New footage has for the first time provided a close look at a sixth generation air superiority fighter being developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation for the
Its an older graphic but it lays out the first five pretty well. One should note that there is some overlap, especially between 4th and 5th gen. Sometimes people will use the term “4.5th gen” to describe highly capable modern aircraft that lack stealth or another characteristic of 5th gen. As of right now what makes a 6th gen a 6th gen is unclear, but its assumed that theyll have stealth, some degree of autonomous operation and the ability to act as a command center for drones. The latter may become their primary purpose depending on how “loyal wingman” UCAV development and implementation goes.
The duo seat J-20S (only two seater 5th gen), will probably have UCAV loyal wingman aswell. Some of those big stealthy UCAV we saw in the last parade will be loyal wingman.
Its going to be very hard to declare what 6th gen is without thorough battleground testing, as even the war in Ukraine has upended what a full scale conflict will look like and what role for an airforce the modern battlefield has at all.
Its an older graphic but it lays out the first five pretty well. One should note that there is some overlap, especially between 4th and 5th gen. Sometimes people will use the term “4.5th gen” to describe highly capable modern aircraft that lack stealth or another characteristic of 5th gen. As of right now what makes a 6th gen a 6th gen is unclear, but its assumed that theyll have stealth, some degree of autonomous operation and the ability to act as a command center for drones. The latter may become their primary purpose depending on how “loyal wingman” UCAV development and implementation goes.
The duo seat J-20S (only two seater 5th gen), will probably have UCAV loyal wingman aswell. Some of those big stealthy UCAV we saw in the last parade will be loyal wingman.
Its going to be very hard to declare what 6th gen is without thorough battleground testing, as even the war in Ukraine has upended what a full scale conflict will look like and what role for an airforce the modern battlefield has at all.