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Future Offensive Air System




The Future Offensive Air System was a study which sought to replace the Royal Air Force 's strike capability currently provided by the Tornado GR4 . Initial operation capability was expected around 2017 . In June 2005 the study was cancelled. {Link without Title}

The capability required may have been provided by any number of systems;
  • New build aircraft, for instance the BAE HALO or BAE Replica demonstrator (see image)

  • Development of current aircraft:

  • --- Eurofighter Typhoon - with increased internal fuel capacity and possibly internal weapons carriage.

  • --- F-35 - most likely the CTOL version (F-35A)

  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

  • Standoff missiles ( Storm Shadow )

  • --- From next generation strike aircraft

  • --- Possibly from large, cheap non-penetrating aircraft ( Airbus A400M )

  • Mix of above systems


It seems likely that the United Kingdom would seek to procure such a system in collaboration with another nation; the country with the most similar requirements is perhaps France , which maintains a similar expeditionary strategy for its military. However, the Royal Air Force has been cooperating with the U.S. Department Of Defense on the F-35 project, and it is currently the favourite (per industry trade magazine '' Aviation Week & Space Technology '') for UAV / UCAV cooperation as well, given the American lead in unmanned aircraft technology.

Two industry teams were competing for the contract, one led by BAE Systems and the other by LogicaCMG .


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