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

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
LOL I posted Yesterday at 8:59 PM (which indeed sounds harsh :)
under the impression the US Military, before even spending 300b on F-35s, wanted to start spending another fortune on another aircraft now
Historically the US has favored a high low mix.F14 started in 1968 with first flight in 1970, F15 in 1967 first flight in 1972. the USAF started the F16 in 1972 with first flight in 1974 the F18 was splintered off of that in 1975 and first frew for the navy in 1978.
The Navy's high F14 was 2 years in when they joined the USAF LWF program and 5 years in when they splintered it off for there low the F18
The USAF high the F15 had just flown when the requirements for the F16 ( the low) were written.

The F22 program started in 1981 with first flight of the F22 in 1997.
That's the High
The earliest form of the JSF(F35) was the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter and Joint Advanced Strike Technology program in 1993 these merged into the JSF program with first flight of F35 in 2006.
The low.

So it actually fits the pattern The Sixth gen started to be talked about back in 2008 with solid paperwork in 2010 and a project flight date around 2025-2030.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Oh Burn Shots fired...
nope. the name they chose says it all Penetrating Counterair. IE Stealthy Air dominance and even if they accelerate it it's still late 2020's F35 is soon to mid 2030's as is. And as thise keeps going part of me is more and more thinking F22 Reprocured and upgraded to C model as the PCA, F35 updated to D, E and F models with the Navy getting a new F/Axx to replace the Super advanced Mega Ultra (Boeing's marketing department needs this as they are running out of Verbs) Hornet.

Yes I do believe its more likely than it has been in long time that we may well see an F-22 B/C, its a proven airframe, with overwhelming capability, and with some F-35 avionics, low observable technology and the F-135, we would have a very significant performance upgrade and with the high-tech fuel conservation technology we could actually have a little "free lunch".

If we choose to stretch the airframe slightly, we could carry the additional fuel we need and increase our combat radii significantly. Once at altitude, you could even shut down one engine, or reduce thrust on both engines to give you the range to go all the way to the target, fire up on target and shut back down for the ride home.

With some enhanced technology the F-22 would be more than half way to 6 gen, but we really ought to build 250 to 500 airframes to replenish our High end, that's where the need will be. Seriously we could cut fuel burn significantly going high, and pulling the power back on those new tech F-135s, much better than trying to carry a lot more fuel.
 
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Yes I do believe its more likely than it has been in long time that we may well see an F-22 B/C, its a proven airframe, with overwhelming capability, and with some F-35 avionics, low observable technology and the F-135, we would have a very significant performance upgrade and with the high-tech fuel conservation technology we could actually have a little "free lunch".

If we choose to stretch the airframe slightly, we could carry the additional fuel we need and increase our combat radii significantly. Once at altitude, you could even shut down one engine, or reduce thrust on both engines to give you the range to go all the way to the target, fire up on target and shut back down for the ride home.
F135 and fuel savings are where I think ADaptive Versatile ENgine Technology program comes in, It's already being looked at for the F35 and sixth gen programs. It's a engine that can change modes. when you want it to it will sip fuel like a commercial jet giving you range for patrol, but when you want to party it goes high power.
If they can drop that into F35 I don't see a reason they couldn't drop it into F22 the only question is Thrust vectoring. if they could thrust vector it then Golden.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
F135 and fuel savings are where I think ADaptive Versatile ENgine Technology program comes in, It's already being looked at for the F35 and sixth gen programs. It's a engine that can change modes. when you want it to it will sip fuel like a commercial jet giving you range for patrol, but when you want to party it goes high power.
If they can drop that into F35 I don't see a reason they couldn't drop it into F22 the only question is Thrust vectoring. if they could thrust vector it then Golden.
That's exactly what I was talking about, my recommendation is to dispense with OVT and go for fuel efficiency and speed!
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
In my opinion Brat you want the best of both worlds.
you want the range and reach but you don't want a bomber with Air to Air missiles. You want to be able to maneuver because F22 is not a bomber with missiles F35 is not a bomber with missiles these machines can still mix it up when they need to.
 
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