The Sixth Generation Fighter

MotoH

Well it is interesting, a lot of it seems science fiction at the moment, but who knows what the future holds!

Cyrus

Interesting link, I will read it tomorrow when I have time. I'm glad to see you taking interest in reading these kinds of articles. Keep it up.

Brian_C

Has the F-22 or F-35 ever been used in a combat situation? It seems pointless to speculate about the next generation of fighters when the combat readiness of the current generation is unknown.

RonL

I would think knowing what a plane can and cannot do is enough, a combat situation would only help to show what the other plane can and cannot do. It might boil down to the skill of each pilot and the future might be more remote control??


P.S. I also will have to read the link a little later. :)

MotoH

The US will always have to be ahead of the other nations involved in controlling the skies. Russia and China will be producing 5th gen. fighters within the next 10 years (Russia's T-50 I believe, can not remember China's). So we need to start thinking about the 6th generation.

The F-22 Raptor started its design phase in the 1980s, so a 6th gen won't be expected until the 2030's at least. Of course the Raptor program has been shut down in favor of the cheaper F-35 Lightning II, which just so happens to have the same airframe cost of the F-22 (currently $200 million USD per plane)

Of course the Lightning II is much more of a multi-role aircraft than the near strictly air superiority F-22

For the 6th Gen. fighter they are moving towards a more unmanned approach, but are trying to achieve the balance between the thinking capacity of a human, and the flight capabilities of a UCAV.

FredGarvin

The Air Force is so funny some times. They can't read the tea leaves on this? They seem to continually think that they get a blank check for whatever aircraft they ask for. I certainly hope they are thinking in the next century this might happen. Today's battles have created a lot of critics of the whole fighter evolution which is why the F-22 has been stopped in production. I think the next generation will have to be a huge, quantum leap in performance/ability before a new program is allowed to enter production any time soon.

mgb_phys

Remember they are locked in a constant deadly battle with their historical enemy - the Navy.

So while the navy demands more aircraft carriers and nuclear subs to deal with terrorists in land locked Afghanistan the airforce needs more advanced air superiority fighters to deal with the same people.

Meanwhile the army would probably like some new boots, or at least new laces for the old ones

MotoH

Dont forget the National Guard! I see that they are upgrading from the Fokker E.I to a P51d Mustang! Huge leap in technology for them!

The Sixth Gen. fighter will have stuff from science fiction on it! It reminds me of this:

FredGarvin

Not the new Viper. You need to dig up one of thebetter looking Vipers:



Sexy.

MotoH

A question to think about,

What will the 6th gen. be like?

From the sounds of it, even though most of the things said are just speculation. It seems like it will be more of a mobile command center (something like AWACS) with the mixture of a futuristic AC-130U gunship.

fifihawkins

Surely that's not a given? When people are enthusiastic and have gumption, they can produce very quickly. This happened with the P-51 Mustang, for instance:
(emphasis mine, source)

--Fi

MotoH

Look at the planes that are already in the air by that time though. The ME-109 was already in the air by the early 30's, so the Mustang wasn't some huge technological leap like the F-22 was.

The 6th gen is going to be nothing like anything that is flying today, and most of the technology that will most likely be used on the 6th gen either is in early development, or hasn't been invented yet.
(again this is mostly assumption)

fifihawkins

The ME-109 was introduced in the late 1930s - the first flight was in '35 and the introduction in '37 (Source). So, if you're serious about making this comparison and using the timeframe of 20 years (2010-2030), shouldn't we be looking at the state of aircraft design in 1920?

MotoH

No. The 6th gen isn't going to be anything like the current production planes of right now, just like the F-22 wasn't like anything in production at the start of its design phase. (F/A-18, F-16, somewhat the Rafale) and currently the 6th Gen. will be far different from the Typhoon, T-50 (PAK FA), or any other current 4th/5th gen airframe.

The ME-109 and P-51 is like the F-22 and the F-35, they are closer in development to each other, and are both very similar aircraft. The P-51 was very easy to design once they saw the ME-109, just like the F-35 was much easier to build once the logistics were out of the way with the F-22.

fifihawkins

I take your point, but what about planes like, say, the Hurricane? It first flew in 1935, same as the ME-109:

(emphasis mine)

Isn't this an example of creating a revolutionary new plane design within the space of a year?

Cyrus

You're not going to produce a 6th gen fighter in under ten years. It's just not going to happen - period.

fifihawkins

What are the factors preventing that from happening? And why would it take longer to produce a 6th generation fighter than it did to actually invent the aeroplane?