Defense blogs are talking about a "6th generation" fighter aircraft. If it is not too much trouble for you then can you please explain simple folk like me what is 6th gen, how is it more efficient and the possible status of US 6th gen fighter.
P.S. - Can anybody explain the concept of "6th generation" in simple terms?
The generations things is close to being a marketing gimmick. It is solely American to begin with and it does not work for every fighter ever made to boot, by far and large.
According to this classification :
You get 1st Gen by mounting jet engines on a propeller fighter design.
You get 2nd Gen by adding a radar and possibly first gen ( 0_o ) IR missiles of the passive kind.
You get 3rd Gen by building an integrated design of the above elements ready for new capacities.
You get 4th Gen with Fly-by-wire and computer-based flight and or mission management equipment.
***
You get 5th Gen with Stealth.
You get 6th Gen by virtue of being a US maker of aircrafts designing post-5th Gen projects.
The above is a short dense version of mine but it explains why these categories are more or less useful.
In essence, the split is reasonable until 4th to 5th Gens transition. 5th Gen is somewhat valuable to one exception.
6th Gen is the US taxpayer being sold an excuse for the MIC to justify its poor performance to cost ratio.
You can argue that the very real advance of American planes
was a decent reason for it until recently.
*** It is with 4th Gen that the rationale behind the concept was born and also where it breaks down, showing its uselessness.
Take an F-16. Add AESA and voilà, 4th Gen. Although strangely, the Falcon was supposedly 4th gen prior to it?
For that reason, the inclusion of AESA a posteriori to the 4th Gen is ludicrous. To make sense, 4th gen should have remained based on relaxed stability. With FBW and computers, aircrafts could be made with designs that would naturally NOT stay in a proper horizontal position as those system would then drive control surfaces to obtain it. By designing an unstable AC, you allow it to be much more maneuverable. Done without automation, this would have required the pilot to "fight" to maintain level flight!!!
Thus, FBW and computerization of commands are the real attributes of 4th Gen.
Adding AESA to it was pure BS that ruined the value of this tier classification. As proof, a Falcon with AESA is still
4th gen by other metrics and should be called 4Gen++ heck +++++++ if you like.
This shows in a few things like : AESA was not implemented on fighters first and not even on US fighters first.
With stealth as the 5th Gen attribute, things are, so to speak, back to logic except that it should be 6 and not 5
to cover the hybrids we just mentioned in a 5th gen apart from 4th. Which is by now too late to correct.
And as the 6th gen we know of only adds better US made new toys with the sole difference of _
Optionally piloted _ making sense as generation gap, the concept has come full circle into its own a..!
Forgetting generations would help a lot save for Lock-mart's marketing.
In a nutshell, that is the point of the USNavy too which is why this thread was started?
While China develop J-20 becos its stealth feature is far superior than F-35.
Useless comment! J-20 is the answer to F-22. If it was the equivalent to F-35, by virtue of the Lighting II being 3/4th the size of it, stealth cup would almost automatically go to USA which I surmise is not what you meant?
Ferraris and RAM trucks, although both good, don't compare properly either BTW.
A lot of Americans will hate my post but F-35 is more a face saving exercise then anything of practical value. It has been a colossal waste of time and money.
Nah, the F-35 is a mistake due to the MIC not adapting to economic realities on the basis of the generosity of the US govt.
If the Pentagon had foreseen this, they'd have asked for something like the Rafale. France chose that route because it had limited financial resources already and foresaw the role that the price of tech would play in the future. Honestly, the Raffy is the most effective option today, based on the same concept of one plane doing all. The F-35 should catch up and possibly be in front but later. Why did the JSF miss so many marks hitherto?
As said & as per the saying, because the habit did not die easily of asking for everything with sprinkles.
What saves the USAF is the incredible Raptor. Picture the situation without it for fun?
The US Navy has the SH in latest Blocks which allows it to endure the delays, that's all.
And being poor ( by comparison ) saved France from making the same mistake, that's all!
F-22 was production was stopped way to early in my opinion. At least another 100 or so should have been made.
OH! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Then again, the F-22's line was cut for the exact same reason that plagues the JSF :
Ask for perfection regardless of cost or feasibility. The Raptor got the performances part right …
the tab was the problem.
The jury is still out on whether the Lighting II will even get the perfs part right?
None of this was a technical or scientific bug, just a vision one, IMHoO.
Good day gang, Tay.
P.S. Israel has a stealth producing system NOT at all based on the aircraft itself. This also relates to what Spectra is about. This would add to the 5th Gen debate but better be kept for a dedicated thread.
. The Navy hates stealth, and why wouldn't it? Navy sensors can easily detect stealth aircraft, it knows the limitations of stealth at sea, it killed the concept of stealth at sea. Add the F-35s poor performance to the mix and there is really no incentive to dropping the F/A-18 or UCLASS from the Navy's ledger in favor of more F-35s. I don't hate the F-35, but damn am I glad the Navy isn't investing too much into it.
