Tempest electronics and sensors from Leonardo
As national champion for advanced defence electronics, and as part of the Team Tempest, Leonardo will lead the developments on new generation sensors, electronics and avionics. “Work we have conducted under R&D programmes such as FOAS and FCAS has significantly advanced our thinking with regards to the complex electronics required for future air scenarios, and we stand ready to support the future needs of the Royal Air Force” said Norman Bone, Chairman and managing director of Leonardo in the UK. The areas of Leonardo’s contribution will be mainly related to sensors, including advanced radio-frequency and active together with passive electro-optical sensors, in addition to integrated and next-generation counter-measures sided by networking communication equipment. The presentation provided during the press conference highlighted the incorporation of an integrated intelligence system of systems as well as a multi-spectral integrated sensor system, as main core aircraft equipment sided by the networking communication and interoperability tools. The press conference slides also put in evidence a series of self-protecting and attack capabilities, starting from ‘team survivability in a high threat environment’ to attack with directed energy weapons, electronic warfare and support to kinetic weapons in addition to advanced mission data and open architecture mission system. Also highlighted was the cyber resilience, protection in addition to attack capabilities, of the all the on-board systems.
