Close up video of the British Stealth Pole Model

Here’s an interesting video of the full size model of the BAE Replica mounted on a pole at BAe Warton facility, in the UK.

On Feb. 18, a full size model of the BAe Replica, a British stealth aircraft built in the 1990s for the development of the FOAS (Future Offensive Air System) was filmed at BAE Systems facilities at Warton, in Lancashire, England.

The aircraft was being moved to be installed, inverted, on a pole: the typical configuration used for testing the radar signature of a plane. Even the most secret planes have been their radar cross section tested while mounted inverted (and upright) on a pole, just like the British model.

The FOAS was a study aimed at finding a replacement for the RAF Tornado GR4 that was cancelled in 2005.

Whilst the F-35 is going to be replacement of the  Tornado GR4, the Taranis UCAV (Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle) a semi-autonomous pilotless system that will be able to carry a various types of weapons, including PGMs (Precision Guided Munitions) and air-to-air missiles, emerged as the eventual successor of the FOAS.

What remains unclear is what kind of tests the BAe Replica is supporting.

Considered that BAe is teamed with Lockheed Martin in the F-35 program, it may be something related to the Joint Strike Fighter: most probably nothing really sensitive, otherwise it would be done in the U.S. Or a domestic project for a low observable plane?

Related articles

• Mystery Stealth aircraft spotted in UK. A cancelled Black Project being revived?
• These are the first images of UK’s classified unmanned stealth “superdrone”
• Is this China’s new Long Range Strike stealth aircraft?
• Is this the shape of the new mysterious stealth jet spotted over Texas?
• Third Prototype of China’s Stealth Jet Makes Maiden Flight and Shows Improvements
• “Vega 31″: the first and only F-117 Stealth Fighter Jet shot down in combat (15 years ago today)
• China’s new stealth fighter flies with open weapon bay

About David Cenciotti

WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn instagram

David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.