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Search the Public Notice PortalBehind the doors of a Lancashire factory, engineers are building an aircraft designed to help shape the future of Britain's combat air power.
At BAE Systems' Samlesbury site, work is under way on the UK's Combat Air Flying Demonstrator, the country's first crewed combat air demonstrator programme in more than 40 years.
Designed and built in Britain, the aircraft is being developed to test new technologies and manufacturing techniques, while helping prepare UK industry for the next generation of combat aircraft.
Around half of the demonstrator's main structure is now in final assembly, with ground testing expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
It is then planned to take to the skies as part of a flight test programme in 2028.
If that timetable is met, it will mark the first flight of a British crewed combat air demonstrator in more than four decades, since the Experimental Aircraft Programme (EAP) first took off from Warton on August 8, 1986.
We were given a rare look inside the Samlesbury facility to see the aircraft taking shape and meet some of the people working behind the programme.
The demonstrator is being developed through a partnership involving the Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and MBDA.
It is intended to prove new technologies, engineering methods and manufacturing processes, while developing the skills and experience needed for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
GCAP brings together the UK, Italy and Japan to develop the next generation of combat air capability.
The demonstrator is a separate technology programme designed to help reduce the risks involved in delivering that future capability.
Tony Godbold, FCAS Delivery Director at BAE Systems Air, said: “Our combat air demonstrator is a critical feature of the future combat air programme that we're developing, partially with colleagues in Italy and Japan.
“For UK industry, it's a core requirement for us to get our industry base up to what we call a sixth-generation level.
“Our programme to do that is through our demonstrator activity.
“It's about pushing the boundaries of technology, techniques, engineering and manufacturing and developing people and experience to get us ready for what that next generation programme is all about.”
The programme has already involved more than 1,000 people across Team Tempest partners and the UK supply chain, with more than 100 organisations contributing across the country.
Around 200 people who have worked on the demonstrator have since moved on to GCAP, taking their experience with them.
A further 150 people in early-career roles have completed part of their training on the programme.
The move towards sixth-generation combat aircraft presents a significant engineering challenge, with increasingly complex requirements and technologies.
Asked whether that generational leap was a cause for concern, Tony said: “No, it's a gap.
“It's a generational challenge with an exponential leap in complexity of requirements and the technology that is needed to satisfy it.
“The whole world is facing that, but the UK is taking some great steps in climbing that learning curve, developing that experience to tackle those challenges.
“I'd say in many ways we're leading the way in a lot of those spaces, and that's what we're doing here in Lancashire.”
Digital engineering is already playing a significant role, long before the demonstrator makes its first flight.
Test pilots from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and the Royal Air Force have completed hundreds of hours flying the aircraft in a bespoke simulator.
The simulated trials allow pilots and engineers to assess flight-control systems and gather information that can help shape the aircraft's design and future flight testing.
During our visit, we also experienced the demonstrator through virtual reality, using a headset to step inside a digital representation of the aircraft.
Delivering the UK's future combat air capability will require significant long-term investment.
Asked whether the Ministry of Defence had the funding to deliver it, Tony pointed to the Government's financial commitment.
He said: “In the Defence Investment Plan that was released in the summer off the back of the Strategic Defence Review in 2025, the UK committed to the long-term funding that is required to get our programme delivered and to the long-term commitment for the industry base to continue to support it.
“It really did show that commitment from the government side.”
Alongside the technology, developing the next generation of engineers is central to the work taking place at Samlesbury.
Paul Wilde, Platforms Delivery Director, said BAE Systems continued to attract significant interest from people looking to begin careers in the industry.
“We're really fortunate that our apprentice and career schemes are really oversubscribed,” he said.
“We have a really great cohort of people who come through the gates every year, to learn, work and develop their skills and education.
“A lot of people have got generational ties to the workforce here and for most people, what we do and the change that they can have with the products is really important to them.
“It's a really exciting career opportunity.”
That connection between generations is something Alice, a project manager who came through the apprenticeship route, could relate to.
Her grandad had also worked for BAE Systems.
Asked whether she had chosen a niche career path compared with other young people, Alice said: “A lot of my friends chose to go to university, whereas I chose to do a gap year after sixth form and then apply for the apprenticeship.
“I was more focused on earning money rather than getting into student debt and was already interested in BAE.”
Her grandad's connection to the company helped make the industry an appealing choice.
“The network that I've built here, especially coming through as an apprentice, is way wider than any of my friends at university,” Alice added.
Laura, a programme manager, agreed that it was an unusual route.
“It's definitely a unique career path,” she said.
“I think we're incredibly lucky to have such a breadth of different platforms to work on.”
The demonstrator programme provides an opportunity for people at the start of their careers to gain experience on a complex engineering project, while helping pass knowledge from experienced colleagues to the next generation.
The programme's roots stretch back to 2018, when the UK launched its Combat Air Strategy, setting out ambitions to develop the technology, skills and industrial capability needed for future combat aircraft.
In 2022, the Ministry of Defence and Team Tempest industry partners announced the development of the Combat Air Flying Demonstrator.
Since then, work has progressed across digital engineering, flight controls, advanced manufacturing, propulsion and systems integration.
Manufacturing and assembly gathered pace before the aircraft's design was publicly revealed in 2025.
The programme is now moving towards its next major milestone.
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