By Kris Osborn, Warrior
Unprecedented stealth and speed, AI-enabled sensing and computing, long range attack mission capability and the ability to operate multiple drones from the cockpit … are a few of the many attributes likely woven into the mysterious and largely “black” F-47 6th-Gen stealth fighter.
Most of the details related to these capability questions are not likely to be available for important security reasons, yet the Pentagon, Trump administration and Air Force have publicly offered some extremely relevant “hints” or “ideas” about the aircraft.
As expected, some are likely to raise concerns about the “cost” of such a platform, something which raises important questions of great relevance to national security. Of course costs should be considered, and making a smart decision to build a “large” fleet in bulk would lower prices … yet it seems the US simply cannot afford “not” to build large numbers of the F-47. There are many reasons for this, one of which simply relates to recent sightings of China’s emerging 6th-gen aircraft such as the stealthy looking fighter-bomber J-36 aircraft and PLA’s fast-growing fleet of J-20s.
F-47 Speed of Mach 2
The F-47 aircraft will hit speeds of at least Mach 2, President Trump announced earlier this year upon the naming of the new jet. This is something which comes as little surprise, given that the F-22 has shown it can travel at speeds of at least Mach 2.25; the US F-22, Russian Su-27 and F-15 are all fighters capable of traveling faster than Mach 2, so it seems feasible that the F-47 will be faster than all of them. Therefore, it would not be surprising if the F-47 were capable of reaching levels of speed and agility well beyond that of the “F-22,” as hinted by the President.
The speed of the F-47 will be massively complemented by surrounding drones, called Collaborative Combat Aircraft controlled from the cockpit. A manned F-47 will operate forward positioned unmanned systems capable of blanketing high-threat areas with surveillance, testing enemy air defenses and launching attacks with human supervision. Many of these CCA’s already exist and they will likely be networked to quickly transmit time-sensitive combat info to the F-47 cockpit.
Fastest Stealth Fighter Ever?
A new generation of speed and agility would potentially introduce paradigm-changing advantages in several key respects. Speed not only enhances air dominance as it enables advanced levels of dogfighting and air-to-air engagements, but it also greatly improves survivability as a faster jet is more likely to outrun air attacks and be much less detectable to enemy air defense radar. When coupled with agility and the ability to “vector” successfully, speed becomes an air combat multiplying advantage. The concept is to maneuver to advantage, and be ahead of, or inside an enemy’s decision cycle, something famously called OODA, for Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action.
F-47, AI and the OODA Loop
Articulated years ago by a famous US Air Force pilot John Boyd, the famous OODA is now a classic term describing critical parameters of air-attack and dogfighting success. It seems entirely realistic that the new F-47 will be capable of maneuvering into an advantageous or superior attack position faster than any adversary it might encounter. There are advantages beyond dogfighting prowess associated with the OODA Loop as well, as some war futurists have suggested that new generations of sensor fidelity and precision weapons attack ranges might render dogfighting obsolete. In this case, unparalleled speed and agility would help enable a fighter jet to both avoid being detected and maneuver away from vulnerable positions faster than it could be targeted.
The advent of AI can, in this case, exponentially increase sensor-data processing and targeting capability, something likely to further improve the F-47s ability to get ahead of or inside of an enemies’ OODA Loop decision cycle. Advanced, AI-enabled systems now use high-tech gateway technologies able to gather, pool, organize, analyze and transmit data across otherwise disparate or separated sensors and transport layer communication systems. This means jet integrated AESA radar, EO/IR sensing, RF signal and even satellite data can be combined, organized and analyzed in relation to one another. Sensor to shooter time has now been massively truncated from a process which used to take minutes …. into seconds or milliseconds. An AI-enabled system can bounce sensor information off of a seemingly limitless database to compare, contrast, analyze past circumstances and deliver decisions and options with paradigm-changing speed and accuracy.
Weapons & Fire Control
Advanced speed would also support new generations of breakthrough high-speed weapons such as air-launched hypersonic weapons, lasers and AI-enabled long-range attack bombs and missiles. The F-22, famously referred to as a “first-shot, first-kill” platform, will likely be surpassed in capability by Boeing’s emerging F-47.
However, the F-47s likely advantages will go well beyond new levels of speed and agility to include computing, sensing, networking and weapons attack. The F-47 is almost certain to have new generations of fire-control technology, meaning it will potentially integrate an entirely new arsenal of weapons to include lasers, hypersonics, collaborative weapons able to exchange data in flight and bombs and missiles able to autonomously change course and adapt to threats in flight.
F-47 Laser Attack
One possibility might be air-attack laser weapons, as the Air Force has for years been working on developing small-form-factor, exportable mobile power sources sufficient to support fighter-jet laser weapons attack. Air fired lasers would not only be scalable, low-cost and precise but also travel at the speed of light, something which would undoubtedly support new generations of speed and agility. Laser weapons require massive amounts of exportable power and are therefore much more easily integrated into larger platforms such as tactical trucks and ships. The Air Force Research Laboratory has been progressing quickly with efforts to fire lasers from drones and fighter jets after successful ground tests and initiatives to integrate lasers onto larger, mid-size platforms such as C-17 and C-130 cargo planes. It takes little imagination to understand how lasers on a high-speed, stealthy manned fighter could improve lethality and introduce new concepts of operation.
Stealthiest Ever?
Pure stealth, is of course another attribute which can’t be overlooked, as the external configuration of the F-47 suggests it may be the stealthiest aircraft to ever exist. Not only does the aircraft appear to have a smooth, blended, bomber-like horizontal body with conformal air inlets, but it also appears to fly without tails, fins or vertical structures. A platform with little to no protruding shapes off of which an enemy radar electromagnetic “ping” can bounce is much less likely to generate a return rendering to enemy air defenses. Much like the fully horizontal broadband stealth configurations associated with high altitude bombers, the F-47 could have the lowest radar cross section of any aircraft in existence. Could the F-47 be as stealthy as a B-21 yet also capable of fighter jet speed, vectoring ability and maneuverability? Such a combination could be paradigm-changing in the realm of air attack, particularly if combined with an ability to fire lasers and air-launched hypersonic weapons.
AI & Sensing
Alongside speed and stealth, the F-47 is almost certain to be built with never-before-seen levels of sensing ranges, information processing and targeting technology. Simply put, an aircraft able to “see” an enemy target with high-resolution sensing from stand-off or “less detectable” ranges would be well positioned to prevail in air combat. This has been the case with the F-35 which has, for example, shown in US Air Force wargames like Red Flag that it can destroy multiple 4th-generation fighters from ranges where it is itself undetected or “not-seen.”
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the 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.