Vacuum Plasma Spray tungsten (VPS-W) coating created on a Carbon Fibre reinforced Composite (CFC) was tested under two thermal load schemes in the electron beam facility to examine the operation limits and failure modes. In cyclic ELM-like short transient thermal loads, the VPS-W coating was destroyed sub-layer by sub-layer at 0.33 GW/m2 and 1ms pulse duration. At longer single pulses, simulating steady state thermal loads, the coating was destroyed at surface temperatures above 2700oC by melting of the rhenium containing multilayer at the interface between VPS-W and CFC. The operation limits and failure modes of the VPS-W coating in the thermal load schemes are discussed in detail.