Pentagon planners are doubling down on sixth-generation dominance, funneling billions into advanced sensing and open-architecture design to ensure this stealth powerhouse outpaces evolving threats through 2030.
By Kris Osborn, Warrior
The U.S. Air Force has requested a healthy five-year budget for research, development and testing of the emerging 6th-gen F-47, a move which makes sense given the anticipated importance of the platform.
A formal budget request submitted by the service in April calls for a massive $1.5 billion increase in F-47 developmental funds, increasing from $3.5 billion in 2026 up to $5 billion for 2027. As the aircraft continues to “take shape” and more prototypes are built, there will naturally be a large increased need for testing of subcomponents, networking, avionics and of course “sensing’ for the aircraft. Interestingly, the five year proposed budget from the Air Force decreases the requested numbers for RDT&E back down to $3.29 billion by 2030, the point at which the program will likely shift more fully into actual “production.”
There are many key reasons why the Air Force would be investing billions in research and development dollars in support of the F-47, as technological breakthroughs in the realm of networking, AI, sensing, stealth and weapons are quickly redefining the landscape. Of greatest significance perhaps, it is critical that the platform be built for “growth,” meaning interoperability. Many of the most modern and promising platforms, such as the B-21, were by design engineered in alignment with a specified set of technical standards in order to accommodate the rapid integration of new technologies as they emerge.
Open Architecture
Often referred to as “open architecture,” the approach is grounded in the establishment of interfaces and IP Protocol able to “embrace” and quickly “integrate” new weapons, sensors, software, computing or avionics as they become available. This favors the possibility that the platform will not only emerge as a superior weapons system but also exists with an ability to continuously modernize over time to “keep pace” and sustain its superiority for decades into the future. New software modifications will increase the weapons envelope, new computing and processing speed will aggregate and analyze larger pools of data across domains and otherwise incompatible systems. With new software upgrades, increments or enhancements, for example, the F-35 has massively expanded its computing, sensing and weapons capabilities, so it stands to reason that the Air Force would seek to engineer a 6th-generation stealth aircraft able to preserve its superiority for decades moving into the future.
New 6th-Gen Technologies
The ongoing R&D will not only analyze the specific areas where breakthrough technologies can exist but also engineer the platform with the technical infrastructure necessary to accommodate large breakthroughs. This will be of great significance to the F-47, given its role as a host-platform for groups of integrated “loyal wingman” drones called Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCAs). AI collection and data processing is increasingly taking place at the forward edge, so “hardening” the transport layer networks and information processing between the F-47 and CCAs will be critical to mission success. Threat data, target specifics and other time-sensitive ISR data can now be pooled, organized, analyzed and “transmitted” in milliseconds due to the integration of advanced AI. CCAs will quickly be armed with new weapons, stronger networks, faster processors and longer-range high-fidelity sensors able to merge data from otherwise disaggregated information sources.
This will only continue to get faster, more expansive, more autonomous and more dispersed across multiple domains in near real time during combat operations. This will require extensive R&D, experimentation, testing and technology maturation as subsystems increasingly become integrated and engineered for continued modernization. There will also likely be breakthroughs in the realm of stealth technology, perhaps in the sphere of thermal management, propulsion, fire-control, weaponry and, perhaps of greatest significance, computing.
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 1945. Osborn is also President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in 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