ERA technology can now reveal that for several years it worked on the recently revealed highly secret £20 million plus “Testbed” project.

Until now the UK stealth fighter project “Testbed” has received no publicity owing to the highly secret nature of the programme. Started in 1994, the objective was to develop a UK capability to provide a survivable, affordable and supportable aircraft to meet perceived Royal Air Force and Royal Navy requirements beyond the aircraft in development or flying at that time.

The project resulted in the production of a full-sized aircraft designed with a low radar signature. Many aspects of the model were extremely close to a flight worthy aircraft, including an integrated weapon systems and nose cone radome. A major objective of was to prove various Low Observable (LO) technologies in a low cost design and production environment.

ERA played a key part in the programme by leading a project to design and manufacture the highly critical nose cone area of the aircraft, including an LO radome. The contract was funded by DERA, now the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), as part of the MoD’s contribution to the programme. ERA undertook all design optimisation, radar signature prediction, as well as manufacture of tooling and fabrication of LO-critical items in-house, working closely with Chelton Radomes to deliver the final integrated radome assembly.

The unnamed project manager for ERA’s programme is quoted as saying, “Whilst our budgets maybe have been lower than the equivalent programmes in the USA, this work shows the UK’s competitiveness in the application of affordable technologies for Low Observable platforms. ERA is renowned for its expertise in antennas, covering advanced satellite communications, broadband wireless and airborne systems, however our leading edge capability in stealth technology may come as a surprise to many people”.

ERA continues to be active in the defence field having recently won a competitively tendered multiyear research contract from the MoD, covering research into new technology to make antennas effectively invisible to radar. The problem with traditional airborne antennas is that they efficiently reflect incoming beams from hostile radars, making the host aircraft an easy target. The research will build upon existing capability to minimise radar returns from antennas, and so help safeguard future generations of British aircraft. It is also anticipated that the research will provide spin-off benefits for a range of other military platforms.

ERA is currently working on projects relating to the MoD’s Future Offensive Airsystem (FOAS) programme. The FOAS programme currently consists of ‘System of Systems’ concept studies and technology demonstration projects. Candidate system components could include manned aircraft; uninhabited air vehicles; cruise missiles; and a command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) system. FOAS is due to enter service in around 15 years.