By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The largely secret US 6th-Generation aircraft is already airborne, and its design has not yet been visible to the public, likely for security reasons. Preliminary design renderings offered by several US industry jet-manufacturers hoping to compete for the US 6th-generation stealth fighter program show similar “tailless” flat, blended wing-body designs with no fins or vertical structures. Designs offered by both Lockheed and Northrop Grumman several years ago show a smooth, stealthy 6th-generation plane without tails or fins.
Although the actual prototype or demonstrator design of the US 6th-gen fighter, called Next-Generation Air Dominance, is not known or publicly available, the Chinese design looks strikingly similar to those offered several years ago by US weapons manufacturers.
The Chinese state-backed Global Times newspaper cites a video in which the 6th-generation design appeared by the state-backed. Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
The paper goes on to describe the tailless, finless aircraft design as a “blended wing-body design” able to provide “higher lift, longer range and lower fuel consumption,” yet the largest advantage associated with the design is likely in its stealth capabilities. Vertical structures such as tails and fins do of course greatly help increase speed, maneuverability and an ability to vector, all with intent to reduce any radar return signature available to enemy air defenses.
At the same time, protruding or vertical structures such as fins or tails, as well as contours of weapons hanging from external pylons or weapons pods, offer more shapes and structures detectable to electromagnetic pings from enemy radar which are then able to send a return signal or rendering by “bouncing” off of the shapes. Sharp edges and tails, for example, are more detectable to enemy radar than an entirely smooth aircraft, such as the B-2, would be. This is why stealth fighters such as the F-35 fly with an internal weapons pod to create a “smooth” exterior without weapons pylons likely to generate a return radar signature to enemy air defenses.
‘The Chinese paper cites some of the engineering challenges associated with “thrust-vectoring” when it comes to an aircraft not having vertical tails.
“Without vertical tails, the new aircraft will lose out on maneuverability if it does not use other designs or technologies to compensate, like thrust vectoring control-capable engines and split brake rudders, or other innovative approaches,” the Chinese paper quotes military analysts stating.
Regardless of its stealth properties and aerodynamic design of the emerging Chinese aircraft, it does appear to be somewhat of a “copycat” of US renderings from several years ago. This would of course not be surprising to many, as there is a well-documented, public concern about the arguably “transparent” Chinese effort to rip-off, copy or use cyberespionage to simply “steal” US weapons specs.
Therefore, also not surprisingly, a description of technical plans and systems applications being engineered into China’s 6th-generation technology offered by the Global Times as far back as several years ago in 2020 appears to mirror that which is often described about the F-35. In 2020, the Chinese newspaper in 2020 says the emerging PLA Air Force 6th-gen aircraft will have an autonomous computerized ability to gather, organize and present an array of otherwise disparate pools of information for pilots.
Quoting J-20 designer Yang Wei, the 2020 Global Times article states, “a future fighter jet will generally require a longer combat range, longer endurance, stronger stealth capability, a larger load of air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, and the functionality to provide its pilot with easy-to-understand battlefield situation images and predictions.”
The emphasis of technologies engineered to provide pilots with “easy to understand” warzone intelligence aligns almost exactly with the often-discussed F-35 “sensor fusion.” In an F-35, data from 360-degree cameras, long-range electro-optical targeting, navigational details, threat warning systems and other variables such as speed, altitude and angle of approach, are all compiled, distilled, analyzed, integrated and presented to pilots on a single screen.
This kind of technical phenomenon is closely paralleled by the Chinese vision for its new generation fighter. For instance, the paper describes how, “in an integrated system, the aircraft should be able to form a network, draw real-time integrated situational images, create multiple attack routes, and transmit target information across mission areas in real time.”
At the same time, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is figuring prominently when it comes to early conceptual work and prototyping pertinent to U.S. sixth-generation stealth fighter work. Perhaps even more data, including electronic warfare, space, radar warning receivers, cyber and as-of-yet- unknown types of indicators will increasingly be incorporated into onboard AI systems. Advanced algorithms can quickly perform analytics upon a vast array of incoming information, bounce it off a seemingly limitless database and make near real-time decisions, computations and analyses. Improving the speed of decision-making and providing clarity for pilots are often referred to as “easing the cognitive burden.” These are the fundamental tenets of AI-empowered programs, therefore explaining the sought-after emphasis for a new generation of Chinese stealth fighters.
While much has been discussed regarding the stealthy exterior of China’s fifth-generation aircraft with respect to it appearing as a transparent or deliberate F-35 rip-off, less has been known about the internal technical specifics of advanced Chinese fighters. The true margin of difference, when it comes to what may or may not make a fifth or sixth generation aircraft superior to another, may likely reside in the area of AI and its impact upon computing, sensing, targeting, maneuvering and various kinds of attack tactics.
Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
