demonstrators, which allowed the identification of key technologies and the launching of the demonstrator developments.
The new Phase 1B will address the evolution and maturation of next-generation technologies, such as propulsion, maneuverability, interconnected and distributed sensors, next-generation communications, Cloud services, Edge Computing, artificial intelligence, low observability, interoperability, etc.
It will develop, among others, improved low observability techniques in fighter and Remote Carriers, engine, communications or mission sensors. Multi-function sensor technologies will be pushed to the next level in a Multi-platform Suite of networked collaborative sensors, will have an improved cockpit with pilot sensing and visualization systems and fully disruptive Human Machine Interfaces.
The industrial governance of the Phase 1B is organised per domain as follows:
- NGWS Consistency, Demonstrations and Consolidation with Airbus, Dassault Aviation and Indra Sistemas as co-contracting partners
- New Generation Fighter (NGF), with Dassault Aviation for France as prime contractor, and Airbus as main partner for Germany and Spain
- NGF Engine with the 50/50 Joint Venture Eumet -between Safran Aircraft Engines for France and MTU Aero Engines for Germany- as prime contractor and ITP Aero for Spain as main partner
- Unmanned systems, Remote Carrier (RC) with Airbus for Germany as prime contractor, MBDA for France and Satnus for Spain as main partners
- Combat Cloud (CC) with Airbus for Germany as prime contractor, Thales for France and Indra Sistemas for Spain as main partners
- Simulation with Airbus, Dassault Aviation and Indra Sistemas as co-contracting partners
- Sensors with Indra Sistemas as prime for Spain, and Thales for France and FCMS for Germany as main partners
- Enhanced Low Observability (stealth) with Airbus as prime contractor for Spain, Dassault Aviation for France and Airbus for Germany as main partners
- Common Working Environment with Airbus, Dassault Aviation, Indra Sistemas and Eumet as co-contracting partners
These technologies will be validated in different demonstrators (engineering simulations and validations, technological demonstrations and validations and flight tests) until they reach the degree of maturity required for subsequent implementation in the final design. During Phase 1B, the foundations will be laid for Phase 2, which will last another three years and will continue the program until 2029, ending with a functional demonstrator. The first flight demonstrations are planned for around 2028, with the ultimate goal of bringing the system into service in 2040.
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