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

[manqiangrexue]

No because the first EMD aircraft doesn't even exist right now

That's the whole joke! Some fool put up a timeframe that included the current year for service even though it's May and the aircraft doesn't have a prototype yet! At normal development pace, even 2029 is basically impossible except for the fact that Trump might demand that they rush it into production and service during his term in his honor skipping years of testing because he doesn't want the democrats to win and change it to F-48 Queerhouse or something.

 

[siegecrossbow]

It can’t be a true sixth gen if they try to rush it into service before 2030. I said the same thing about J-36.

 

[bebops]

When US got the hypersonic missile program from start to operational only take 3-4 years? People think it would have taken US a much longer time to achieve that.

I think for US 6th gen is a slight improvement on everything such as from iphone 14 to iphone 16. Not a revolutionary tech upgrade, but just a slight improvement with loyalman. The main ingredient is the loyalman drone which they have been testing many many times. With that in mind, they are able to rush out a new plane.

 

[Michaelsinodef]

When US got the hypersonic missile program from start to operational only take 3-4 years? People think it would have taken US a much longer time to achieve that.

I think for US 6th gen is a slight improvement on everything such as from iphone 14 to iphone 16. Not a revolutionary tech upgrade, but just a slight improvement with loyalman. The main ingredient is the loyalman drone which they have been testing many many times. With that in mind, they are able to rush out a new plane.

US hypersonics are operational?

Since when? ANd what is the current yearly production run rate?

 

[ougoah]

The only hypersonic glide weapon the US has managed to field is really just an MaRV which is a modernised Pershing II. This is the LRHW.

It is akin to a DF-21 or DF-15/16 variants with MaRV. LRHW doesn't match the energy density of the DF-26 series of launchers.

All of these basically have the same HGV - a double conical MaRV. This shit is 1990s tech.

The US currently still has not fielded an operational equivalent of the DF-17. China has fielded the DF-27 already and the DF-17 is ancient news in China and was revealed to public in 2019... as a platform ready to have a superior (DF-27) in testing a la J-20/J-35 with J-36 and J-50.

Okay yes the US has long been testing proper HGVs like the DF-17 but their DARPA HAWC (hypersonic cruise missile) and ARRW (DF-17 equivalent) have both been struggling and not yet ready for service.

On engines, China has been test flying various combined cycled engines, rotating detonation engines, and schramjets aka "sodramjets" for nearly half a decade on record. Scramjets have long been replaced by these other forms of propulsion for hypersonic cruise missiles and aircraft.

US is neck and neck with China, Indians like to brag about their ground lab testing of scramjets for 2 minutes firing when China and US was done playing that in the 1990s. Yes Americans have a wealth of talent resources and established industries. They can potentially catch up and outrun China in this field if they put their focus to it. In this economic and political climate, that seems less likely. Both are hurting economically but the US is hurting politically and far more fractured socially nowadays than China. This trend will continue for a long time to come. It'll be a gradual decline for the US as China is increasingly tapping into the education investments made decades ago. Even more Chinese experts in the US are returning, some by choice others forced out by the Americans themselves.

 

[ougoah]

China has beaten the US to weaponising HGVs (DF-17 first observed by US conducting as their own generals say, hundreds of flights since 2007) and possibly will beat the US to fielding HCMs. Neither have officially fielded HCMs but with China it will be held secret even if in service until the generation superceding it is in advanced testing. The US is unlikely to keep this stuff secret as they've been showing even the most preliminary experimental level material regarding advanced hypersonics - wedge HGV and HCMs, hypersonics that aren't simply ballistic missiles or MaRVs.

China has beaten the US to next generation (call if 6th gen if you want but we know we're referring to J-20 F-22 replacement generation).

China will beat the US to next generation communication equipment and full spectrum electronic warfare technologies. This is a field Chinese planners hold to be the greatest branch of a military. Without full spectrum electronic warfare dominance or at least parity, do not even bother with conventional war. Since no field is more important than this and yet we see Chinese military direction take the advanced hypersonics crown and next generation fighters for air superiority from the US, EW spectrum surely is a higher priority.

 

[bebops]

China has beaten the US to weaponising HGVs (DF-17 first observed by US conducting as their own generals say, hundreds of flights since 2007) and possibly will beat the US to fielding HCMs. Neither have officially fielded HCMs but with China it will be held secret even if in service until the generation superceding it is in advanced testing. The US is unlikely to keep this stuff secret as they've been showing even the most preliminary experimental level material regarding advanced hypersonics - wedge HGV and HCMs, hypersonics that aren't simply ballistic missiles or MaRVs.

China has beaten the US to next generation (call if 6th gen if you want but we know we're referring to J-20 F-22 replacement generation).

China will beat the US to next generation communication equipment and full spectrum electronic warfare technologies. This is a field Chinese planners hold to be the greatest branch of a military. Without full spectrum electronic warfare dominance or at least parity, do not even bother with conventional war. Since no field is more important than this and yet we see Chinese military direction take the advanced hypersonics crown and next generation fighters for air superiority from the US, EW spectrum surely is a higher priority.

I agree China is ahead on EW. China had jammed US planes and ships near the Philippines a few years ago. That had led to a brief uproar and fired a guy who was in charge. As long as China's 6th gen plane have more engines than US, it is able to generate more power to do more stuff.

Stealth is not so much an ace tech anymore because of the mass constellation of satellites. Anything is trackable from ground to flight.

 

[Andy1974]

Operational 2025-2029? Like there is a chance to be operational this year?

Recently, it seems the US considers something operational after a single successful test.

 

[siegecrossbow]

Recently, it seems the US considers something operational after a single successful test.

I told you Trump will make a great South Asian leader.

 

[Wrought]

Reuters says that F/A-XX is mired in bureaucratic infighting between Navy/Pentagon/Congress, which is why it hasn't been announced yet.

The Navy had been expected to announce a winner as early as

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in a deal that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to the winner over its lifetime, but a funding dispute threatens to derail that timeline. While the Navy wants to move forward with awarding a contract, some Pentagon officials are seeking to delay the program by up to three years, the people said, citing concerns about engineering and production capacity.

A three-year delay for the Navy would effectively cancel the program as it is currently defined, the people said, because contracts and pricing would expire during that time making a new competition almost inevitable. The Navy declined to comment. A Pentagon spokesperson said it did "not comment on internal communications and pre-decisional or deliberative information." The fight over F/A-XX funding highlights broader questions about the future of naval aviation and the role of aircraft carriers in confronting China. Delaying the program could leave the Navy without a modern fighter capable of operating from carriers in the 2030s and beyond, potentially undermining the fleet's ability to project power in contested environments.

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