Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) is trying to pull together a European partnership to develop and build a technology demonstrator leading up to a pan-European combat aircraft.
Dasa military aircraft division president Aloysius Rauen says that the company has been studying a concept known as the Flying Technology Platform (FTT).
Programme sources say that the company hopes that the concept will lead to the construction of a piloted test vehicle incorporating advanced technology developed by Dasa from other programmes.
Rauen says that the FTT builds on Stealth technology developed in the last decade for the secret Lampyridae (Firefly) fighter concept, and will include an advanced fly-by-wire system and vectored-thrust technology which has been developed from the German/US X-31 programme.
The project is also believed to incorporate radar-absorbent materials which are now under development by Dasa, and already set to be incorporated in the Eurofighter EF2000. The EF2000 DA5 prototype is the first flying testbed for this technology. The demonstrator will also be used to explore the use of modular avionics.
Rauen says talks are under way with potential European partners and the German Government to transform the programme, which began on a national basis, into an international effort.
Source: Flight International