NGAD?
US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.
- Thread starter tphuang
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Wonder if this or the one in Chengdu will come out first.
That would be my guess. It has already flown and they want to have it ready for 2027 and fully in service by like 2030/32. Although it is Area 51, which basically the most storied aircraft test centre in the world, so who know how many classified planes are on the base at any one time.
OTOH, someone on another forum pointed out - except for the dimensions - it has a profile that looks an awful lot like a Gripen.
I doubt they'd be leaving top secret project outdoors unprotected in a disused airstrip. Looks like an su-27 to me, you can make out the canards.
Almost 100% US one.
Apart from all tech matters, NGAD is simply way more urgent: F-22 fleet is already in the second half of its planned lifecycle.
J-20A fleet is fresh and new (~5 years since its introduction), and well on its route to the first major upgrade within a few years.
There is a matter of other parts of Chinese fighter fleet - but they're not direct contemporaries.
With those dimensions, I would think they are emphasizing range. That airframe should be able to pack a lot of fuel.
*IF* this is the NGAD, it actually looks a little small. The USAF has been talking up the range and significantly deeper magazine as aspects of NGAD for anyone who has been paying attention. Given NGAD has been claimed to be an all aspect stealth aircraft, then everything must be carried internally.
The F-22 is 62 ft in length and the above guessimate is 65 ft. The guessimated wingspan for the aircraft is 6 ft wider than the F-22. To meet the requirements as advertised, then the NGAD should be at least F-111 sized or possibly larger.
The above could be just a demonstrator, not the final aircraft, or the requirements have been scaled back. Also, there's a possibility this is a 'prank' and it's just a Gripen under a visually distorting tent of some kind.
Unlikely for a Gripen to be in Area 51 just for some disinfo campaign.
The US has been testing "a few" prototypes for NGAD. They may be in competition and evaluation. If they work out ADVENT, that could extend the range by some margin without other methods of extending range - size, lift, and fuel capacity.
The Chinese one photographed also seem to be a flying wing configuration with no major moving surfaces. The graphics for "placeholders" in the Zhuhai airshow also seem to indicate flying wing. Basically "6th gen" is 5th gen minus control surfaces and in the US case, ADVENT. China has its variable cycle engine in development but unlikely to be as ready as the American one. Program major milestones probably 10 years behind the US? but everything trying to be done within a shorter timespan if the materials and manufacturing techniques are not obstacles anymore or mastered at a faster pace owing to number of people and teams working on those projects. Let's face it, both of them are working on blank cheque program budgets.
The US has been testing "a few" prototypes for NGAD. They may be in competition and evaluation. If they work out ADVENT, that could extend the range by some margin without other methods of extending range - size, lift, and fuel capacity.
The Chinese one photographed also seem to be a flying wing configuration with no major moving surfaces. The graphics for "placeholders" in the Zhuhai airshow also seem to indicate flying wing. Basically "6th gen" is 5th gen minus control surfaces and in the US case, ADVENT. China has its variable cycle engine in development but unlikely to be as ready as the American one. Program major milestones probably 10 years behind the US? but everything trying to be done within a shorter timespan if the materials and manufacturing techniques are not obstacles anymore or mastered at a faster pace owing to number of people and teams working on those projects. Let's face it, both of them are working on blank cheque program budgets.
If there was one there, it was for some sort of testing. It would be interesting to see if Gripens were in the US training.
My suspicion is this was something new and the US wanted it to be seen. Like how the WZ-8 was seen in Malan by satetllites (intentionally) long before it was paraded in Beijing or the Wichita and Amarillo aircraft were seen almost a decade ago in the US.
Signalling is a game of chess. Both sides show in their own ways their capabilities. This one is...interesting. It feels more like what China does than the US normally.