US F/A-XX and F-X 6th Gen Aircraft News Thread

anzha

Senior Member
Registered Member
we shall see my young friend, actually I'm thinking your screen name should have been "Lazer MAN!", well I'm gonna be faithful to real life and remain a platform centrist man, you can't do much without a solid platform, you might end up with another F-117 which while performing admirably, proved to be far to narrowly focused to stay relevant in this dangerous new world.

The helmet sights a thing now and more than one fighter pilot has stated it'd be game over as soon as they've mutually targeted one another.

As for laser man, I prefer CAPTAIN ZAP! But, yeah, having worked on them, I can see that. But also include supercomputers, rockets, exoplanets, material science and now biopharma. I'm good and I get around. ;)

as to your popular viewpoint that the days of the furball are over, The Gents in the USAF and Marine Corp, possibly to a lesser extent the USN, (yes they did found the fighter weapon's school) are still "doing the do", you'd have a hard time selling your maneuverability is a non-sequitur, so we will indeed watch history unfold.

We will have to watch. However, there's a lot of resistance to change on many fronts: *cough*UCLASS*cough* And the furball is secksay.

Hope you are grilling something "tasty" on the Bar-B, a cousin from California told me it damn near impossible to get a good steak in Kali.... he's just North of Half Moon Bay... have a great day Bub!

One does not come to NorCal for steak. There are a million things to eat, but steak isn't the best here. If he wants to put something on the grill, have him find a tritip roast. Do it carefully. Almost, but not quite southern BBQ style. That said, there are some good small, local butchers but your wallet is one of the things that gets chopped up and served back to you haute cuisine style afterwards (cuz so little is left over afterwards). Even so, the average T bone in NM was far, far better and cheaper (!) than in California.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Fighter Generations are a bit of a hap hazard concept
The Entire first three types of fighters are skipped.
That is say World war 1 to world war 2 until the First Jets like ME262.


1. basically defined as the first of the Jets high subsonic speed. Straight wing all metal fighters with optical gun sights.
2. Transonic, Swept wing, radar sights hydro mechanical controls.
3. Supersonic, movable tails, Radar, Air to air missiles. Start of analog avionics. TV style displays. Replace steam style gauges.
4. Emphasis shift from speed to maneuver. Retains the speed of gen 3 but better able to turn. Look down shoot down advanced radar
4.5. is an upgrade to sensors, totally digital flight control, reduced RCS and multi role shift from vocal radio control to digital data exchange some degree of integrated electronic warfare.
5. Not just Stealth but integrated and advanced sensors. Data links, integrated electronic warfare capability., internal weapons carry
6. So far still super sonic not hyper sonic. Manned optional and or unmanned control node ability, Some degree of Directed energy, hybrid efficient engines,
7. Impulse engines, Phasers and Photon torpedos Warp factor 4... JK​

Features of a solid gen 4 fighter have in the past from time to time been added into a gen 3 fighter Mig21 Bison and F5 Freedom fighter are perfect case in point as long as that fighter has an airframe with some degree of inherent transitional characteristics. For example both F4 and MiG 21 are good turn and climb fighters so they easily transitioned to a pseudo gen4 with a good radar.
Gen 6 has always seemed more likely to be a farther refinement of gen 5 so it makes sense that a good gen 5 should be able to be upgraded into a gen 6. If we look at the European Concepts BAE Tempest, the German French NGF we see solid 5th gen platforms with more sensors and drone partnerships and DEW.
This would mean that for say Russia who’s fifth gen program has been plagued by development issues moving up to a “Sixth gen” would be easier. It also means that those of us who hope to see a “Super Raptor” are not a totally lost cause.
 

Brumby

Major
As I have maintained for sometime, the way forward is likely to be some form of 5th gen plus platform tethered to a network of systems rather than an unknown and undefined 6th gen platform. What is seldom discussed is the transformational nature itself of 5th gen onto the battlespace environment. Given that the Europeans (except for the UK) have little or nil 5th gen exposure, it is my view they would have a much more difficult road ahead of transforming their services through the adoption of 5th/6th gen capability. The often quoted issue of 5th to 4th communication is just the tip of the iceberg.
 

Brumby

Major
Intelligent collaborative offense systems is in my view a precursor to the system of systems future.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

DAYTON, Ohio—The Air Force is abandoning its “Gray Wolf” swarming cruise missile development program to instead funnel funding toward “Golden Horde,” an effort to get existing munitions to cooperate in combat.

Brig. Gen. Anthony Genatempo, the service’s program executive officer for weapons, said in a June 20 interview at an Air Force Life Cycle Management Center conference here that warfighters aren’t pushing for the futuristic, multipurpose weapons that entered development about a year and a half ago. Rather than seek out another cruise missile, Golden Horde would enable assets like the Small Diameter Bombs I and II, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, and Miniature Air-Launched Decoy to plan their next steps together once fired.

“If we drop a number of the same genus, let’s say, so all SDBs being able to act together, … if we dropped one and one and one and one, can the four of them act collaboratively together on an engagement?” Genatempo said.

Technology that allows military systems to assess the best way forward without human input is a growing field of research as the Pentagon eyes future combat environments where human-machine communications might be spotty or severed.

Genatempo noted his ongoing discussions with the Navy about its “Motley Crew” program, which
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
in 2017 as “a group of unmanned aerial systems that can share information and then assign tasks and make strategic targeting decisions based on available intelligence.” That effort is progressing under a consortium of companies including Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin, plus military laboratory representatives.

In December 2017, the Air Force provided Lockheed and Northrop with $110 million Air Force Research Laboratory contracts to prototype and demonstrate low-cost, subsonic cruise missiles made to defeat enemy air defenses. Five other bidders competed. Prototyping would have explored how the “plug-and-play” weapons could carry kinetic warheads, electronic-attack payloads, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors, according to AFRL.

But Gray Wolf’s prospects of transitioning to an operational program dimmed. The Air Force will finish the first of the three-phase program in June or July and scrap the remaining two stages. In about a year, it will demonstrate Golden Horde for the first time.

In March, California-based Scientific Applications Research Associates netted $100 million to demonstrate Golden Horde’s “emerging munition technologies” after outbidding other companies, according to a Defense Department contract announcement.

“The effort is conceptualized as a fast-paced Air Force Research Laboratory-led demonstration project executed under the auspices of the Team Eglin Weapon Consortium,” DOD said. “Work will be performed in Cypress, California, and is expected to be complete by December 2021.”

The Air Force did not respond to questions about the program at the time.

“What our warfighter is really interested in is, if I have a very large weapons truck like an F-15 or like one of our bombers that can drop multiple of these munitions, is there a way to act in such a way to provide better effects on targets? Or better [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] back to a command-and-control node?” Genatempo said. “We are still unraveling the onion on what that may actually mean as far as operational capability goes.”

Think about last year’s US airstrikes on Syria, including the
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
of Lockheed Martin’s JASSM, he said. That mission succeeded thanks to extensive planning: each Tomahawk and JASSM dropped at a specific time, followed a predetermined flight path, and struck a particular target.

But what if the weapons could think through those steps on their own and send feedback to other munitions and airmen?

“The first two of us that got here four minutes earlier, we actually took out this target,” Genatempo said, describing how weapons could chart out attacks. “So the two of you that were coming in behind us just to make sure, you can go to Target B. Within that four-minute flight time, there would be time to adjust to go to Target B.”

AFRL, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and weapons manufacturers are collaborating to create such a network, but Genatempo said he hasn’t taken the step of offering a company a contract to install it.

“That’s to come,” he added.
 
Intelligent collaborative offense systems is in my view a precursor to the system of systems future.

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
I skimmed over the article and it seems the Pentagon cancelled some hyped missile I hadn't heard of, and replaced it with plenty of talk plus what they called “Golden Horde” ("In about a year, it will demonstrate Golden Horde for the first time.")

(says Published on Feb 17, 2019)
 

Brumby

Major
I skimmed over the article and it seems the Pentagon cancelled some hyped missile I hadn't heard of, and replaced it with plenty of talk plus what they called “Golden Horde” ("In about a year, it will demonstrate Golden Horde for the first time.")

(says Published on Feb 17, 2019)

Neither have I heard of either program. I would suspect "Golden Horde" is about attempting to link different offensive platforms to an intelligent battle management systems to change tasking orders and update of real time target coordinates through the use of AI as the window cycles for decisions would be very time sensitive.

If I remember history correctly, the Mongols (Golden Horde) were very successful in defeating the Europeans because they were mobile and able to direct and concentrate their offensive forces effectively.
 
Neither have I heard of either program. I would suspect "Golden Horde" is about attempting to link different offensive platforms to an intelligent battle management systems to change tasking orders and update of real time target coordinates through the use of AI as the window cycles for decisions would be very time sensitive.

If I remember history correctly, the Mongols (Golden Horde) were very successful in defeating the Europeans because they were mobile and able to direct and concentrate their offensive forces effectively.
well it's total sales talk to "analyze" programs' names

what matters is if a program performs, now what - name it got
 
...
This would mean that for say Russia who’s fifth gen program has been plagued by development issues moving up to a “Sixth gen” would be easier. ...
Russian propaganda requirements

according to
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
(the last sentence in 16:45 entry; my loose translation)

include:

stealth technology improvements; [over 5Gen]

adaptive engines; [I assume this is what's meant by "fuel efficiency in all flight modes"]

optional manning;

laser weaponry; [OK, LOL]

supermaneuverability;

hypersonic speed; [the wording is "ability to reach ..."]

plus they stress the role of AI (also in
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
)
 
Last edited:
Top