What UK SMEs need to know about the GCAP Tempest fighter programme

On Tuesday, BAE Systems posted about the progress of GCAP/Tempest: “around half of the Combat Air Demonstrator’s main structure is in final assembly – the first crewed combat aircraft built in the UK in 40 years.”

The first planned flights for the demonstrator are for 2027. While many analysts consider its planned entry into service date of 2035 as ambitious, Leonardo has suggested it could enter service two years earlier.

What is the GCAP Tempest programme?

Tempest is intended to be a 6th-generation multirole air superiority fighter that will function as a ‘system of systems.’ One of the biggest limitations of modern 5th-generation fighter jets is the limited internal bay space.

Tempest is apparently set to improve on this as its demonstrator bays are visibly much larger than those of the F-35. As ADS Advance reported earlier this week, the Tempest demonstrator has surpassed the halfway mark ahead of its planned rollout and first flight in 2027.

ICYMI: around half of the Combat Air Demonstrator's main structure is in final assembly – the first crewed combat aircraft built in the UK in 40 years.

Read the full story: https://t.co/XzUfHNnbsA pic.twitter.com/OOQ5Oi2E3M

— BAE Systems Air (@BAESystemsAir) August 4, 2026

The aircraft is expected to replace British Eurofighter Typhoons and is designed to counter emerging high-end Chinese fighter jets. This is a leading concern for both Japan and the UK as British planners and think tanks (e.g., Rusi’s Justin Bronk) anticipate Russian fighter jets will be increasingly enabled by more advanced Chinese systems in the future.

Why does GCAP matter for UK aerospace SMEs?

Developing a next-generation fighter jet is a gargantuan effort. It is widely believed that only the US and China realistically have the domestic demand, budgets, and industrial base to independently develop true 6th-generation fighter jets without being concerned with export.

The joint UK/Italian/Japanese effort to develop GCAP is enough to strain the aerospace industries and government budgets of each country. The programme represents a major strategic and industrial gamble, with potentially enormous rewards if it succeeds in securing export customers and sustaining domestic aerospace capabilities for decades.

With each country having an equal share of the programme, there is plenty of work for large aerospace companies through to SMEs further down the supply chain.

Leading British defence contractors include BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo UK, and MBDA UK. Other important UK suppliers include QinetiQ, GKN Aerospace, Martin-Baker, Thales UK, GE Aerospace UK, Spirit AeroSystems, and numerous specialist SMEs.

Which UK companies are already involved in Tempest?

The programme extends far beyond those large and established companies and involves a large UK supply chain of roughly 600 companies and academic institutions supporting thousands of jobs. BAE Systems claims that Tempest is on track to support an average of 16,000 jobs per year for the next ten years.

BAE writes, “GCAP is harnessing innovation and technical expertise across a diverse range of suppliers, partnering with high-tech SMEs including those outside the traditional defence sector, to drive technology development quickly and enable suppliers to innovate and bring specialist skills to GCAP.”

In practice, this means the programme is looking for smaller companies (20-200 employees) to contribute to AI, machine learning, semiconductor design, novel sensors, and other innovative solutions.

As an example, Leonardo UK has run open competitions specifically inviting UK SMEs, start-ups, and academia to propose solutions in deep reinforcement learning and machine-learning-supported sensor fusion.

These are considered areas critical to GCAP’s Integrated Sensing and Non-Kinetic Effects (ISANKE) and overall situational awareness. The competitions are designed to pull in non-traditional software/AI specialists who may never have worked on combat aircraft before.