“This evidence will further inform the concept of recce-strike at all levels as outlined in the Land Operating Concept; urban operations doctrine development and human-machine teaming, while also acting as a technology horizon-scanning tool,” said a British Army spokesperson
Led by a core team of industry partners including MBDA, Leonardo, Thales, Roxel, Safran and CEA, technology areas are designed to support a variety of use cases which include tactical and deep strike, surface and force protection, and air dominance.
The agreement between FMV and BAE Systems Hägglunds signals the “implementation of a preliminary contractual design,” representing the “first step to defining the configuration and program of the combat vehicles that will replace the Combat Vehicle 9040C donated to Ukraine.”
“The [collaboration] agreement reflects positive momentum and strong trilateral cooperation, and will involve the industry partners maturing integration, collaboration and sharing of information towards the next phase of GCAP,” the companies said.
“Global demand is high, and for our customers to have assured production is important, especially given Poland’s proximity to Ukraine,” a Lockheed official said.
“I think it’s a richness of our collective response that we are able to develop what might appear on the surface to be competitive solutions, whether that’s F-35, NGAD, the Franco German cooperation, or our program,” said Richard Berthon, the UK Ministry of Defence’s Director of Future Combat Air.
The leap to quantum tech will be a “tank versus cavalry, machine guns versus humans moment,” said UK’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, James Heappey.
While sharing a name with legacy efforts like Skunk Works and Phantom Works, the BAE Systems organization will be more public facing, according to a company executive.
“If we deliver solutions in 2035, we’ll be the first mover and one of the first western nations outside the US to deliver sixth-generation [aircraft],” said Herman Claesen, BAE Systems’ Future Combat Air System Managing Director.
The Czech Republic recently announced the finalization of a plan to buy 246 MkIV CV90s, while separately sources told Breaking Defense that other CV90s are on their way to the front lines in Ukraine.
