The U.S. Air Force is embarking on the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, which aims to build a network of 6th generation warplanes, sensors and weapons that will fight alongside unmanned aircraft, rather than single warplanes or technology alone, to override the air power of the People’s Liberation Army. The U.S. Air Force’s latest biennial acquisition report features a suspected hypothetical 6th generation fighter with a structural appearance that is different from the current 5th generation fighters (F-22, F-35).
The most unusual part of the report is the paragraph introducing the NGAD, which appears to be a different configuration from the current aircraft, with a flatter appearance, a triangular shape in top view, and a pair of V-shaped droop tails, and air intakes designed above the fuselage, quite like the B-2 and F-117A.
The picture shows an aircraft with a high degree of modularity, the engine and landing gear can be replaced more quickly, saving time for logistics maintenance, and the internal bomb bay can be fitted with a variety of missiles.
The U.S. has so far announced two next-generation air superiority programs: the F/A family of fighters for the Air Force and Navy, which will eventually replace the current F/A-18E/F “Super Hornet” fighters. Last September, the U.S. Air Force announced that a full-scale prototype of the NGAD program’s sixth-generation fighter had completed test flights. According to the U.S. Army’s Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan, released in 2016, the fighter is one of at least two Gen 6 fighters currently under development.
The NGAD plan will also force China to accelerate the development of next-generation warplanes. Military sources familiar with China’s next-generation fighter development plans point out that Chinese fighter designers are following the U.S. military’s NGAD program closely while planning to develop next-generation fighters, but so far only for the Air Force, not the Navy, calling them “background planes”; however, due to the lack of However, due to the lack of relevant parameters and standards, the development progress of the “background plane” is full of questions.
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