Excalibur Flight Test and Modification

February 1, 2025

Leonardo UK
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London, SW1Y 6AF
+44 (0)20 7340 6100
uk.leonardo.com

Leonardo, 2Excel and the Ministry of Defence recently announced that the flight test aircraft ‘Excalibur’ Flight Test Aircraft (FTA) has successfully completed its first phase of modification and flight testing. The milestone saw Excalibur, now equipped with new side and belly pods, assessed for stability during flight. The aircraft will now undergo further engineering work at QinetiQ’s Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire.

Excalibur is a former commercial Boeing 757 aircraft that is being overhauled into a flying laboratory for combat air technology. It is part of the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which will include the core fighter jet — the next generation ‘Tempest’ — being developed under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), as well as a broader range of capabilities such as uncrewed aircraft, information systems and weapon systems.

The first phase of modification saw the Excalibur FTA equipped with new side and belly pods, changing the outer mould line of the aircraft. These pods are designed to host the Integrated Sensors, Non-Kinetic Effects (ISANKE) and Integrated Communications Systems (ICS) that Leonardo UK and its international partners are developing as part of their work on GCAP. Further modification to the Excalibur FTA aircraft will include a fighter jet-style nose cone, to host advanced radar-based sensor demonstrators.

The focus of the Excalibur program will soon move to the installation of ISANKE & ICS technology demonstrator systems, underpinning the future development of these sophisticated capabilities. Excalibur is expected to fly with advanced new ISANKE & ICS technology on-board within the next few years, when on-board scientists and engineers will be able to test and refine the systems whilst in flight. This will de-risk and accelerate the domain’s development program and in turn support the ambitious timescales of GCAP.

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