The united states which has developed
and deployed two stealth fighter types
and countries that have skipped or given
up on their attempt to build fifth
generation's jets. These ladder countries have concluded
that doing so is so time consuming and
expensive that it makes more sense to
focus on tomorrow's technology than try
to catch up with today's.
The air force's penetrating counter a
long long-range stealth fighter to
escort stealth bombers and the navy's FAXX. So far boeing, lockheed martin and
northrop grumman have unveiled sixth
generation concepts.
Stealth and beyond visual range missiles
are here to stay
The various sixth generation concepts
mostly feature many of the same
technologies. Two critical characteristics of fifth
generation fighters will remain
centrally important to the sixth. Stealthy airframes and long-range
missiles.
Additionally stealth jets also
steeply outperform non-stealth aircraft
in aerial war games. Thus, low radar cross sections and radar
absorbent materials will be a necessary, but not sufficient feature of six
generation fighters.
Some theorists argue that stealthy
airframes may eventually be rendered
obsolete by advanced sensor technology
and stealthy airframes can't be upgraded
as easily as avionics and weapons. Therefore jamming electronic warfare and
infrared obscuring defenses will also
rise in importance.
Beyond visual range missiles will remain
a key technology, extent missiles like the AIM-120D can already hit targets over 100 miles
away, but realistically must be fired
much closer to have a good chance of a
kill against an agile fighter-sized
target.
Awesome X-Ray Vision Pilot Helmets
The F-35 has pioneered sophisticated
helmet-mounted displays that can see
through the airframe for superior
situational awareness, display key
instrument data and target missiles via
a helmet mounted site, although that last
technology as decades old.
Though these helmets currently have
significant teething issues they will
likely become a standard feature in
future fighters possibly supplanting
cockpit instrument panels. Voice activated command interfaces may
also ease the hefty task load expected
of fighter pilots.
Larger airframes more efficient engines
As air bases and carriers become more
vulnerable to missile attacks, warplanes
will need to be able to fly longer
distances and carry more weapons while
doing so, which is difficult when a
stealth jet must rely solely on internal
fuel tanks and weapons loads.
The natural solution as a larger plane, as air forces expect within visual range
aerial dogfights to be rare and possibly
mutually suicidal. They are showing a
greater willingness to trade off
maneuverability to emphasize high
sustainable speeds and a greater payload.
These design imperatives may gel well
with the development of advanced
adaptive g variable cycle engines that
can alter their configurations
mid-flight to perform better at high
speeds, like a turbo jet or more fuel
efficiently at low speeds like a high
bypass turbo fan.
Optionally Man
For several decades air power theorists
have forecast a transition to crewless
combat jets which won't have to bear the
added weight and risk to life and limb
necessitated by a human pilot. However while drone technology has
proliferated by leaps and bounds in that
time, navies and air forces have been
slow to explore pilotless fighters. both
because of the expenses and risks but
also likely for cultural reasons.
For example u.s navy pilots successfully
lobbied to repurpose a planned
carrier-based stealth attack drone into
a tanker to refuel manned aircraft. Sixth generation concepts are therefore
advancing the idea of an optionally
manned aircraft that can fly with or
without a pilot on board.
This has the shortcoming of requiring
additional design effort to produce an
airplane that will still have the
downsides and expensive training
requirements of a manned airplane. However, optional manning may help ease
the transition to an unmanned fighter
force and on the short term give
military leaders the possibility of
deploying aircraft on high-risk missions
without risking pilots lives.
Sensor fusion with friendlies on the
ground, sea, air and space
One of the F-35s key innovations as its
ability to soak up sensor data and share
it via data links to friendly forces, creating a composite picture. This could allow a stealth aircraft to
ride point and ferret out adversaries, while friendly forces maneuver into
advantageous positions and sling
missiles from further back without even
turning on their radars.
Because this tactic promises to be such
a force multiplier, fused sensors and
cooperative engagement will become a
standard feature of six generation jets
and the fusion will likely be deepened
by integrating satellite and even drones
deployed alongside jet fighters.
Cyber warfare and cyber security
Sensor, fusion and optional manning
however imply that six generation jets
will rely heavily on data links and
networks which could be disrupted by
jamming or even invaded through hacking.
Ground-based logistics networks
Such as
the f-35s alleys, promise significant
improvements in efficiency but also
expose even landed aircraft to potential
cyber attack. Thus, sixth generation avionics systems
not only must be designed for resilience
versus electronic and cyber warfare, but
may be capable of launching such attacks
on adversaries.
For example the air force has
successfully tested the ability to
invade networks and insert data packets, a capability of the navy's fighter born
next generation jammer.
Artificial Intelligence
One problem is that all of these sensor, communication and weapon systems have
become so complex that they threaten to
exceed the task processing ability of
the human brain remember. The pilot also
has to fly the plane.
While some fourth generation jets
incorporated a back seat weapon systems
officer to help out, fifth generation
stealth fighters have all been single
seaters. Thus, air forces are turning to AI to
handle more mundane tasks of fighter
management and determine which data
should be presented to the pilot. furthermore ai and machine learning may
be used to coordinate drones.
Drones and drone swarms
In october 2016
2 F/A-18 Super Hornet deployed 103 perdix
drones in a test over china lake. You can
watch the video on you tube how it works.
Animated by an ai hive mind
the drone
swarmed down like a cloud of locusts
over a designated target point. kamikaze drones have already been used
in action and it is easy to see how
relatively small and cheap drones could
become a particularly terrifying weapon.
Directed energy weapons
Swarms of drones, missiles and even
obsolete jet fighters can threaten to
over saturate an advanced stealth jets
offensive and defensive capabilities. one commonly cited countermeasure may be
directed energy weapons.
Thus, such as
lasers or microwaves which can be fired
quickly, precisely and with a ni
limitless magazine capacity given
sufficient electricity.
