So, Stealth Now, What next?? The truth and Speculation of 6th Generation

[jhungary]

As the world have entered the Fifth Generation Fighters. Where Stealth and Fly-by Wire are the focal point in this Class.

While the rest of the world is still catching up with the fifth Generation, as of this moment, there are no production 5th Gen flying in this world except for the USA. THe American have already start their 6th Generation Jet Fighter project.

Dubbed Next Generation Tactical Aircraft for the USAF and the Next Generation Air Dominance for the US Navy the 6th Generation is set to fill the US Military in the year between 2030-2050,. unfortunately it will not be a drone as promised.

According to FBO (Federal Business Oppuntities or FedBizOpps.gov) the contract for 6th Generation Jet fighter will have the following Speciality

-Stealth
-Enchanced Human Interfaces
-Advance advanced electronic attack countermeasurement
-sophisticated integrated air defense systems
-Passive Detection
-integrated self-protection
-directed energy weapons (lasers)
-cyber attack capabilities

Although all the related contract are currently classifed as Top Secret, but Boeing have already tender their Bid to the 6th Gen Jet Fighter Program with the FA-XX

The detail is scratchy at this moment but after asking my brother (Who is a Military Engine Engineer with Boeing, i believe they are called Proplusion Engineer) and he told me what he think the Boeing 6th Gen bid is. (He is just guessing and he is not one of those who involve the 6th Gen project)

What he think is, with now the stealth technology is reaching maturity, the stealth techonology will mostly retain the 5th Generation level. However, there will be a major upgrade on Engine,while Jet Turbine Engine will maintain idle thrust with at least 65% of the engine power while unuse, the new 6th Gen engine will be computer managed and hence perform like a automobile engine. Which translate to save fuel when the engine is cruising and use those fuel to extent the service range. The so call Linear Engine Technology has always been developing since late 90s and have certian fruit coming form the seed. We will most likely see the linear engine been use in a 6th gen aircraft

Also will have improvment is the Thrust vectoring technology, with computer control, TVT are going to be 3 dimensional (Kind of like the X-29) and able to withhold a certain degree of VTOL Capacity fully loaded.

The airframe itself will also be upgrade from the 5th gen. The airframe will be stealth, but will made from a material that adapt to the surrounding enviroment. There is a open prospect that the airfram will self-heal which act like the bladder tank that seal the hole when puncture. No information are available at the moment. The Airframe may also use a more adaptive or flexible material so it could absorb the damage done by the enemy missile.

There will also be a very big change inside the cockpit too, with newer Head up display technology, it's estimated the 6th Gen will not have dashboard, nor stick, all control are within the reach of the Pilot Hemlet and all the necessary data are pipe thru the pilot helmet as well.

The defensive mechanism will be using active counter measurement, either by DEW or cluster missile to destroy incoming enemy missile, while the latest DEW demostration show they can use to destroy a drone, it's very likely the 6 Gen will ulitise this as their defensive mechanis.

There will also be a update on the C3link and create the battlefield awareness that include all the information provided by all allied or friendly aircraft. Either using a supporting computer system to priority and attack target according to the preset priority or using a Computer/Human interface which will see the pilot did the work.

All in all, 6th Generation aircraft will be on the forefront of human technology, while act alone with only limited offensive and defensive power, but act as a group it will be act as a force multiplier. Which is what an aircraft engineer looking up for the 6th Gen Technology

 

[illusion8]

Many projects are parallely running on stealh UCAV's too, so we can see some major introductions of them too in the 2020's and 30's.

The world is struggling to catch up with 5th gen and the US is going towards the next gen. One thing we are still missing out is a live demonstration of 5th gen capabilities in a real war, we haven't witnessed that yet.

 

[Oldman1]

Many projects are parallely running on stealh UCAV's too, so we can see some major introductions of them too in the 2020's and 30's.

The world is struggling to catch up with 5th gen and the US is going towards the next gen. One thing we are still missing out is a live demonstration of 5th gen capabilities in a real war, we haven't witnessed that yet.

One of the things we are missing are projects that are happening behind the scenes that we don't know. For example, nobody knew about the stealth helo until after the crash in Pakistan. No mention of it in any forums before, no articles, videos, budgets, etc.

 

[arp2041]

I think 6th gen fighters will remove the human factor altogether & will be run by the computers, if anyone has seen the movie - "Stealth" featuring a stealth ac named EDI, can understand what am i talking about.

 

[jhungary]

i honestly don't think there will be a 5th gen war data. One need to realise by the time the first country (Other than US) fielded a full arsenal of 5th generation fighter, the US would have fully fielded the F-22 (Already done) and F-35 (Estimate on 2018) Which is 3200 stealth fighter and 28 stealth bomber.

While the rest of the world would struggle to put out 1000 stealth fighter of all sort by 2018

 

[jhungary]

One of the things we are missing are projects that are happening behind the scenes that we don't know. For example, nobody knew about the stealth helo until after the crash in Pakistan. No mention of it in any forums before, no articles, videos, budgets, etc.

The thign nis, 6th gen jet will not be uses as mean of covert op and the Stealth Blackhawk are probably 1 off covert op thing, they are not suppose to let anyone know.

I think 6th gen fighters will remove the human factor altogether & will be run by the computers, if anyone has seen the movie - "Stealth" featuring a stealth ac named EDI, can understand what am i talking about.

I don't know but 6th gen would probably uses virtual reality technology and create a full dimension battlefield to increase situtation awareness

 

[illusion8]

One of the things we are missing are projects that are happening behind the scenes that we don't know. For example, nobody knew about the stealth helo until after the crash in Pakistan. No mention of it in any forums before, no articles, videos, budgets, etc.

Totally agree, that was one impressive piece of machinery and u r right about numerous unknown hidden projects, the US is way ahead in it, and the rest can only think of following it as closely as possible. The lead is too great though.

 

[Oldman1]

Totally agree, that was one impressive piece of machinery and u r right about numerous unknown hidden projects, the US is way ahead in it, and the rest can only think of following it as closely as possible. The lead is too great though.

As well as ufos that look strange to most people who are not in the know. Back then they were oval or circular in the 50s and 60s and now they are triangular in the last few decades. Get the trend?

 

[illusion8]

i honestly don't think there will be a 5th gen war data. One need to realise by the time the first country (Other than US) fielded a full arsenal of 5th generation fighter, the US would have fully fielded the F-22 (Already done) and F-35 (Estimate on 2018) Which is 3200 stealth fighter and 28 stealth bomber.

While the rest of the world would struggle to put out 1000 stealth fighter of all sort by 2018

But a real world demo would have been great just to calibrate the capabilities, and u r right, by the time the world brings out a decent alternate 5th gen fighter US would have moved on to the next generation,
But the money spent on F35 and the delay is also justified, because the F35 in its numbers is more than enough to counter whatever the adversaries can field as an opponent to it in its maturity time frame.

 

[illusion8]

As well as ufos that look strange to most people who are not in the know. Back then they were oval or circular in the 50s and 60s and now they are triangular in the last few decades. Get the trend?

Yes, have seen a few concepts of the triangular one's, more than the air frames its whats built in is what is and will be difficult to estimate. After so many years no one's yet figured out whats in a F22, same will be the case with the next platorms.

 

[arp2041]

I don't know but 6th gen would probably uses virtual reality technology and create a full dimension battlefield to increase situtation awareness

I am talking about this one:

EDI - Eddie - Stealth Wiki

Any chance??

The film was a big flop, but i liked the concept of the ac named - EDI/Eddie.

 

[Splurgenxs]

I am talking about this one:

EDI - Eddie - Stealth Wiki

Any chance??

The film was a big flop, but i liked the concept of the ac named - EDI/Eddie.

not possible . humans needs at least a 100 years of continuous scripting and logic fine tuning to get an algo tht works on par with a cockroach;and thts the dumbest way i can put it.

THe Ai complexity till date doesn't even match tht of a mosquito ,first we need to get to the lvl of a cockroach and then maybe think about making AI tht has operation functionality the goes beyond predefined loops of human fed logic.


AI has failed to develop and i dont think it will unless a radical leap is endured.

the next step Biomechanics and bio+ electrical+mechanical joint systems, Cyborgish.

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

One of the things we are missing are projects that are happening behind the scenes that we don't know. For example, nobody knew about the stealth helo until after the crash in Pakistan. No mention of it in any forums before, no articles, videos, budgets, etc.

Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Zabaniyah]

There will also be a very big change inside the cockpit too, with newer Head up display technology, it's estimated the 6th Gen will not have dashboard, nor stick, all control are within the reach of the Pilot Hemlet and all the necessary data are pipe thru the pilot helmet as well.

No way

By the way, here is Lockheed's model:

©LOCKHEED MARTIN

Though, this article was published back in January, there are some interesting points:

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works division has revealed a conceptual next-generation fighter design that offers the first hints of an ambitious, long-term technology strategy for the new class of tactical aircraft that will emerge after 2030.

The concept - published in a 2012 calendar distributed to journalists - indicates the company will continue to seek new breakthroughs in performance despite the risk-averse culture of today's weapons buyers in the US military.

Featuring an F-22-like nose, an unusually contoured wing and nearly flat canted tails, the concept suggests a new level of speed and agility.

"Simply removing the pilot from an aircraft or introducing incremental improvements in signature and range does not constitute a generational leap in capability," Lockheed said in response to Flightglobal's questions.

"These improvements are already being looked att for our fifth generation fighters," the company added.

Instead, possible technologies for a next-generation fighter should include "greatly increased speed", more range and new features like self-healing structures and multi-spectral stealth, the company said.

Such capabilities must be supported by new breakthroughs in propulsion, materials, power generation and weapons, Lockheed said, adding some of these are "yet to be fully imagined".

Lockheed acknowledged that breakthrough performance will not come cheap.

"This will require another significant investment in research and development from a standpoint of time and money," the company said.

So far, USAF leaders have not been committal about plans for a sixth-generation fighter to replace the F-22 after 2030. The air force is instead focused on buying 1,763 F-35As to replace the F-16 and A-10 fleets. New development funding is largely devoted to fielding a next generation bomber by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, the USAF has initiated the first steps towards working on a next generation fighter. In November 2010, the Air Combat Command asked companies to submit ideas for the technologies and performance for a new fighter that would appear in 20 years. The Air Force Research Laboratory also is funding research on basic technologies that could feed into a sixth generation fighter programme.

Source: Flightglobal.

They appear to be focused on the NG-bomber:

This 6th generation fighter will take a long time to fully materialize.

I doubt if this "energy weapons" thingy has even left the drawing board. Especially considering how much power is needed to power them. And on a fighter!

They also mentioned this "self-healing structures"? Will they be bio-mechanical or something?

 

[anon45]

looks like self healing structures seem to be agreed on as a defined characteristic of 6th gen craft.

That will be interesting to see.