The successor of the Super Hornet and Growlers.

www.navytimes.com...

I wonder what kind of shape the Navy's next fighter carrier will look like.

Probably a UAV hybrid 6th generation fighter for the Navy that can take-off vertically, similar to the F-35.

Also the replacement of F-5 and F-16 aggressor aircraft will be envisioned for 2025 according to the document.

I agree that it would be some kind of advanced UAV. I say this because I thought I read somewhere that this is supposedly that last generation of fighters that will be manned. By that i mean the ones they are testing now. It does seem a bit far fetched that there would be no "pilot" as it were.
As to the design, well it seems that they can do anything with the right software and control surfaces, so who's to say?!?

I think that remotely piloted drones will be used heavily by the military in the future.
It makes economic sense for sure. Also makes tactical sense.

Pilots are expensive to train. And if you lose a pilot you're screwed.
Lose a drone and we can send up another drone with the same pilot at the helm a few minutes later.
And the best thing about drones. The pilots don't have to be in tip top shape to pilot a drone.
Now anyone can be a fighter pilot.

I think there will still be manned fighter aircraft. UAVs can be hacked. It is not easy, but they can be hacked if they have a connection to a controller somewhere. If they operate autonomously without a controller they will need VERY good AI to react to changes in plan in the same capacity that a human pilot can. Humans aren't obsolete yet

The death of the manned fighter aircraft has been predicted many times. I wouldn't count on it going away anytime soon. There will be drones but I bet they augment rather than replace the manned strike.

I doubt it'll be vertical take off and landing either. You only make the sacrifices in performance necessary to achieve that if you have to. With big carriers the US Navy has no need to.

The replacement of the super hornet and growlers will be F-35C. As much as many don't like that idea.

I don't see the Navy funding a new unique naval fighter anytime soon due to budget pressure.

reply to post by justwokeup


The F-35 is projected to serve alongside these aircraft.

Which is a bit presumptuous, considering the Charlie won't be able to land on a carrier. The Tail-Hook design is FUBAR and will result in aircraft that will not be able to capture the cables.

That said;

I would expect to see the 'new' field of metal-impregnated ceramics (a sort of metal-ceramic composite...thing) to influence airframe and engine design, particularly in the corrosion and service life areas. With slotted replacement for the 2035-2040 timeline, we are going to be looking at project development beginning in 2020-2025 - which gives about a decade for the newly emerging field to develop (which is more than can be said about Fiberglass and its adoption into airframes in the 60s).

(Note: "Cermets" are not technically new - but it is more recently that serious attention has been paid to the development of structural ceramic-metal composites).

By this time, we could also see the deployment of directed energy weapons... which would completely change the parameters of a fleet-defense/strike aircraft. While the technology will not likely mature to the point to allow mounting on small airframes - it would likely mean that what defines an effective fighter aircraft changes considerably when a laser can lance the aircraft almost instantly from a hundred klicks.

I'm a bit surprised no one has posted this yet.

Boeing's take on the replacement of the F/A-18E/F models has been around for a little while now...on paper I might add. A quick google search in regards to next generation air warefare will garner some interesting results:

www.flightglobal.com...

The two-seat, twin-engined tailless concept jet is being offered for F/A-XX, a notional US Navy strategy that has not yet become a formal requirement. Although the image shows a tandem cockpit, Boeing says the aircraft could be manned or unmanned "depending on the missions assigned and technology maturity".

en.wikipedia.org...

The new image features a blended wing and a conventional fighter shape from the cockpit area to the nose. An older Boeing concept drawing for F/A-XX released in June 2008 featured a tailless flying-wing design. The USN revealed last year that it is considering both manned and unmanned aircraft for F/A-XX, with subsonic cruising speed and up to 50h endurance.

www.flightglobal.com...

Definately a stylish look, I will be interested to see if this still progresses forward with all of the financial issues in the world right now though.

reply to post by Aim64C


Thanks thats interesting. Hadn't heard of that before.

The concept of 6th generations fighter still has to be defined. But i guess this jet fighter will have directed energy weapons—high-powered microwaves and lasers for defense against incoming missiles or as offensive weapons themselves. Munitions would likely be of the “dial an effect” type, able to cause anything from impairment to destruction of an air or ground target.

Materials and microelectronics technologies would combine to make the aircraft a large integrated sensor, possibly eliminating the need for a nose radar as it is known today. It would be equipped for making cyber attacks as well as achieving kinetic effects, but would still have to be cost-effective to make, service, and modify.

Moreover, the rapid advancement of unmanned aircraft technologies could, in 20 years or so, make feasible production of an autonomous robotic fighter. However, that is considered less likely than the emergence of an uninhabited but remotely piloted aircraft with an off-board “crew,” possibly comprising many operators.

Not clear, yet, is whether the mission should be fulfilled by a single, multirole platform or a series of smaller, specialized aircraft, working in concert.The pilot will see wide-ranging, intuitive views of “the extended world” around the aircraft. The aircraft will collect its own data and seamlessly fuse it with off-board sensors, including those on other aircraft. The difference from fifth generation will be the level of detail and certainty—the long-sought automatic target recognition.

Fiber optics would also be resistant to jamming or spoofing of data and less prone to cyber attack. Pulse weapons could also fry an enemy aircraft’s systems—or those of a ground target.With an appropriate engine—possibly an auxiliary engine—on board to provide power for directed energy weapons, there could be an “unlimited magazine” of shots.

Hypersonics, has routinely been suggested as an attribute of sixth generation fighters, but the industry leaders are skeptical the capability will be ready in time.

While there have been some successes with experimental hypersonic propulsion, the total amount of true hypersonic flying time is less than 15 minutes, and the leap to an operational fighter in 20 years might be a leap too far.

It entails a whole new range of materials development, due to ... sensors, fuzes, apertures, etc., all of which must operate in that intense heat environment at ... Mach 5-plus.

Because of the extreme speed of hypersonic platforms and especially directed energy weapons, it will be critical to have “persistent eyes on target” because speed-of-light weapons can’t be recalled “once you’ve pulled the trigger,” and even at hypersonic speed, a target may move before the weapon arrives. That would suggest a flotilla of stealthy drones or sensors positioned around the battlefield.

Not only will hypersonics require years more work, it must be combined with other, variable-cycle engines that will allow an aircraft to take off from sea level, climb to high altitude, and then engage a hypersonic engine. Those enabling propulsion elements are not necessarily near at hand in a single package.

Originally posted by grey580
I think that remotely piloted drones will be used heavily by the military in the future.
It makes economic sense for sure. Also makes tactical sense.

Pilots are expensive to train. And if you lose a pilot you're screwed.
Lose a drone and we can send up another drone with the same pilot at the helm a few minutes later.
And the best thing about drones. The pilots don't have to be in tip top shape to pilot a drone.
Now anyone can be a fighter pilot.

Agreed. Our aircraft's abilities long ago exceeded human endurance for g-forces. A high-performance U(Combat)AV would easily out perform manned craft in a dogfight. Speed, acceleration and high g-maneuvers would make humans obsolete in aerial, plane-to-plane combat.

Most likely going to be variants of aircraft already out.Maybe the F-35 or maybe A drone
who knows

For EW roles I can see an UAV variant taking over that. Possibly even a mix between UCAV and manned craft for strike and CAS roles. But air superiority will have to remain in the realm of manned systems, if only for true situational awareness in a dogfight is key. Unless there is a major leap in AI and/or VR/AR systems in relation to operating UCAV's the dogfight will belong to the manned mission realm for the forseeable future.