The Tempest to me looks like an advanced version of the Avro Arrow - the Mark III version being conceptualized before the Mark II even flew. The engine config is similar to the Orenda Iroquois, so similar it is spooky. Likewise the Tempest engine air intakes almost identical to the Arrow Mark III. Regrettably the Arrow program was cancelled for all the wrong reasons but died nonetheless. It is interesting to see some of it being reenvisioned some 60+ years since the Arrow Mark I flew here in Canada. A tip of the hat to Jim Floyd et.al. of the Arrow Program - you were so far ahead of your time. Sad to think of where we might have been now had it gone ahead. Hope the Tempest doesn't suffer the same fate as the Arrow.

In US the plan is the F-22 and F-35 will be the last manned fighters for all service branches.
(Currently the F-35A, B & C are being used in the Airforce, Marines and Navy). The Sixth generation will be unmanned advanced Drone-Fighters flown by pilots on the ground. There are over 7,000 Drones just in US Airforce service today. The Navy last year successfully flew and landed a drone off the deck of a carrier. For yall Europeans that would be your 7th generation to you.

This all sounds so wonderful and high tech and EXPENSIVE. But as recent events have shown a few programing bugs can cancel it all out. Trying to control a battle field with such high tech is very likely to fail. Swarming the battlefield with low tech and reliable weapons can not be avoided. Large numbers of inexpensive drones would be a better way to stretch the defense budget. High tech will always be plagued with defects and reliability problems. We will always need high tech but shear brute force will likely win the war. The AK47 is a good example. Lower tech, cheap, reliable, and every enemy has one.

A bit silly broadcasting this new tech to our enemies in my opinion, kind of defeats the word Stealth.

In reply to Tim Sparks the plan in the UK 50 years ago was that the Lightning was to be the last manned fighter, it didn't quite turn out that way.

As for the Tempest it is considerably built upon work previously being worked on by BAE called Replica from the 90s. It was the advanced technology of that proposal that helped the UK obtain the only Level 1 partnership in the F35 project with much of its technology transferred into that project in exchange for the Replica to be shelved. UK, Sweden, Italy and no doubt others as it progresses certainly have the nous to produce an extremely advanced 5.5 to 6th Gen fighter only the cost of doing so will be a potential restriction on the final design. More importantly the Tempest project ha not yet decided as to whether it will be manned, unmanned or with both options the last of those being the starting point for the design as originally reported so all options are open so that technology over the years can dictate which is most appropriate. The US projects in equally early stages have not as yet committed to any of those options as yet for similar reasons Its all about open minds. One also has to state when talking about supposed US superiority in aircraft technology that its two latest Aircraft carriers can't even operate the F35 as yet while the bulk the US inventory is still outmoded F18, F16 and F15 fighters which are all good aircraft but are far from being state of the art or as good as many aircraft in other airforces. They are deemed good enough to be effective within the over whelming and sophisticated advantage the US military especially at Sea can bring to bear to support their use which hides their relative obselesence. Only the F22 is truly a world beater as things stands and Russia and China already have aircraft that arguably match those in performance though only real life conflict will prove that to be the case or otherwise. However they are in short supply are no longer built and have a poor availability record. The position in 5 years could also be very different in balance of capabilities while the F35 relies very much on its stealth to be competitive, lose that and a Typhoon amongst other 4th/5th Gen fighters would likely make mincemeat of it. Fact id the US is likely not much closer to a working replacement for those aircraft that Tempest or the Franco/German efforts to produce such an aircraft is, the F-35 has taken up practically all the resources on that front and only now can serious thoughts about the next gen fighter truly be contemplated beyond early paper projects.

So it is probably best for all concerned to be a little more thoughtful and circumspect over ill judged hyperbole that is too often used when trying to score xenophobic points becomes the priority.

interesting who is going to pay for this when you have so many social problems in UK !!!???

This tit-for-tat madness to develop the most efficient and deadly killing machines is a royal pain in my arse. I realize it's not going away anytime soon, unfortunately, but to read posts above from armament tech junkies who state matter-of-factly that it's a normal and acceptable form of competition between states, is as worrisome to me as the effects of open warfare that don't seem to concern them.

One of the developmental problems in the history of the F-35 is sufficient cooling for electronics and follow-on directed energy weapons- something that had never come up til now. Using a non-mechanical (no gearbox) generating system is certainly a good idea, but it's not that groundbreaking.

when is somebody going to make the whole cockpit part of the ejection seat setup?

Isn't it wonderful how much money, resources and effort homo sapiens spend on weapons to kill each other!