While the last three decades have seen Europe support three combat jet fighters of the fourth/fourth-plus generation - the Swedish Gripen and French Rafale national programmes and the four-nation Eurofighter programme - by 2018 the continent was embarking on two distinct efforts to build a sixth-generation fighter.Both are referred to as Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programmes and both are part of a system-of-systems approach whereby a sixth-generation fighter will be supplemented in the battlespace by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)/loyal wingmen. The first is the UK-led Tempest programme and the other is the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS/Systeme de Combat Aerien Futur (SCAF) programme.The UK FCAS effort, with the Tempest six-generation fighter at its centre, was launched as part of a new UK Combat Air Strategy announced on July 17, 2018, on the opening day of that year's Farnborough International Airshow. 'Team Tempest', as announced by the UK defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, at the time, comprises a UK industry/ Ministry of Defence (MOD) teaming that includes BAE Systems, Leonardo UK, MBDA and Rolls-Royce.
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