The United States Navy announced this Tuesday that it has chosen Boeing to develop the F/A-XXits sixth generation fighter, compared to the proposal of Northrop Grumman. Its incorporation is planned during the 2030s to progressively replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare.
Boeing will thus take care of the two American sixth-generation manned fighter programs known, since it also develops the F-47 for the Air Force.
The two images published so far of the F/A-XX allow us to glimpse its design, although it is worth taking them a little with a grain of salt. According to the defense media The War Zone, in them fundamental characteristics are hidden to confuse foreign intelligence services about their capabilitiesso the final design may change.
The new recreation at the top of this article shows a large, wide plane that lacks conventional tail. TWZ believes that having plenty of interior space has been a priority and notes a cockpit apparently prepared for a single pilotdespite previous speculation about a second place. That pilot will have to coordinate combat drones in addition to managing the plane, so automation and artificial intelligence will be essential so that he can assume that workload..
The nose appears more profiled than that of the F-47 and could house a radar AESA of large dimensions. These acronyms designate an active electronic scanning radar, capable of electronically directing its beam to search and track targets without having to rotate the antenna.
The engine air intakes They seem to be located on both sides of the lower area of the fuselage. He undercarriage It has very robust legs and two front wheels, in line with the demands of a heavy aircraft that must take off and land on aircraft carriers.
The wings have positive dihedrallike those of the F-47, which means that their ends are elevated with respect to the point where they join the body of the plane, and the flaps can also be seen deployed.
The main doubt affects the canardssurfaces located in front of the wings that help control the plane. They appear in the recreations of the F-47, but are not clearly distinguished in this new image of the F/A-XX. TWZ considers that They would make special sense in a tailless fighter that needs to maneuver at low speed to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Boeing keeps the technical specifications of the F/A-XX classified, including its dimensions and performance. For the F-47, the Air Force has announced a combat radius greater than 1,850 kilometersbut that scope does not have to be that of the naval model.
The similarities also do not allow us to know if we will see an F-47 adapted to operate from aircraft carriers or an aircraft with significant differences in size and proportions. It is expected that internal teams and software will concentrate a good part of the shared elements.
Outside the United States, other nations are working on their own sixth-generation fighters. China is testing the devices known as J-36 and J-50while United Kingdom, Italy and Japan develop the GCAP by 2035, but none of these projects have entered operational service.
France, Germany and Spain also participate in this race, although the common hunting project of the FCAS It broke in June. German and Spanish industry are now reorganizing their initiatives to develop this new generation of aircraft.
The final name of the American plane is still pending and could reflect its relationship with the F-47. TWZ poses F/A-47 whether both designs are closely related, although he also speculates F/A-45 in reference to donald trump45th and 47th American president, whose figure already influenced the name of the Air Force fighter.