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?
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