Modified 757 aircraft planned to inform GCAP sensors and communications takes flight
Excalibur will be equipped with Leonardo’s next-generation sensor technology demonstrators. (Photo: Leonardo)
The Boeing 757, dubbed Excalibur, was equipped with new side and belly pods and assessed for stability during flight. The aircraft will now undergo further engineering work at QinetiQ’s Boscombe Down facility in Wiltshire, England.
Leonardo’s Excalibur Boeing 757 technology demonstrator aircraft has successfully completed the first phase of modification and flight testing in an evaluation of new side and belly pods. The programme is a joint effort between the Italian company, 2Excel and the UK Ministry of Defence.
Excalibur is being overhauled into a flying laboratory for combat air technology as part of the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS), which will include the core fighter being developed under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). It will also evaluate a broader range of capabilities such as uncrewed aircraft, information systems and weapon systems.
The pods added to the aircraft will 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.
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Further modification to the Excalibur aircraft will include a fighter jet-style nose cone, to host advanced radar-based sensor demonstrators.
Excalibur is expected to fly with advanced new ISANKE & ICS technology on-board over the next few years to de-risk and accelerate the domain’s development programme and in turn support the ambitious timescales of GCAP.
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