Mikesingh
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What would a 6+ gen fighter aircraft be like? Check it out.....
To be far stealthier than the fifth generation aircraft. It would be able to change its shape in flight, “morphing” to optimize for either speed or persistence.
Engines
Its engines would be re-tunable in flight for efficient supersonic cruise or subsonic loitering. (Hypersonics—that is, the ability of an air vehicle to travel at five times the speed of sound, or faster—has routinely been suggested as an attribute of sixth generation fighters).
Weapons
Armed with 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. These 'Speed of light' weapons, could negate the importance of the maneuverability we see in today’s fighters. There won’t be time to maneuver away from a directed energy attack. Because the DE beam shoots out at the speed of light or 186,000 miles per second!
Integrated Pulse Weapons that could fry an enemy aircraft’s electronic systems from miles away.
Materials and microelectronics technologies
These 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.
Data Fusion
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.
Embedded sensors and microelectronics
These will also make possible sensor arrays in locations that previously weren’t available because of either heat or the curvature of the surface, providing more powerful and comprehensive views of the battlefield. Although the aircraft probably won’t be autonomous, it will be able to “learn” and advise the pilot as to what actions to take—specifically, whether a target should be incapacitated temporarily, damaged, or destroyed.
Photonics
Traditional electronics will give way to photonics. There would have fewer wires, like on a multiplexed fiber-optic bus that connects all the systems, and because you can do things at different wavelengths of light, you can move lots of data around airplanes much faster, with much less weight in terms of 'wire bundles'. Fiber optics would also be resistant to jamming or spoofing of data and less prone to cyber attack.
Now that's one hell of a weapons platform!
And what would a 7th generation aircraft be like?
7th gen technology would likely be a reality by the end of this century. That would mean Cloaking Technology making the aircraft disappear completely from the visual as well as from the EM spectrum! Anti gravity technology allowing speeds in excess of Mach 50, laser weapons, total situational awareness and maneuvering with mind control sensors.
These would more likely be unmanned platforms like armed drones, remotely piloted from the safety of control centers thousands of miles away!
To be far stealthier than the fifth generation aircraft. It would be able to change its shape in flight, “morphing” to optimize for either speed or persistence.
Engines
Its engines would be re-tunable in flight for efficient supersonic cruise or subsonic loitering. (Hypersonics—that is, the ability of an air vehicle to travel at five times the speed of sound, or faster—has routinely been suggested as an attribute of sixth generation fighters).
Weapons
Armed with 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. These 'Speed of light' weapons, could negate the importance of the maneuverability we see in today’s fighters. There won’t be time to maneuver away from a directed energy attack. Because the DE beam shoots out at the speed of light or 186,000 miles per second!
Integrated Pulse Weapons that could fry an enemy aircraft’s electronic systems from miles away.
Materials and microelectronics technologies
These 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.
Data Fusion
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.
Embedded sensors and microelectronics
These will also make possible sensor arrays in locations that previously weren’t available because of either heat or the curvature of the surface, providing more powerful and comprehensive views of the battlefield. Although the aircraft probably won’t be autonomous, it will be able to “learn” and advise the pilot as to what actions to take—specifically, whether a target should be incapacitated temporarily, damaged, or destroyed.
Photonics
Traditional electronics will give way to photonics. There would have fewer wires, like on a multiplexed fiber-optic bus that connects all the systems, and because you can do things at different wavelengths of light, you can move lots of data around airplanes much faster, with much less weight in terms of 'wire bundles'. Fiber optics would also be resistant to jamming or spoofing of data and less prone to cyber attack.
Now that's one hell of a weapons platform!
And what would a 7th generation aircraft be like?
7th gen technology would likely be a reality by the end of this century. That would mean Cloaking Technology making the aircraft disappear completely from the visual as well as from the EM spectrum! Anti gravity technology allowing speeds in excess of Mach 50, laser weapons, total situational awareness and maneuvering with mind control sensors.
These would more likely be unmanned platforms like armed drones, remotely piloted from the safety of control centers thousands of miles away!
