A Boeing 757-200 is being transformed into a flying laboratory as part of the Tempest flight test aircraft program, serving as an actual test bed for combat aviation technologies that will be used in the British 6th generation fighter jet, the “Tempest,” which is produced for the Royal Air Force and the Italian Air Force and is expected to enter service in 2035.

While the Tempest is digitally engineered, the technology behind it will have to be tested in the real world sooner or later, even before the prototype of the Tempest flight test aircraft is built. The Flying Lab will allow scientists and engineers to test futuristic integrated sensors, non-kinetic effects and communications for Tempest’s future combat air system.

The RAF initially announced plans to use a modified 757 as a test bed, but little has been revealed since then. In a September 15 press release, aerospace company Leonardo announced it was modifying the Boeing 757-200 airliner to serve as a flying laboratory with aviation services company 2Excel.

Excalibur can now carry a payload of 31 tons and fly to a height of 42,000 feet (12,800 m) at a cruising speed of Mach 0.8 for a flight time of eight hours. A Tempest “representative cockpit” will be installed in the passenger cabin, and the nose of the aircraft will be significantly modified to match the aerodynamics and structure of the fighter jet. These changes will allow scientists to study the possibilities of many disruptive combat air technologies, as well as analyze aerodynamic and structural effects. Additionally, Excalibur will be available to function as a control center for testing unmanned platforms.

The twin-engine Tempest will work alongside the Typhoon and F-35B fighters when it enters service in 2035, and its 6th generation technology will allow it to function as a flying command and control center, meaning the pilot will act in as a frame. officer rather than a dogfighter. The superior jet will be able to share data in a multi-domain battlespace, deploy hypersonic missiles and laser weapons, undertake electronic and cyber warfare mission sets, as well as control swarms of wireless systems. pilot.

While the fighter jet appears to be a standard aircraft, officials say Tempest’s true capabilities will lie in the detection, communication and data fusion technologies supported by a combat cloud. These features aim to set it apart as a next-generation intelligence gathering asset, with a new radar that allows it to collect a city’s data value per second.