US To Develop 6Th Generation Fighters To Outrun Russian, Chinese Jets

Sputnik ^ | April 12, 2015

[Strategy]

The US Air Force and Navy plan to pursue the development and acquisition of sixth-generation F/A-XX fighters; they consider the fleet of existing jets incapable of handling their Russian and Chinese fifth-generation counterparts, something which they feel constitutes a real threat to national security.

The Chinese Chengdu J-20 and the Russian Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA are becoming a real threat to the US Air Force and Navy, according to The National Interest, an international affairs magazine.

"When you see these next-generation fighters, the PAK-FA out of Russia and the J-20 out of China, and some of their new missile technology, our advantage is dwindling," the magazine quotes one senior industry official as saying, without disclosing his name.

[DungeonMaster]

Well, they may be thinking about asset preservation since we will only be able to afford 25 of these new fighters.

Those 25 would probably cost more than an aircraft carrier.

[Nowhere Man]

True anytime, jamming, chaff and flares can throw your missile off course.

[beelzepug]

They will cost a trillion dollars each and be ready for their first test flight in 2045.

[Yo-Yo]

Also true when your own fire control system is trying to get a lock on its target before you even fire. And getting though jamming and spoofing takes more than an 8 bit computer with 4k of memory.

While it is true that in terms of basic performance we hit a plateau with the Century series of fighters, but today’s aircraft have much more sophisticated avionics and much more efficient engines for longer loiter times and higher dash speeds without afterburner than an F-4.

The limiting factor in the F-35 today is software development.

[TexasRepublic]

What we mostly need is a 6th Generation Commander in Chief that will confront our enemies.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, perhaps they should develop an F-22.

[NorthMountain]

Let’s cut TANF, SNAP, WIC, Negative Income Tax, Head Start, Lifeline, etc.

Then we cut EPA, Dept of Ed, BATF, Dept. of Labor, Homeland Security ...

Maybe after that, we can think about DOD ...

[Grzegorz 246]

Shouldn't they first of all order more F-22s ? Sell some, perhaps ~200 to countries like Canada, Australia, Japan, add 300 for USAF and with per unit cost should go down significantly.

[Grzegorz 246]

...with order of that scale per unit cost should go down significantly.

[hattend]

Based on the F35 timeline, these planes should be going operational about 2050. I can’t wait that long.

The US Air Force is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.

[NormsRevenge]

It won’t actually fly but instead suck opponents near it and zap em with rail guns and laser beams.

[Bailee]

China and Russia 5th gen never flying could be a win for them and loss for US.

We spend 100’s of billions on funding for a threat that never materializes.

I Rather have Several extra wings of proven fighters like the F22 and F18 E’s or how about the Typhoon.

It is published that the F22 is better in most area than the EF Typhoon. But at 361 million for F22 and 170 million for Typhoon.

Is the one F22 better than 2 Typhoons.

At and Avg cost of 180m maybe we should buy EF Typhoon instead of the F35.

Their is not an limitless supply of USD to spend.

[RinaseaofDs]

An F22 can kill five of our best gen F-15s and F-18s before they can fly into the combat box. No kidding.

Why it was dropped for the F35 is beyond me.

It may be because spies got wind of how to beat the F22 and circulated that. I know the F35 is now being considered obsolete, and the AF powers that be are calling for radical changes to the F35 to counter what’s going on overseas (China and Russia)

Frankly, I can’t sort what is real from what is a ploy for a new military program for the defense folks.

The F22, however, is the real deal. Or was.

[Krosan]

Why do you read Sputnik News? It is Russian propaganda. You can’t trust them to report accurately as their purpose is to say “Russia very strong. America is a dying beast” and to make people take a stand that is harmful to their country. They will always insert their lies into their articles. Articles might be even technically correct, but are still meant to lie by what they choose to emphasize or omit.

Here is an example from a real article from RT.

1. US military is spending a lot of money on drones
2. College students spent $2000 in materials to take control of a drone with a laptop

Both of these claims were technically correct, but RT omitted the fact that the drone students took control of was a simple one from toy store and not a military one and the fact it can be done was not a surprise to anyone. All this talk about military was inserted to make people think that military budget is worthless and be against it.

[Nowhere Man]

Also true when your own fire control system is trying to get a lock on its target before you even fire. And getting though jamming and spoofing takes more than an 8 bit computer with 4k of memory.

I worked with a guy who worked at Fairchild in the 1960's where he worked on the computer systems of the F-101 and F-102. You can always upgrade it to 16K and Level II BASIC. B-D I know to hopefully overcome any jamming, it really isn't the computer itself but also the electronics of the missile, the radar frequencies and so forth. The Sidewinder missile itself contains less electronics than a transistor radio. Don't forget, you can use the machine guns/autocannon if need be.

The most important part is the pilot. We need to account for that, all the "Flash Gordon technology" cannot compensate for a good pilot. I think we place too much faith in the bells and whistles and not only it will cost us financially but it will also bite us by getting too cocky and prideful.

It's like in Star Wars, Episode IV where the X-Wing pilots tried to shoot a missile down the Deathstar's exhaust port, the ones using the X-Wing's computer were not successful but Luke Skywalker, being a good pilot he was, was able to go to manual control and get that missile inside. OK, it was a movie (I'm just using it as an illustration) and Luke had a little help from The Force, but even so, he needed his pilot's skills to get there.

Plus if there ever was a WWIII, there will be a point where replacements for the avionics will not be available and it will come down to the pilot to fly the planes in a "dumbed down" version. We need an aviation version of a T-34 tank instead of a King Tiger.

[Yo-Yo]

And your flying T-34 gets slammed by a BVR missile before your Mark I eyeballs can even see a target.

[Tallguy]

Oh, I fully agree with the point that you made. It’s just that we see endless fan-boy posts about the Russian & Chinese prototypes wherein these aircraft get treated as being on even footing with an operational aircraft.

Prototypes are test-bed aircraft. They lack little things like weapons, radar, countermeasures and so forth. Also, a cursory look at the layout of these aircraft suggests to me that they lack all-aspect stealth. The round engine nozzles and the use of canards suggest that these prototypes trade off some low-observablility to maintain and edge in agility.

[Nowhere Man]

That’s what radar and IR sensors are for, track threats like the BVR. Hopefully, I’ll be able to hit the chaff/flare buttons (unless it is done automatically) before it gets too close. I’m just saying that if need be, we could do it with the power of a Commodore 64 that is hardened and more proven. Being economical and using off the shelf proven items does not mean going up there with nothing.