Defence Minister Mark Lancaster has announced a new recruitment drive for Team Tempest, say the MoD.

The Minister claimed that the number of people working on the programme set to more than double over the next two years.

The programme, say the MoD, is set up to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet to join the RAF’s fleet from 2035. The project already employs over 1,000 people across UK industry and the MOD is planning to increase that number to over 2,500 by 2021.

For a guide on what Tempest could shape up to be, see here.

Defence Minister Mark Lancaster said:

“Team Tempest offers thousands of young recruits an exciting opportunity to work on a crucial programme securing our dynamic combat air power in the decades to come.

This recruitment drive demonstrates our enduring commitment to securing and advancing the careers of some of the brightest minds in the UK.”

This comes not long after it was revealed that Sweden is joining the programme.

The announcement of Sweden’s collaboration on the project is expected to be made later this month at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT).

“Britain’s Team Tempest programme to build a new fighter jet has moved a step closer to getting into the air with Sweden poised to announce it has signed up as the project’s first international partner,” according to The Telegraph.

Tempest’s purpose is to explore the technologies and systems that could form a future combat air system.

According to a Commons Library briefing paper which provides a brief overview, the process is still at very early stages and is focused more on exploring and developing potential technologies.

It states that:

“Tempest was a fighter aircraft in World War Two, although the Strategy only uses this term in the context of ‘Team Tempest’ – it does not confirm this will be the name of whatever aircraft or system emerges.”

The companies involved have given some indications of the technologies and techniques they are looking at. Rolls Royce has talked of developing a future power system that drives not just the aircraft but provides a “step-change levels of electrical power (for the future systems on board)”.

BAE say that a future combat air system must be able to survive the most challenging combat environments meaning that payload-range, speed and manoeuvrability will be key.

The aircraft, say the defence giant, is likely to operate with kinetic and non-kinetic weapons.