A sixth-generation fighter is a conceptualized class of jet fighter aircraft design more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters that are currently in service and development. Several countries have announced the development of a national sixth-generation aircraft program, including the United States , China , and Russia. While still at an early stage of development, several distinct characteristics common to many sixth-generation fighter concepts have evolved.
An initial focus on air superiority roles has moved away from close-in dogfighting, which is becoming less common, and instead broadened to embrace ground support, cyber warfare and even space warfare capabilities, with beyond-visual-range BVR air-to-air missile capability remaining important. The flexibility to undertake manned and unmanned missions is also sought, along with the ability to integrate with more numerous fleets of satellite drones and ground sensors in a high-traffic networked environment to deliver full data-to-decision D2D capability.
Typical design characteristics anticipated to deliver these roles include: [ 3 ]. The feasibility of some of these characteristics remains uncertain. Development time and cost are likely to prove major factors in laying out practical roadmaps. Specific requirements are anticipated by some observers to crystallize around After successfully developing the 5th-generation J stealth fighter, China was then working on the development of a next-generation aircraft.
In January , Dr. Wang Haifeng, chief designer of the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation CAC announced that China had begun pre-research on sixth-generation aircraft, predicting that the program would come to fruition by In , Chengdu Aerospace Corporation reportedly submitted eight proposals for the sixth-generation fighter design, and four designs were tested in low-altitude wind tunnels.
In October , a fighter aircraft with a tailless design was spotted in Chengdu Aircraft Corporation facilities. He asserted that China would master the advanced technologies through an iterative process. The featured concept included diamond-shaped wings and tailless design, [ 14 ] which correlated with earlier images released in various AVIC presentations. Some commentaries believed the mock-up indicated six-generation fighter capabilities, [ 15 ] while critics stated claims of space operations capability lack evidence and were "dubious".
