The Sixth Generation Fighter is around

[jha]

The Sixth Generation Fighter

The technologies are emerging, but what’s needed is a program to pull them together.

Within the next few years, we will begin work on the sixth generation [fighter] capabilities necessary for future air dominance.” The Secretary of the Air Force, Michael B. Donley, and the USAF Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, issued that statement in an April 13 Washington Post article.

The Air Force may have to move a little faster to develop that next generation fighter. While anticipated F-22 and F-35 inventories seem settled, there won’t be enough to fix shortfalls in the fighter fleet over the next 20 years, as legacy fighters retire faster than fifth generation replacements appear.

The Air Force will have to answer a host of tough questions about the nature of the next fighter.

Should it provide a true “quantum leap” in capability, from fifth to sixth generation, or will some interim level of technology suffice? When will it have to appear? What kinds of fighters will potential adversaries be fielding in the next 20 years? And, if the program is delayed, will a defense industry with nothing to work on in the meantime lose its know-how to deliver the needed system?

What seems certain is that more is riding on the Air Force’s answers than just replacing worn-out combat aircraft.

Initial concept studies for what would become the F-22 began in the early 1980s, when production of the F-15 was just hitting its stride. It took 20 years to go from those concepts to initial operational capability.
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The Sixth Generation Fighter

 

[Valiant_Soul]

Well, in terms of maneuverability or speed, there can be no further advancements, because the pilot cannot take more than the current limits of G-force on them, unless they make the plane pilot less.

 

[Hyde]

well the technology has become very advanced...... we are in the era of Articial technology and considering how the computer generation has advanced

i won't be surprised if this 6th Generation fighter resembles more like the Alien's spaceship that has one big Super Computer taking your instructions through Voice command and like Helicopters does not need to take off from the run way and probably firing missiles like the size of a Cigratte case causing destruction like today's cruise missiles and so on

 

[jha]

americans always try to be ahead at least one gen. ahead of rest...
imo the last manned planes are F-22,F-35 and PAK-FA.
the next gen. has to be a UCAV.

 

[attitude]

Well, in terms of maneuverability or speed, there can be no further advancements, because the pilot cannot take more than the current limits of G-force on them, unless they make the plane pilot less.

well sir i think in future we dont need pilot

they can seat in room and enjoy

 

[gambit]

The 'next generation' fighter will be MANNED, have active radar cancellation capability, its avionics will be automated that it will allow the pilot to control UAVs as needed.

 

[lockh33d]

americans always try to be ahead at least one gen. ahead of rest...
imo the last manned planes are F-22,F-35 and PAK-FA.
the next gen. has to be a UCAV.

Nope, many countries haven't finished developing 5th gen at this point so don't be so quick to conclude.

The 'next generation' fighter will be MANNED, have active radar cancellation capability, its avionics will be automated that it will allow the pilot to control UAVs as needed.

No, there will be too many functions for a human to multi-task with, hence with the next gen, all biologically controlled tasks will be given to automated machines.

 

[K^se]

Yep, I was reading the F-22 and lastly the F-35 were to be last of their kind and the next generation fighter would be "UNMANNED"..As lockh33d stated above a human can only do so much =/..I was also reading that the U.S is developing software too mimic the movement of some of the best fighter pilots in the world, and program it into a cerebro mechanism for next generation fightware aka "Pilotless Software"

-It's not science fiction, we have the minds,technology and resources we can do it ..

 

[azfar]

can an unmanned fighter plane perform same as humans, I think its really difficult.

 

[lockh33d]

can an unmanned fighter plane perform same as humans, I think its really difficult.

Better, much better. Human bodies are exposed to G-Force and only take a so much amount before the energy rips our bodies apart. With metals and composites, it's a different story.

 

[booo]

Can anyone list the "requirements" a fighter should fulfill to be called as a 6th gen fighter?

 

[gambit]

The 'next generation' fighter will be MANNED,...

No, there will be too many functions for a human to multi-task with, hence with the next gen, all biologically controlled tasks will be given to automated machines.

Yep, I was reading the F-22 and lastly the F-35 were to be last of their kind and the next generation fighter would be "UNMANNED"..As lockh33d stated above a human can only do so much =/..I was also reading that the U.S is developing software too mimic the movement of some of the best fighter pilots in the world, and program it into a cerebro mechanism for next generation fightware aka "Pilotless Software"

-It's not science fiction, we have the minds,technology and resources we can do it ..

Gents...Care to list what those 'too many functions' and 'so much'? What you are saying is applicable to ordinary life that has nothing to do war.

This is beyond the often cited 'cultural resistance' by proponents of having a totally unmanned aerial combat force. The current successes of UAV are against ground targets, whose mobility are restricted to two dimensions, hence any airborne opponent is at an automatic advantage. No different than if the UAV is a blimp, except the blimp is not as maneuverable. The UAV is also not facing adversary in TYPE, in other words, so far we have no air combat kills between UAVs of opposing air forces. So any pronouncement of the inevitability of an unmanned air force is premature due to lack of valid data.

MQ-1 Predator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Iraqi MiG-25 shot down a Predator performing reconnaissance over the no fly zone in Iraq on 23 December 2002, after the Predator fired a missile at it. This was the first time in history a conventional aircraft and a drone had engaged in combat. Predators had been armed with AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, and were being used to "bait" Iraqi fighter planes, then run. In this incident, the Predator did not run, but instead fired one of the Stingers. The Stinger's heat-seeker became "distracted" by the MiG's missile and so missed the MiG, and the Predator was destroyed.

And when the current UAV faced off against a manned opponent, it lost, not because its pilot is any less capable than the MIG's human pilot, but because it was grossly overmatched in terms of aircraft capability.

The current generation of UAVs is half the cost of the current generation of manned fighters. So if the next generation of aerial combat vehicles replace the cockpit space once reserved for a human with hardware intended to enhance its lethality, it will be just as costly as its manned version. The remote human pilot will be fully aware of this fact and will not be so willing to engage a fight when so grossly overmatched as the MIG-Predator example above.

The satellite links between aircraft and remote pilot are encrypted and decrypted, resulting in a delay that can take up to two seconds between human command and system response. That is why the current generation of UAVs must be launched and recovered by local human operators before handing controls to remote human operators when the aircraft is fully airborne. Today, against ground targets who are restricted to two dimensions mobility, we can afford to this 1.5 sec delay, even when it is airborne, the third dimension allow us the physical latitude to have patience for this delay. In future wars, if this delay continues to exist between command and response for all fighters, and our adversary decided not to take the unmanned route, we could lose the war.

This is far from comprehensive of issues of concerns regarding a fully unmanned fighter and a fully unmanned aerial combat force.

 

[gambit]

Can anyone list the "requirements" a fighter should fulfill to be called as a 6th gen fighter?

There are none. There are no committees sitting around somewhere creating these lists. These labels are totally arbitrary. However, there is an unofficial agreement that when an aircraft demonstrated a clear system wide advancement in all accepted criteria and definition of the type, then its label is simply incremented. Believe it or not, the F-117 does not qualify as a '5th generation' fighter.

 

[sirius_reamus]

-It's not science fiction, we have the minds,technology and resources we can do it ..

no trollish intentions..........but mate.......your minds......as u think......consists/made up of all the d great brains from all over d world........and not USA alone..........


jst spare a minute and think......wat if......all those immigrant geniuses return to their own country.............will u still be d best/advanced???

 

[sirius_reamus]

well my idea of a sixth gen fighter wud be a sleathy nuclear powered UCAV......


hows dat??