What Will a Sixth Generation Fighter Look Like? No One Knows, Says ACC Comm

[Mech]

Then I am God.

But seriously...It is not just what the '6th gen' fighter will look like, but also the technology needed to accomplish its customer's demands.

Since everyone is so interested in 'stealth', then the best shape for the lowest possible radar cross section (RCS) -- FROM ALL PERSPECTIVES -- is the sphere. The next best shape is the ogive, aka 'flying saucer'.

Didn't "stealth" get "defeated" a while ago ?

 

[OrionHunter]

No one knows because they will be invisible!

Right!

But seriously, it could be like Star Trek's, Bird of Prey, having 'cloaking' technology! Zero vis/radar signature. Super Cruise at hypersonic speeds (without afterburners). Next gen radar. Artificial Intel. Laser weapons. AND NO PILOT!! It could also have a cockpit configured for manned flight with a Holographic display panel.

Yep! It would be a AUCF (Advanced Unmanned Combat Fighter) like this one....

The cockpit with Holographic DP....

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

F-35B won't be operational till 2017, IMO, and there won't be sixth generation fighters. They be moving to UCAV after manned. UCAV can be powered by scramjet, Mach 10, too much for human body to handle, even with G suit on.

I agree. A scramjet that runs at Mach 5+ using conventional fuel is right around the corner. Certainly a UCAV is going to to be able to go faster than a human...but a Mach 5 fighter (damn you SpeedRacer) would be pretty formidable.

 

[Counter-Errorist]

Right!

But seriously, it could be like Star Trek's, Bird of Prey, having 'cloaking' technology! Zero vis/radar signature. Super Cruise at hypersonic speeds (without afterburners). Next gen radar. Artificial Intel. Laser weapons. AND NO PILOT!! It could also have a cockpit configured for manned flight with a Holographic display panel.

Yep! It would be a AUCF (Advanced Unmanned Combat Fighter) like this one....

The cockpit with Holographic DP....

Habba habba!

But why a cockpit when there isn't one to pit? I mean, it's unmanned right?!

 

[OrionHunter]

But why a cockpit when there isn't one to pit? I mean, it's unmanned right?!

As I mentioned, it is both. It can be manned for specific missions. Otherwise, it would be controlled by a 'pilot' from a control center hundreds or thousands of miles away but with full situational awareness, like this one.....

 

[gambit]

Didn't "stealth" get "defeated" a while ago ?

By US. But as long the other guys do not have the same capability, I see no problems with US continuing developing the next generation of low observable fighters. Of course, the phrase 'low radar observable' is broad enough to insinuate that there are other methods than shaping to become 'low radar observable'.

 

[Basel]

By US. But as long the other guys do not have the same capability, I see no problems with US continuing developing the next generation of low observable fighters. Of course, the phrase 'low radar observable' is broad enough to insinuate that there are other methods than shaping to become 'low radar observable'.

Is US not working in enhancing stealth to level where even planes can't been seen by naked eye & use of energy weapons? will it be incorporated in 6th gen planes?

 

[gambit]

I think long range radar will play important role in 6th gen fighter. Imagine the radar capable of 1000s kilometres, and with long range A2A missiles, this devil multi role 6th gen fighter will destroy the dozens of fighter from hundreds kilometer away.

Long range radar is problematic. The longer the distance, the greater the transmit power and the longer the operating wavelength, both giving the fighter away.

 

[Basel]

By US. But as long the other guys do not have the same capability, I see no problems with US continuing developing the next generation of low observable fighters. Of course, the phrase 'low radar observable' is broad enough to insinuate that there are other methods than shaping to become 'low radar observable'.

Is US not working in enhancing stealth to level where even planes can't been seen by naked eye (cloaking) & use of energy weapons? will it be incorporated in 6th gen planes?

@gambit what do you think about cloaking tech is it good for stealth and workable?

Quantum Stealth; The Invisible Military Becomes A Reality
.
Lockheed Cloak of Invisibility (Visual Stealth)
.
Cloak of Light Makes Drone Invisible? | Danger Room | Wired.com

 

[gambit]

Is US not working in enhancing stealth to level where even planes can't been seen by naked eye & use of energy weapons? will it be incorporated in 6th gen planes?

Affecting the visual wavelengths remains at the conceptual level. We are not talking about paint schemes to confuse the brain but about actually altering the physical attributes of light itself. A little bit on the sci-fi side, for now. Energy weapons are more feasible and we just have to be patience on how it is going to be executed.

 

[Basel]

By US. But as long the other guys do not have the same capability, I see no problems with US continuing developing the next generation of low observable fighters. Of course, the phrase 'low radar observable' is broad enough to insinuate that there are other methods than shaping to become 'low radar observable'.

Is US not working in enhancing stealth to level where even planes can't been seen by naked eye (cloaking) & use of energy weapons? will it be incorporated in 6th gen planes?

@gambit what do you think about cloaking tech is it good for stealth and workable?

Quantum Stealth; The Invisible Military Becomes A Reality
.
Cloak of Light Makes Drone Invisible? | Danger Room | Wired.com

 

[Basel]

Below are some images of basic cloaking stuff available for people which are pretty good, where US have been in this tech? I think next gen plane of US will have advance cloaking feature available to them as new dimension of stealth, which will create huge problems in WVR combat for rivals.

 

[gambit]

Is US not working in enhancing stealth to level where even planes can't been seen by naked eye (cloaking) & use of energy weapons? will it be incorporated in 6th gen planes?

@gambit what do you think about cloaking tech is it good for stealth and workable?

Quantum Stealth; The Invisible Military Becomes A Reality
.
Cloak of Light Makes Drone Invisible? | Danger Room | Wired.com

Anything to avoid detection in any/all spectrum is good in warfare. The 'workable' question is more about time, political will, and finance than it is about technology. Look at the F-117 for example. When Lockheed demonstrated what the shaping method can do, we gathered the necessary political will and finance, then compress the procurement time in order to get the aircraft deployed as soon as possible, and did it in secret.

Secrecy is paramount. Take buying a car, for analogy. If you are an average bloke like me, when you buy a car, you will be out of the car market for at least five yrs. When you buy a washing machine, unless your house burned down, you will be out of the washing machine market for about 10 yrs. Likewise for fighter aircrafts. When a country is determined to develop a fighter, political will, time, and finance will be allocated to exploit the technology available AT THAT TIME AND FOR THAT COUNTRY and that fighter will be deployed for decades. But if another country is more technologically more advanced, wealthier, and have the perception of being threatened enough to gather the political will, then whatever it is that you just developed have been rendered obsolete by that country with that new fighter.

Am not saying the F-117 rendered the world's fighter aircrafts obsolete, but I am saying that the -117 rendered the best method for long range detection -- radar -- immediately suspect. All of the world's air defense radars have been developed based upon a certain combination of wavelengths, power, and data processing protocols. Political will, time, and finance allocated to deploy them. Now the US rendered everything suspect, as in if you are going to fight US, all of your radar information is now uncertain as to what is out there. We cannot deploy the F-117 everywhere and you know that. In fact, based upon that knowledge, you can even narrow the list of vital targets that the F-117 is most certain to attack. But precisely because the F-117 was designed to render radar information suspect, and radar is your main method of detection, knowing where the F-117 will attack really does not help, as how Desert Storm showed.

But the F-117 is a bomber, despite its 'F' designator, while the F-22 and F-35 are true fighters. To date, there are no credible evidences, or even insinuations, of any deployed radar systems that can detect an F-117 class body. Detect, then track. It is very difficult to make a claim of detection when you do not have an F-117 class body to experiment upon. That is what happened with the F-117. The US had no radars that could detect it and Lockheed demonstrated it beyond doubts. Now we see the Russians and the Chinese making these claims? If it is good for foreign sales, go for it. In fact, we encourage people to believe the Russians and the Chinese. After all, it is their money and once they bought, they will be out of the air defense radar market for a few decades.

So if DARPA, working with who knows in the US, have a functional quantum cloaking technology for aircrafts, tanks, or even individual soldiers, you can bet your life that the secrecy protocols around that technology is equal to or probably greater than for the F-117 when it was being developed. We want the other guys to continue to allocate their political wills, time, and finances on existing technology so that they will be removed from developing new technology for at least a couple of decades.

 

[Esc8781]

Affecting the visual wavelengths remains at the conceptual level. We are not talking about paint schemes to confuse the brain but about actually altering the physical attributes of light itself. A little bit on the sci-fi side, for now. Energy weapons are more feasible and we just have to be patience on how it is going to be executed.

Isn't that the Boeing bird of Prey? The technology(s) demonstrated on it was integrated unto the f-22.

 

[Basel]

@gambit i was unable to find a video which i saw some years back in which US soldier in Iraq was using some kind of cloaking suite to hide and he was accidentally caught on camera while coming out of cloak on tank. That video indicates that US already has advance cloaking tech deployed in special conditions, so who knows even in future F-22 may have this kind of upgrade which US may never publicized in world.