Posted on 11/05/2010 11:44:20 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The U.S. Air Force has begun peering into the far blue yonder for a futuristic aircraft to replace Lockheed Martin Corp's F-22 fighter, a move that has cheered the aerospace industry.
The Air Force in a written solicitation this week sought concepts for a next-generation tactical aircraft to begin operating in roughly 2030, apparently with a pilot aboard.
Experts cast such a system as a would-be successor to the radar-evading F-22 Raptor, the top U.S. air superiority fighter. The single-seat, twin-engine F-22 was designed as a response to Soviet combat aircraft in the 1980s and is barred by law from export to protect its "stealth" technology.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates persuaded Congress to cap its production at 187 last year as Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is designed to be less costly, entered early production
A better idea would be to build more Raptors and put more money into a real A-10 successor.
PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!
I would expect 2030 to yield unmanned fighters. Seems reasonable timeframe for cyborgs or maybe just put the pilots brain in a jar on board. If they can’t fund F22s now, then its all scifi anyway.
build more Reapers
The thing just entered service, and they’re already looking for a successor?
The next gen of fighters will have to be unmanned or require a redesigned (bio-engineered) pilot.
All that said, nobody else is within a decade of building something close to the F22’s capabilities, and that's being generous.
Short version: BUILD MORE F22s!!!
But Obummer and his liberal ilk & many czars would have us do 'Peace through kissing our enemies @SSES'. Meanwhile he will continue to gut the military to the bone while burning through TRILLIONS of dollars in wasteful & un-necessary spending with nothing to show for it except leaving the country totally broke!
So far, the primary function of humans up there has been cleaning and maintaining their own life support systems.
Had that money been spent on space robotics, the real world and military spin offs would have been stunning, especially for pilotless aircraft.
Successor to the Raptor? They’re joking right? It took over 20 years to develop the F-22, and then we bought (drum roll): only 187! And, for good measure, we banned exports, so no variants to keep production alive. So maybe the next fighter will be 30 years in production and maybe we’ll buy 100.
Back in the 80s, Norm Augustine (former CEO of Lockheed Martin) predicted that by 2050, we would have one fighter shared by all the services. Looks like that prediction is well on its way to becoming reality.
Build more Rapters... you can’t build or design anything better... not without spending more than it is worth right now... you just hate to admit it.
LLS
I've also read where they are maintenance nightmares because of their radar-absorbing skin. I'm guessing here, but I wonder if RAM just can't take the beating of supersonic and high G flight. Those who have better information, please educate.
Here are my ideas...
1.) Overall dimensions no bigger than an A-4 Skyhawk, i.e. it didn't need folding wings.
2.) By extension of 1 above a delta or double delta flying wing planform makes the most sense.
3.) All internal ordance.
NO VTOL variant, work towards STOL, but a Robust landing gear like the Ruskie's do to land in the rough.
4.) To keep the cost down single engine, yes the Navy's undees will be in a wad, but they need to deal with it.
5.) From scramble to airborne, all internal systems, and the entire platform can go within a couple of minutes, ergo like Israel has done and the Ruskie's too.
FWIW, this might be an overall compliment mutli-role machine.
Supposedly, the sixth generation US combat aircraft would have manned and unmanned versions, with fighter-bomber, surveillance, and electronic suppression mission capabilities — and with electronic and visual stealth.
Are you sure about your information?
"The IEEE-1394B data bus developed for the F-22 was derived from the commercial IEEE-1394 "FireWire" bus system,[113] often used on personal computers. The same data bus is employed by the subsequent F-35 Lightning II fighter.[113]"
"SOUTHLAKE, Texas -- Deployment of the IEEE 1394 FireWire databus in the future Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter is providing guaranteed quality of service with predictable latencies in real-time control applications on the aircraft, say officials of the 1394 Trade Association in Southlake, Texas. More than 70 1394 devices are delivering information about mission details, communication systems, weapon systems, engine controls, and flight controls on the F-35 fighter. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. chose 1394b after a trade study of other networking options including USB, Fibre Channel, and MIL-STD-1553, association officials say."
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