6th Generation Fighters Projects

[Bhartiya sainik]

Perhaps the easiest full-scale F-47 look-alike TD/prototype modified from existing jet F-22.
The wing & tail-stab positions are interchanged & rudders removed.
It is a quick, simple,notional edit, many small flaws can be observed by people into 3D CAD.
Making its front, side, bottom views w/o 3D S/w by just imagining is very tedious at this time, what i used to do on graph sheets in school-days in 1990s watching F-117, B-2, developing F-22 on Discovery channel. The good old days
Anyways, i wonder if LM built such a jet for competition or research.

View attachment 52635

Here is the V2 with wing lengthened, leading edge angle increased.
The canard had to be shortened, maintaining planform design. With TVC nozzles, big canards may not be required.
I made the nose narrower, triangular to lessen drag & RCS.
Comparison with V1 is also shown.
The day i'll get a light weight, old, stable version of some 3D CAD S/w for my old laptop, i'll start translating these into 3D.
Feedbacks are welcome, i'm making a V3 also.

 

[koxinga]

Clearest (depends on how you define it. The noise is still quite obvious) photo of the J-XX

 

[Bhartiya sainik]

YF-23's designer's conceptual view of F-47 NGAD:

YF-23 Designer Offers His Take On Boeing’s F-47 NGAD Configuration | Aviation Week Network

Renowned aircraft designer Darold Cummings explores questions raised by Boeing’s F-47 NGAD design.

aviationweek.com

F-22 is 62 ft. long & the drawing is quoted at 61 ft. which i don't is possible for a 6gen specs with bigger better engine, more fuel, weapons, equipment.
NGAD should be expected to be bigger than F-22. So, following is comparison with F-22 after comparing cockpit.

 

[koxinga]

During the 1990s, there were a number of studies published on innovative control effectors (ICE) where topics such as all moving wing-tips, elevons, pitch flaps were studied for tailless designs.

Secret Projects have a good summary of these projects/studies and makes you wonder how much the Chinese picked up from this research.

FATE and ICE studies

Here's some more tailless fighter designs These first two are of a design that was used for testing various flight control surfaces in the wind tunnel. This appears to be another version of the above design, but with at least an F-16 canopy. Here is a proposed modified F-16XL to flight...

www.secretprojects.co.uk

 

[Bhartiya sainik]

Artist Rodrigo Avella & some others made a CAD earlier speculated to be tail-less F/A-XX with canards.



Almost same model w/o canards have been depicted as NGAD, sometimes with rudders.



Comparing it with F-22, equalized at cockpit, looks like following:


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[MARKMILES77]

Pretty impressive radius of action. 1000+ Nautical miles significantly exceeds the F-15E.
And presumably that is without any external fuel tanks, presuming the F-47 can even take external fuel tanks.
Wonder how the Euro 6th generation fighters compare?

https://x.com/OfficialCSAF/status/1922357672487080412/photo/1

 

[John Fedup]

Yes, a 1000 nm range is being claimed, internal fuel. The GCAP is rumoured to be a large jet and the Japanese want range, so likely similar. I am awaiting the range spec for F/A-XX. A 125% range of the F-35C so around 800+ nm is the number being mentioned. Hope it is higher.

 

[Bhartiya sainik]

Here is the V2 with wing lengthened, leading edge angle increased.
The canard had to be shortened, maintaining planform design. With TVC nozzles, big canards may not be required.
I made the nose narrower, triangular to lessen drag & RCS.
Comparison with V1 is also shown.
The day i'll get a light weight, old, stable version of some 3D CAD S/w for my old laptop, i'll start translating these into 3D.
Feedbacks are welcome, i'm making a V3 also.

View attachment 52659

Version 3a & 3b with Lambda wings getting popular & nose triangular & double delta.

 

[Bhartiya sainik]

I should have posted this before F-47 announcement when advertisements about the preliminary NGAD design speculations of delta, cropped diamond wings were floating. So Versions 4, 5 related to that.
And then V6c like SR-72, Darkstar.

 

[John Fedup]

It will be interesting to see how GCAP and FCAS unfold. IMHO, GCAP is more likely to be successful, mainly due to the French needing a future carrier jet. AFAIK FCAS is to address this requirement but if not, developing two jets on the continent is cost prohibitive. An overly optimistic option is FCAS becomes solely a naval aircraft that could be useful for the UK and Japan as an eventual F-35B replacement (QEs would require CATOBAR conversion). France gets a future jet for their PNG carrier. GCAP then becomes the land based jet for all parties. Unfortunately, workshare distribution would be a $itch to resolve.

 

[John Fedup]

Interesting F-47 development, Trump has offered to sell Japan F-47s. The link mentions Japan's concerns about slow progress on Tempest which is perhaps true but US concerns about a rival 6th gen might also be at play. WRT timelines, I can't see the USAF being enthusiastic about given up delivery slots to Japan and lets face it, delays with F-35 upgrades (especially software), very questionable how much faster F-47 deliveries could be. Then there is the how many features might be deleted for export versions along with cost.

Trump Offers F-47 Sixth-Gen Fighter To Japan: Reports