The UK's week-long, biennial aerospace and trade showcase, the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) - regarded as one of, if not the biggest event of its kind in the world - returned to the aviation calendar in fabulous fashion from July 18-22, 2022,Held at a sweltering Farnborough Airport in Hampshire, the show was staged against the backdrop of the Ukraine War, but the ongoing and disastrous conflict in Europe did not influence proceedings in the same way it did the ILA Berlin Airshow (which was held a month prior, see Germany looks to the USA, AFM August, p16-23).From a military perspective, ILA Berlin largely concentrated on how best to modernise the poorly kept Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces), but FIA 2022 looked to the future of aviation as a whole following the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The key focus of industry encompassed the heart of the event, with input from individual defence attaches and air arms remaining minimal at best.That being said, the one military concept that kept catching headlines all week was the Tempest next-generation fighter, which is being developed by the UK-led Team Tempest. Such announcements revealed how much farther along in the development process this prospective sixth-generation fighter is against its European competition, which still seems to be mired in politics.
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