6th Generation Fighter Meta Thread

a reply to: paraphi

Yeah, but the thread covers all upcoming 5th and 6th Gen programs.

French-German FCAS, Turkish new fighter , UK Tempest so now ..... it stay to come the USAF NGAD and we don't know what to expect

originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: Woody510

pix or it didn't happen.

Just for you. I might actually see it tomorrow if we get time to stop there on the way back North.
This looks even more F22 cockpit and nose wise.

a reply to: anzha





Managed to convince the Mrs to let us stop off for a bit at Cosford.

Airbus wants to use the MRTT fleet to test a data network for the FCAS program.

www.defensenews.com...

Laser encoded data transfer?Sat uplinking?Cross pollination with NATO assets and legacy aircraft?
Maybe a case of going clean slate and hope the rest works with it.

We have a new contender entering the field.

www.flightglobal.com...

OMG everything old is new again..2013!!!

The House passed defense bill. The NGAD was indeed cut back to $500M.

rules.house.gov...

Just development think tank costs or science making stuff costs?

a reply to: Blackfinger

They were on the ramp up to building demonstrators. They reset to mature technologies. Apparently, they didn't care for the results of the AOA. After spending well over a $1B. I have some suspicions, but no data to support them and it might be my personal biases coming into play as to what happened.

a reply to: anzha

i think there is a fair chance they already had some demonstrators to look at

It is what it is. Maybe the freed up funds will be invested in the LRSB FoS.

a reply to: mightmight

With the money they had, they might have been able to demo pieces of the tech, but they wouldn't get the LRSB level demonstrators. Funding was simply insufficient.

a reply to: anzha

I'm thinking more on the lines of some dusting off in a hangar out west.

The EU doesn't have yet a fully operating 4th generation fighter jet (EF-2000) , while it claims it is working on a 6th generation fighter jet, which most likely is something that won't exist at all, as the 6th generation fighters and bombers will most likely be unmanned ... The last manned military planes fighters or bombers are 5th gen. After the 5th gen. the only manned military aircrafts will most likely be limited to transport/refuel or special purposes e.g. SIGINT

originally posted by: Flanker86
The EU doesn't have yet a fully operating 4th generation fighter jet (EF-2000) ,

That is true as the EU don't have a military. Yet some European nations - notably the UK - have been successfully using the Typhoon in combat operations for some time.

a reply to: paraphi

The UK even just sent their F-35s into combat. I think, maybe, they count as 5th gen? ;P

a reply to: Flanker86
Rubbish.
EU and associated countries have been or continue to successfully operate the F-16, Tornado, Gripen, AV-8B/Harrier, Typhoon and Rafale. All of which are some flavor of fourth Gen fighter. The Typhoon and Rafale are probably more correctly referred to as a Gen 4+ and the forthcoming Gripen E is at least a 4+ if not arguably a 4++. And as was pointed out there are at least 2 or 3 EU states that are already operating the F-35 which is the very definition of 5th Gen, with more countries to follow shortly.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that 6th Gen aircraft will only be unmanned. If anything the likely scenario is that some designs "may" be optionally manned, although I think the most likely scenario is we see manned 6th Gen controlling a small attachment of loyal wingman as a force multiplier. Certainly the Tempest mock up has a manned cockpit, FCAS will probably be the same.

a reply to: anzha

Speaking of which, the RAF, USAF, and IAF just did a photo together with 2 each F-35s in flight.

a reply to: thebozeian

I just ignore him now he's clearly trolling and will eventually get banned hopefully.