Airforces phantoms at andravida

for the F-22A Raptor and the-then X-35 Joint

Strike Fighter (JSF), the ability to supercruise

(to reach and sustain significant supersonic

speed without recourse to afterburner) and

super-manoeuvrability were said to be defining

capabilities. But both of these features were

quietly dropped from the checklist of what

constituted this class of fighter when it became

clear that the JSF would be unable to achieve

either! Stealth, fused sensors and connectivity

then became the key distinguishing features.

Stealthy fifth-generation fighters have

become central to USAF doctrine, connecting

electronically both to each other and to advanced

UCAVs and legacy aircraft and allowing the force

to shape a distributed air operations capability

even when operating in contested airspace.

By using and fusing onboard and networked

offboard sensors, the pilots of fifth-generation

fighters gain an unmatched and consolidated

situational awareness of the battlespace. The

synergy of stealth, sensor fusion, automatic target

tracking and complete situational awareness

allows these aircraft to roam anywhere in the

battlespace – even within sophisticated integrated

air defence system (IADS) environments.

The case for stealth

For ‘first-night-of-the-war’ missions, a low-

observable platform is of course useful for

‘kicking down the door’ by destroying an

enemy’s IADS. But if accompanying unmanned

assets are going to penetrate the most heavily

defended airspace there may be no need for a

manned fighter to have a very low radar cross-

section (RCS) from every aspect, and there may

be other ways of achieving the same effect.

The recent US-British-French operation

against suspected Syrian chemical weapons

facilities were undertaken on the assumption

that Russian surface-to-air missiles and radars

in the area could intervene. But rather than

using fifth-generation assets, conventional,

non-stealthy attack aircraft were used, armed

with stealthy long-range cruise missiles.

Similarly, very high levels of agility may not be

necessary if all-aspect weaponry and sighting

systems are sufficiently effective and reliable.

Tomorrow’s fighters will be armed with a new

generation of weapons, perhaps including

missiles capable of reaching hypersonic speeds,

and potentially even including directed-energy

weapons, which damage a target using a ‘beam’

of highly focused laser, microwave or particle

beam energy. Such weapons will require huge

electrical power-generation capabilities, and

will pose a real thermal management challenge,

adding to that caused by new sensors and

avionics systems. They are unlikely to have

sufficient performance to be of much use for

long-range offensive use but could conceivably

be useful for short-range engagements.

Putting every capability on every platform would

be prohibitively expensive, and many air forces

require ‘mass’ as well as capability. Increasingly,

customers want to ‘break the cost curve’,

Beyond the fi fth generation

64 // DECEMBER 2018 #369 http://www.airforcesmonthly.com

Above: Northrop Grumman presented this concept

of a future fi ghter in an ad shown during the

Super Bowl in February 2016. Noteworthy are

the high degree of wing sweep, high-mounted

air intakes for low observability and a forward

fuselage somewhat reminiscent of the company’s

YF-23. Northrop Grumman Right: Shown in US Navy

markings over a supercarrier, this is a vision of

a Northrop Grumman sixth-generation fi ghter

design. Company offi cials have spoken of the

importance of resilience to cyber-attack and hinted

at the possibility of sacrifi cing all-out speed for

increased endurance. Northrop Grumman

This Boeing concept for a single-seat canard-

equipped F/A-XX fi ghter emerged in 2013. At the

time, the company was pitching the tailless twin-

engine stealth fi ghter in manned and unmanned

forms. The design features diverterless supersonic

inlets (DSI) similar to those on the F-35. Boeing