Warplanes: The Sixth-Generation Fighter Competition
December 16, 2022: In November China went public with its design for a sixth-generation air superiority fighter. The Chinese design is similar to those under development by the United States, Russia, Europe and Japan. The use of the term generations developed to describe the rapid development of new jet-powered combat aircraft. The first generation was developed during and right after World War II (German Me-262, British Meteor, U.S. F-80, and Russian MiG-15). These aircraft were, even by the standards of the time, difficult to fly and unreliable, especially because of the engines. The 2nd generation (1950s) included more reliable but still dangerous to operate aircraft like the F-104 and MiG-21. The 3rd generation (1960s) included F-4 and MiG-23. The 4th generation (1970s) included F-16 and MiG-29. The 5th generation, so far, consists of the F-22, F-35 and China’s J-20. Each generation has been about twice as expensive (on average, in constant dollars) as the previous one. But each generation is also about twice as safe to fly and cheaper to operate. Naturally, each generation is more than twice as effective as the previous one. The Russians had a hard time developing their 5th generation, although some of the derivatives of their Su-27 are at least generation 4.5. Other nations did the same and it wasn’t until the 2020s that there were three different fifth-gen fighters purportedly in service. There were several decades between fourth and fifth generation aircraft, which is partly due to the end of the Cold War in 1991 and China not becoming a major military power until two decades later.
China and Russia have not gone public with many details of their programs. Both have released drawings of prototypes. Like all other sixth-gen fighters, the general shape is of a flying wing similar to the U.S. B-2 and B-21 bombers. The first B-21 prototype was recently displayed and it is, as expected, a smaller and much more capable version of the B-2. Both bombers share a similar shape but with its more compact size the B-21 carries about half the weight of bombs. Smart bombs reduced the need for a bomber to carry as many bombs as the older B-2 and B-52 carry. Improved stealth and electronics of the B-21 enable it to carry out reconnaissance and air superiority missions successfully (the latter is based on its ability to destroy enemy ground-based air defenses). This makes the B-21 seem like a larger version of the B-35 fighters and to a certain extent it is. The B-21 weighs about four times more than the 30-ton F-35 and uses upgraded versions of the pilot-friendly software and capabilities of the F-35. The B-21 is designed to act as a superior SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) aircraft by carrying more EW (Electronic Warfare) systems and a lot of more decoys and anti-radar missiles. The B-21 can also carry smaller jet powered UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that also act as decoy systems. All this is very ambitious but based on the success of the B-2 and F-35, the B-21 has a good chance of succeeding.
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