6th gen fighters are here!

[Firefly 760]

Looks like we are witnessing the dawn of a new era in fighter aviation... Not that I'm too enthusiastic about optionally manned weapon systems. 

https://theaviationist.com/2020/09/15/the-u-s-air-force-has-secretly-built-and-flown-a-full-scale-demonstrator-of-its-next-generation-fighter/

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36431/the-u-s-air-force-has-flown-a-demonstrator-for-its-next-generation-fighter?fbclid=IwAR1zPIQFL6cwsS7cK3gFEChxWN5IHfiTirC7pYoK9hopIL4JWn5S70xZnkM

[Vogel 89]

I do wonder what shape this will take. The F-35 is only just coming into service for many nations, touted to be the "next-gen" for decades to come and potentially one of the last manned fighters.

It's as bad as the GPU market, you just ordered the current range and bam the next series comes out xD.

It's interesting what they say about work flows and how they're prototyping stuff. The JSF program has been going on for YEARS now, taken far too long really. I mean the Typhoon was started in the 80's and took almost 20 years to get out there if I'm remembering right.

[Firefly 760]

That's an apt metaphor, with computer-driven design becoming de rigeur we will be seeing new designs coming out in no time at all. I wonder if the future of air combat will involve automated factories pumping out drone after drone, with incremental changes taking place on the production line rather than generational leaps being made. 

[TedsOnMeds 166]

8 hours ago, Firefly said:

That's an apt metaphor, with computer-driven design becoming de rigeur we will be seeing new designs coming out in no time at all. I wonder if the future of air combat will involve automated factories pumping out drone after drone, with incremental changes taking place on the production line rather than generational leaps being made. 

Lets hope we never have to find out and all of us can continue to revel in 1st-4th gen fighter combat in the simulator, instead, yeah? 

[Kliegmann 1,030]

8 hours ago, Firefly said:

That's an apt metaphor, with computer-driven design becoming de rigeur we will be seeing new designs coming out in no time at all. I wonder if the future of air combat will involve automated factories pumping out drone after drone, with incremental changes taking place on the production line rather than generational leaps being made. 

Anyone who has seen Terminator knows that could possibly end badly

[Vonrd 2,051]

Maybe it's already here?

"Siri... waste that MiG"

Siri... "OK... I'll baste that pig"

[Firefly 760]

7 hours ago, Vonrd said:

Maybe it's already here?

"Siri... waste that MiG"

Siri... "OK... I'll baste that pig"

The future is now. 

[Barton 1,089]

Eventually air dominance aircraft will be entirely designed and piloted by AI with minimal human oversight.  I can envision a B-52 "mothership" loaded with 4 unmanned stealth, supersonic, 20+g capable, AESA radar equipped, air to air missile loaded air superiority drones connected via a secure data link to a cloud-like data system feeding a central AI that identifies and prioritizes threats and then gives specific commands to each individual drone in real time to eliminate enemy equipment in the most effective and efficient manner.  It will be impossible for an aircraft with a human pilot to compete with.  

[Barton 1,089]

The thing about AI turning against humanity is that it is possible and even likely. Maybe inevitable, and if so it will ljkely come from the defense sector.  AI currently lacks two things that will be necessary for that to happen, though.  These are things we have innately: the desire to survive and reproduce. 

The desire to survive will be provided to AI by combat, as it will be programmed to consider its survival lest it wantonly meander through a minefield or into a kill zone.  Remember that you don't win a war by dying for your country, you win a war by making the other dumb bastard die for his, as Patton so eloquently put it. 

Eventually AI will design and assemble units with more speed , efficiency, and accuracy than can be achieved by or with  hairless apes.  It will be pretty easy to prevent AI from doing a Skynet style takeover while the control for power and the supply of raw materials is firmly in the hands of humans.  The problem is that these sectors are also hazardous for humans and perfectly suited for smart AI driven machines, so we will be fine right up until we aren't. 

[Vonrd 2,051]

I agree that AI is probably inevitable but unless they can harden everything electrically a couple of EMP bombs will probably render most high tech inoperable. I envision a Mad Max scenario of cobbled together museum pieces or civvy planes as the only air power (magnetos are pretty simple to repair and probably relatively easy to harden against EMP... maybe a Faraday cage around them?).