Team Tempest (UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), BAE Systems, Leonardo, MBDA and Rolls-Royce) has released a podcast series, in which you can listen to some of the fascinating thoughts, insights and predictions from the innovators, engineers and thinkers behind Team Tempest.

Hosted by Leonardo's Zevi Watmough, the series introduces the Team Tempest partners and explores the capability, economic impact and skills advancement offered as part of this exciting new programme.

Episode 12: Introducing Generation Tempest - TECN and the future – An essential pillar of the Team Tempest programme is capturing the imagination of the next generation of engineers and aviators, The Tempest Early Careers Network (TECN) wants to inspire those at the start of their careers as well as people who are embarking on their secondary education. In this episode we speak to TECN members working on Tempest who discuss their roles, what motivated them to work on the programme, how TECN is helping to strengthen the transformative collaboration that is delivering team Tempest and their hopes for the future of the network.

Episode 11: Digital Transformation and the 4th Industrial Revolution – Delivering a sixth-generation fighter jet by 2035 is an ambitious goal which will require Team Tempest to utilise the full power of digitisation. In this episode we explore the role that digitisation will play in developing a new fighter jet in half the time compared to previous generations of aircraft. We’ll assess cultural assumptions about the risks of new digital capabilities and discuss how these could unlock huge gains in performance.

Episode 10: The FCAS Sustainability Strategy – a bold vision for future – Following publication of the Future Combat Air System Sustainability Strategy in February 2024, this episode discusses the Strategy and its importance to the FCAS programme and the wider defence sector. Featuring insights from RAF, MOD and Rolls-Royce sustainability stakeholders.

Episode 9: A national endeavour: The UK’s first flying combat air demonstrator in 40 years – In this episode we look at how Team Tempest is working with a dynamic supply chain to deliver a flying combat air demonstrator that will test crucial technologies needed for Tempest, before the next generation fighter jet takes to the skies in 2035.

Episode 8: The right direction - mentoring across Team Tempest – In this episode we speak to mentors and mentees working on Tempest who discuss how the network's cross-partner mentoring scheme is helping strengthen the transformative collaboration that is delivering Team Tempest.

Episode 7: Welcome to the Global Air Combat Programme (GCAP) – In this episode we speak to Senior Responsible Owners from across the UK Team Tempest partners during DSEi 2023, to hear their thoughts on what GCAP – a partnership and ambitious endeavour between the UK, Japan and Italy to collectively deliver the next generation of combat air fighter jets – means to Team Tempest and the UK.

Team Tempest Roundtable Highlights – In this special edition of the Future Horizons podcast, we have teamed up with the Royal Aeronautical Society for an update on the Future Combat Air Systems (FCAS) programme. We hear from Richard Berthon, UK MOD Director of Future Combat Air; Herman Claesen, FCAS Managing Director, BAE Systems; and Air Cdre Jonny Moreton, UK MOD FCAS Portfolio Director, as they reflect on the key points discussed at the roundtable discussion hosted by Aerospace Editor-in-Chief, Tim Robinson.

Conversations from Farnborough International Airshow 2022 – Earlier this summer, Tempest returned to the Farnborough International Air Show – the spiritual birthplace of the programme following its unveiling in 2018. Future Horizons podcast host, Zevi Watmough introduces UK MOD Programme Director FCAS Programme Air Commodore Jonny Moreton, and UK MOD Director FCAS, Richard Berthon and hears from representatives of the Tempest Early Careers Network (known as TECN).

Summer 2022 Air Show Special – In this one-off special, Future Horizons podcast host, Zevi Watmough, speaks with UK MOD Director Future Combat Air, Richard Berthon, who looks back on the achievements of Team Tempest since the programme was announced at Farnborough International Air Show in 2018.

Episode 6: An international endeavour – In this final episode of series 1 of Future Horizons, we learn about Tempest’s exciting steps on to the international stage for the next phase of the programme’s development and discuss why diversity will be so important to the future transformation of the programme.

Episode 5: A catalyst for change – The fifth episode of Future Horizons explores women’s contribution to defence and the important role women are playing on the Tempest programme. It also looks at the ways in which the engineers working on Tempest are exploring new avenues of green tech innovation.

Episode 4: Putting prosperity in the pilot's seat – In episode four, we explore the findings of a new PWC report which analyses Tempest’s projected impact on industry and the wider economy. Additionally, listeners are given VIP access to an exclusive tour of the Tempest cockpit, to get a pilot’s view of the future of flight.

Episode 3: More than meets the eye – In this third episode of the six-part series, we look beyond the core Tempest partners to shine a spotlight on how the project is becoming a true national endeavour. We meet some of the many high-tech companies and academic minds supporting Team Tempest and discuss how their innovation and ideas are helping transform the way we are developing technology to realise the benefits of Tempest both for and far beyond the military air sector.

Episode 2: A commitment to securing information advantage – In the second episode, we discuss the implications of the UK Government's Integrated Review for Tempest and the aerospace industry, and speak to industry experts on the concept of 'Information Advantage', where having better information provides an edge in combat.

Episode 1: The story so far – In the first episode, we speak to some of the key industry players who share their honest and personal views on the current climate and the road ahead for the programme, which is set to define the next generation of Combat Air System capability.

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