While few nations even can develop and field a fifth-generation fighter, the United States is already working on a sixth-generation fighter.
Known as the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, the sixth-generation fighter is expected to be technologically advanced – and fiscally prohibitive, leading some to question whether the advanced airframe is worth the sticker price.
Only the US, Russia, and China have successfully fielded a fifth-generation fighter. Only the US and China have fielded a fifth-generation fighter (the US’s F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II; China’s J-20 Mighty Dragon) in meaningful quantity. Fifth-generation technology is still cutting-edge beyond what most nations can develop.
Fifth-generation technology includes stealth, internal weapons bays, advanced avionics, supercruise, thrust vectoring, data fusion, interconnectivity, and, in the case of the F-35, a situational-awareness-boosting pilot helmet costing $400,000 per unit.
The US was ahead of the curve in developing fifth-generation technology. Feeling the pressure of Soviet aerospace development, the US began working towards the F-22 Raptor in the mid-1980s. By the end of the 1990s, the F-22 was flying, demonstrating clearly that a new era in aviation had arrived.
Now, however, with China and Russia catching up, the US is taking the initiative to again set the curve with fighter tech advancement. The NGAD program commenced in 2014 and is expected to one day replace the F-22 Raptor, despite the fact that the F-22 is still, in many respects, the envy of the aviation world.
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