Podcast Special: what is the future of British airpower?

The UK has committed to its biggest defence project in a generation: the development of a sixth-generation fighter jet. The government says the project, dubbed Team Tempest, will secure Britain’s status as a leading military power after Brexit. It also says the jet will make use of space-ace technologies - ­including x-ray vision for pilots - to provide one of the most powerful defence capabilities on earth. But with the Ministry of Defence already strapped for cash, is the project feasible? And what about the security landscape? Just who are these fighter jets intended to deter?

In this Podcast Special, Fraser Nelson spoke to Sir Roger Carr, chairman of BAE Systems, the company which intends to develop the jet and who are sponsoring the podcast; Vice-Marshal Simon Rochelle, the chief of staff capability for the Royal Air Force; and Douglas Barrie, an independent analyst with the defence think tank IISS.