Concept art for Lockheed's 6th gen fighter jet leaked from calendar

[Mr Butlertron 10]

I already put in a request for it in the Arma3 thread but I'm there are plenty of military nuts who want to fantasise over it.

http://defensetech.org/2012/01/05/lockheeds-6th-gen-fighter/

Flight Global’s Steve Trimble pulled a coup the other day when he pulled Lockheed Martin’s 2012 holiday calendar out of his trashcan and discovered this beauty gracing the month of February.

Yup, she’s apparenlty Lockheed’s concept for a post 2030 F-22 replacement that would “provide the next quantum leap in capabilities for the next generation of fighters.â€

This quantum leap will be so big that it “will be driven by game changing technological breakthroughs in the areas of propulsion, materials, power generation, sensors, and weapons that are yet to be fully imagined,†Lockheed tells Trimble. This tells me the jet that will someday replace the F-22 won’t be a replica of the plane shown above. That drawing is merely meant to show that the company is already working on 6th-gen fighters.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Well, its pretty anyhow :D

..... so what will the UAV version look like? ;)

[sakura_chan 9]

There is no such thing as 5th or 6th generation fighters. "5th Generation" was just a silly marketing buzz word used to sell the F-22.

[maddogx 13]

There is no such thing as 5th or 6th generation fighters. "5th Generation" was just a silly marketing buzz word used to sell the F-22.

What actually constitutes a generational jump in fighter tech anyway? It always seemed pretty arbitrary to me, so if you say there is "no such thing as n'th generation" I assume there must be some strict definition of which I am not aware.

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

1st Generation = Biplanes

2nd Generation = P-51

3rd Generation = F-86?

4th Generation F-16

5th Generation F-22?

[max power 21]

It would be weird if the f-16 and the f-104 or the f-86 and the f-104 were in the same generation.

edit: Wikipedia claims these generation categories only apply to jets.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Max Power

[NacroxNicke 11]

Looks like the more slim the jets are, their generation is further

[rangerpl 13]

These are the defining characteristics:

1st Generation: The first jet fighter aircraft, most likely with turbojet engines and no wing sweep, introduced during or immediately after WWII. Examples: F-80 Shooting Star, Gloster Meteor, Messerschmidt Me-262 Schwalbe

2nd Generation: New, primarily subsonic jets designed after WWII - until the mid 50s, featuring swept wings, more efficient propulsion and early electronics. Examples: F-86 Sabre, MiG-15, MiG-17 and Hawker Hunter.

3rd Generation: First generation of supersonic jets designed in the late 50s - 60s with speed and altitude in mind. Featured the first laser guided bombs as well as IR and radar guided air to air weapons and improved electronics such as radar and analog avionics. Examples: F-4 Phantom, F-105 Thunderchief, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-25, Su-22, English Electric Lightning.

4th Generation: Jets designed based on lessons learned in air combat during Vietnam and in the Middle East after 1975, featuring a new emphasis on maneuverability. Featured the first solid-state electronics, Fly By Wire and digital avionics as well as more precise and reliable weapons. Examples: F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, MiG-29, Su-27, Panavia Tornado.

4.5th Generation: Designed in the 90s as a cheaper alternative to 5th Generation jets, featuring even newer avionics and a greater emphasis on multi-purpose utility. Examples: F-16 Block 50+, F-15E, F/A-18E Super Hornet, Su-35, MiG-35, Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale.

5th Generation: The first fighters with stealth capabilities, incorporating everything from 4th generation aircraft. Examples: F-22 Raptor, Sukhoi PAK FA, F-35.

The "generations" are mainly a way to group aircraft by era and general common characteristics.

[sakura_chan 9]

The "generations" are mainly a way to group aircraft by era and general common characteristics.

I was just pointing out that jets weren't categorized by generations until the F-22 was marketed as 5th generation. Its weird to retroactively label things like that. When Home Alone 2 came out, Home Alone didn't become Home Alone 1, right? Normally aircraft were placed into era categories based on the current war. ei WWI planes, Vietnam era, Desert Storm. Maybe because there weren't any large wars going on at the time, they were forced to use generations to define it.

[icebreakr 3100]

5th Generation: planes that can be brought down with a modified SA-3 Goa AA system that is in production since 1963 ;)

[Variable 322]

Isn't the "next generation" suppose to be unmanned?

[max power 21]

Normally aircraft were placed into era categories based on the current war. ei WWI planes, Vietnam era, Desert Storm. Maybe because there weren't any large wars going on at the time, they were forced to use generations to define it.

I think in the 70s or 80s or something they started to categorize them by their F-Numbers. I guess similar numbers meant similar capabilities, for instance, the F-teens (F-14, F-15, F-16, etc) , the Century series F-10x (F-101, F-104), and so on. These would denote some kind of similarity in technology. I guess if you want to use buzz words like 'next generation', you have to start defining what a 'generation' is by looking at what previous examples of fighter generations might be. Supersonic vs. subsonic, radar vs. no radar, missiles vs. guns (or nuclear tipped, dumb fire, air to air rockets :|)

Edited January 10, 2012 by Max Power

[dysta 10]

Question, there's TWO standards of the generations for fighter jets, the NATO have fours while Russian Counterparts are fives. How could we define these current jets into these catalogs, as well as what we use mostly for more accurate comparison?

[max power 21]

Inception date, role, features, and capabilities. Generation is an arbitrary (marketing) category. We can see this now that they've had to accept the a generation 4.5.

[viper[cww] 14]

Looks alot like china's take on the F-22A (The J-20)

---------- Post added at 18:17 ---------- Previous post was at 18:14 ----------

Looks like the more slim the jets are, their generation is further

The complete oppositie to human beings eh. :D

[max power 21]

Actually I think the 2nd generation had the slimmest fighters.

[reconteam 19]

That's damn cool looking. For somebody with an interest in aviation the glacial pace of development these days is depressing.

Of course we're going to be worrying about the F-22's successor much sooner than we should have thanks to the foolish decision to cut production and development of the Raptor.

[max power 21]

I like one of the comments under the article on that page.

"Nice pic of the yf-23... oooopps!"

[Star Four One 10]

There is no such thing as 5th or 6th generation fighters. "5th Generation" was just a silly marketing buzz word used to sell the F-22.

If you were informed, you wouldn't make posts like these.

When the Viper came to fruitation the same exact "marketing buzz" was used, as with previous airframes that were technologically superior to it's predecessors.

The Raptor isn't JUST another a/c. It's the next generation of lessons learnt in a technological and ever changing dynamic battlefield.

[max power 21]

If you were informed, you wouldn't make posts like these.

When the Viper came to fruitation the same exact "marketing buzz" was used, as with previous airframes that were technologically superior to it's predecessors.

The Raptor isn't JUST another a/c. It's the next generation of lessons learnt in a technological and ever changing dynamic battlefield.

I think maybe you're not reading Sakura Chan correctly ;)

Of course every new aircraft that is developed to replace an old one is bound to be superior. What you're missing here is the arbitrary division of generations. Why 5 instead of 6, or instead of 4? There weren't any generational divisions before the Raptor came out, so obviously people started dividing aircraft into generations to sell Raptors... period. No one was selling the F-15 Eagle as a 4th generation fighter. And, these fighter generations are applied to Russian aircraft as aswell, who have a totally different system for categorizing fighter generations... then they had to go back and retcon the fighter generations and create a mezzanine generation 4.5 because the categories they chose previously were obviously not selling enough Silent Eagles and shit.

Arbitrary category is arbitrary.

[rangerpl 13]

I think maybe you're not reading Sakura Chan correctly ;)

Of course every new aircraft that is developed to replace an old one is bound to be superior. What you're missing here is the arbitrary division of generations. Why 5 instead of 6, or instead of 4? There weren't any generational divisions before the Raptor came out, so obviously people started dividing aircraft into generations to sell Raptors... period. No one was selling the F-15 Eagle as a 4th generation fighter. And, these fighter generations are applied to Russian aircraft as aswell, who have a totally different system for categorizing fighter generations... then they had to go back and retcon the fighter generations and create a mezzanine generation 4.5 because the categories they chose previously were obviously not selling enough Silent Eagles and shit.

Arbitrary category is arbitrary.

I think it's because the generations represent distinct eras and mindsets on part of aircraft designers. For example, 3rd generation represented obsession with speed, where big, heavy aircraft like the F-4 and MiG-25 were expected to engage enemy targets at speeds in excess of Mach 2 using guided missiles. Distinct from 4th generation because 4G planes had a renewed emphasis on maneuverability and distinct from 2nd Gen because 2G planes were still designed to engage in World War II-style combat.

[max power 21]

Second generation fighter jets like the English Electric Lightning, and F-106 were hardly designed for World War 2 combat. Those are very fast aircraft designed for missile combat... much the same way you describe 3rd generation fighters... hmmm...

I think you'll probably find quite a bit of overlap between the arbitrary fighter generations.

[rangerpl 13]

The Lightning and F-106 are third-generation aircraft. I described 3rd Generation as fast aircraft designed for missile combat and that's exactly what they are.

I guess these are pretty arbitrary and you can't really group aircraft so easily, but the "generations" provide a good way to group aircraft by era and developers' mindset.

[max power 21]

Sorry bud, they are second generation fighters... Aircraft in service between 1956 and 1960 are second generation... or perhaps the english designed a third generation fighter to replace their first generation fighters and skipped a generation? Or maybe this generation thing is just full of crap and actually not really that useful at all?

[rangerpl 13]

Sorry bud, they are second generation fighters... Aircraft in service between 1956 and 1960 are second generation... or perhaps the english designed a third generation fighter to replace their first generation fighters and skipped a generation? Or maybe this generation thing is just full of crap and actually not really that useful at all?

Interesting... I just looked it up and you're right.

But, again, you're defining these "generations" too strictly. It's just a way to look at similar aircraft in an apples-to-apples comparison.