{"id":32210,"date":"2021-09-15T20:14:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T20:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:40:17","slug":"leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ROME \u2013 Leonardo has announced more details of the 757 test bed aircraft it will use in the Tempest program, including a 28 ton payload for equipment and six locations for sensors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/japan-could-become-partner-nation-on-uk-led-future-fighter-effort-says-program-director\/\">Tempest<\/a> design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOn-board, scientists and engineers will test futuristic sensors and communications for the Future Combat Air System that the UK and its international partners are developing to fly into service in 2035,\u201d Leonardo said in a statement released during the London DSEI show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cExcalibur will provide the real-world environment necessary for the latter stages of development of the complex, integrated sensors, non-kinetic effects and communications Leonardo is developing,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The firm, which partners BAE Systems, Rolls Royce and MBDA on the UK led program, said it expected Excalibur to be used by other international flight test programs, manned and unmanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The aircraft, it said, could \u201cbe used to complement the development of uncrewed technology, including acting as a control hub for uncrewed platforms undergoing test.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The aircraft was the product of two years of work by Leonardo and 2Excel on the design, the firm said, adding it hoped it would help \u201ccut by half the cost and time needed to build a combat aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flying at 42,000 ft, the aircraft will cruise at 0.8 Mach and reach 0.86 Mach with a range of 3,900 nautical miles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Commodore Jez Holmes, head of the Royal Air Force\u2019s Rapid Capabilities Office, lauded the progress of the flight test aircraft (FTA) program during a panel discussion at the London defense exhibit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the critical point for me is, in particular, when we look at sensors, it\u2019s important that we test them in a representative environment,\u201d he said. \u201cThey often will work perfectly on the testbed, and on the bench and in the labs.\u201d The performance is more challenging when placing them in combat-like, cluttered environs, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo it\u2019s a great endeavor from my perspective and I\u2019m really pleased to see it moving ahead,\u201d Holmes said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Valerie Insinna in Washington contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":71779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":83,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,83,46,11,36,26,164],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3345],"class_list":["post-32210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-dsei","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters","category-training-sim","category-training-simulation-report"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"MY4TRKZTURCGTCJEYWLQVFN2WA","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Kington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Kington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 364,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Digital Show Dailies\",\n\t                \"DSEI\",\n\t                \"Europe\",\n\t                \"Global\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Training &amp; Sim\",\n\t                \"Training &amp; Simulation Report\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/15\\\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"DSEI\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/digital-show-dailies\\\/dsei\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"dsei\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig - Defense News","description":"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig","og_description":"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00","author":"Tom Kington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Kington","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig","datePublished":"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/"},"wordCount":364,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Daily News Roundup","Digital Show Dailies","DSEI","Europe","Global","Newsletters","Training &amp; Sim","Training &amp; Simulation Report"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/","name":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-15T20:14:47+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-07T22:40:17+00:00","description":"Dubbed Excalibur, the aircraft has been remodeled with a pointed nose to mimic the likely Tempest design by Leonardo\u2019s partner, UK firm 2Excel.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/2021\/09\/15\/leonardo-fine-tunes-its-757-jetliner-converted-into-a-tempest-test-rig\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"DSEI","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/dsei\/","ad_zone":"dsei"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Leonardo fine-tunes its 757 jetliner converted into a Tempest test rig"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Tempest-FTA-no-effects-HQ.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32213,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210\/revisions\/32213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32210"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}