The Flight Test Aircraft (FTA) ‘Excalibur’ is the flying test laboratory for the UK’s next generation combat air technology being developed by Leonardo and its long-term partner, UK-based aviation services company 2Excel.

Based on a former commercial Boeing 757 aircraft, Excalibur FTA allows scientists and engineers to fully integrate and test in flight the Integrated Sensors, Non-Kinetic Effects (ISANKE) and Integrated Communications Systems (ICS) being developed by Leonardo. The ISANKE & ICS capability will enable the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS) to fuse together vast amount of data in order to deliver an information advantage in the complex and highly congested 21st century battle space.

The FTA will eventually support the UK FCAS core platform being developed by the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) – a trilateral partnership between the governments and respective industries of Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan – as well as a broader range of capabilities such as uncrewed aircraft, information systems and weapon systems.