6th Generation Fighters Jet - Race

[Brainsucker]

I think 2040 is the earliest we will see 6th gen. First will be US then China then Russia. China will continue upgrading 5th gen fighters to 6th gen capabilities till then

I agree. 5th generation is still recent. While 6th generation means that they want to replace F-22 and F-35. The meaning of 4th, 5th and 6th generation mean that they're making a new fighter with newer technology that will replace their previous generation fighter. They may have some added feature, but the role will be the same as previous fighters, as they means to replace the older generation.

So whatever concept that they want to throw for their next fighter, it will fall into 5th generation category for most countries. Only Russia and US that can say that the next concept will fall into 6th generation; as they have already have 5th generation. Even for China, it will be fall into 5th generation. As for them, J-20 is actually 4th generation, while flankers etc fall into 3rd generation category.

 

[The SC]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547623361265618944

 

[dBSPL]

Projects scheduled for 2020-2040 will be the last manned fighter/interceptor jets.

While it won't be as futuristic as the illustrations here, we'll see manned jets without vertical stabilizers, of course, but these will be geared towards very limited production and specific missions.

After the 2040s, unmanned systems will begin to come to the fore in the main combat elements of the air forces.

Because this is the inevitable end. Mechanically and structurally, already existing technology is able to develop ultra-maneuverable aircrafts that are stable at G forces far above human endurance. The currently developing area is fully autonomous decision-making systems, namely deep learning and AI.

The 5th generation jets are a new combat generation that we haven't reached the full limits of yet. Some projects that are currently being marketed as 6th generation will technically have architectures belonging to this class.

 

[defencenoob]

Projects scheduled for 2020-2040 will be the last manned fighter/interceptor jets.

While it won't be as futuristic as the illustrations here, we'll see manned jets without vertical stabilizers, of course, but these will be geared towards very limited production and specific missions.

After the 2040s, unmanned systems will begin to come to the fore in the main combat elements of the air forces.

Because this is the inevitable end. Mechanically and structurally, already existing technology is able to develop ultra-maneuverable aircrafts that are stable at G forces far above human endurance. The currently developing area is fully autonomous decision-making systems, namely deep learning and AI.

The 5th generation jets are a new combat generation that we haven't reached the full limits of yet. Some projects that are currently being marketed as 6th generation will technically have architectures belonging to this class.

The US is way ahead again, the news is they have already started serial production of 6th gen
This is DARPA competition of virtual F-16 Aerial Dogfight
in 2020, check it out

 

[S10]

I highly doubt Europe/UK/Japan will produce true 6th gen fighter jets, all trying to skip a generation. The technological and engineering knowhow are built upon previous projects, which they lack.

 

[dBSPL]

The US is way ahead again, the news is they have already started serial production of 6th gen
This is DARPA competition of virtual F-16 Aerial Dogfight
in 2020, check it out

I know and I watched this live. This is a technology demonstration in a controlled simulation environment. Real combat conditions present different challenges. For example, the decision to fire an missile without human-in-the-loop is a matter of great debate at the moment.

 

[defencenoob]

I know and I watched this live. This is a technology demonstration in a controlled simulation environment. Real combat conditions present different challenges. For example, the decision to fire an missile without human-in-the-loop is a matter of great debate at the moment.

I watched it live too, I'm glad that now I can talk to people who know stuff about defence. Glad to be on this forum.

 

[tphuang]

The US is way ahead again, the news is they have already started serial production of 6th gen
This is DARPA competition of virtual F-16 Aerial Dogfight
in 2020, check it out

No they have not. They haven't even picked a vendor yet. To put things into context, it took 14 years from when Lockheed got picked for f22 project to when it actually achieved ioc. This 6th gen project is a long way off.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547623361265618944

I see nothing in there that would indicate a 6th gen design. They are going to finish development of a 5.5 generation aircraft when us and china have their 6th gen aircraft.