Tempest demonstrator to begin key testing by mid-2028

The Combat Air Flying Demonstrator, the supersonic Tempest aircraft being built to de-risk the Global Combat Air Programme, is expected to begin testing key capabilities by mid-2028, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The timeline came in a written parliamentary answer from Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard on 6 July, responding to a question from shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge, who asked whether the Defence Secretary has a target date for the demonstrator’s first flight trial.

“The Combat Air flying demonstrator is expected to begin testing key capabilities by mid-2028,” the minister said. “The timing of the first flight will be confirmed closer to the milestone to ensure maximum value is delivered in support of GCAP development.”

The answer gave no target date for the first flight itself, which has publicly been planned for 2027 since the demonstrator was announced in July 2022. That date was repeated when the design was revealed in July 2025, with BAE Systems saying the aircraft would be ready to fly by 2027, and again in February 2026 when the company published the final rendered design. Trade publications given access to the aircraft at Samlesbury and Warton in recent weeks reported it around 75 per cent complete by volume, with BAE targeting rollout by the end of 2027 and coverage as recently as this month stating a first flight in late 2027.

The mid-2028 milestone and the previous 2027 language are not necessarily in conflict though, since a rollout at the end of 2027 would be followed by ground testing before flight, and a maiden flight in the first half of 2028 could be described as beginning to test key capabilities by mid-2028. The answer may simply reflect where the schedule has settled between rollout and flying, though it is the first time the government has been asked directly for a first flight date and not given 2027 in response. The department has been asked to clarify whether it still expects the aircraft to fly next year.

The demonstrator is the first crewed supersonic combat aircraft developed in the UK in four decades, since the Experimental Aircraft Programme that paved the way for the Typhoon. Test pilots from BAE, Rolls-Royce and the RAF have flown more than 300 hours in a bespoke simulator, and planned trials include proving low observability techniques and missile launch from the weapons bay

Although a UK sovereign effort distinct from the trinational programme, its data will feed directly into the GCAP fighter being developed with Italy and Japan, for which a £4.6 billion contract was awarded to prime contractor Edgewing last week and which is due to enter service from 2035.