TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
All indications are that the divergence between fifth and sixth generation aircraft is immigration of directed energy weapons, AI level computers and a more efficient engine.The F-35 has a projected service life until 2070 with delievers of new F-35 until at least 2037. Saying that a stealth fighter of the 5gen group in 2020 is too late is absurd at best.
Even ignoring the fact that 5gen is just an umbrella term and significant improvement happened from the F-22 to F-35 in avionics and EW, the same will be applied to other aircraft in the same gen.
I expect 5.5 or true sixth generation aircraft to some form of thrust vectoring. But the heart of the system will be changes in lethality, moving to long range yet more compact missiles, use of lasers and a computer interface more like R2D2 then simple displays.There are currently NO six gen prototypes, lots and lots of drawings, tailess, pilotless, blah, blah, blah, but no aircraft. In my professional opinion, there isn't even a clear set of parameters that define what a six-gen would be/could be, so for now we should be looking to do a 5.5 gen with the Raptor or YF-23 upgrade proposal here in the US.
This should be a priority using the latest very fuel efficient technology, pushing the performance envelop with Stealth and higher Supercruise, forget OVT, that's yesterday, and will ultimately compromise our speed and L/O!