The US and China are competing to field their next generation or so-called “sixth generation” fighter jets

US: Experts told the media that China and the United States are vying to deploy their next-generation, or “sixth-generation,” fighter aircraft, which are intended to outperform the most sophisticated combat fighters now in use by both countries.

The Significance of It

Last month, the U.S. military’s biggest rival, China, “unofficially” showed two new combat aircraft concepts. The J-20, the Chinese military’s most sophisticated combat aircraft to date, is one of the fifth-generation fighter jets that are presently in service.

As this was going on, the U.S. Air Force informed the media report that it was continuing to build the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter plane, which is set to replace its fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, the F-22, which has been in service since the early 2000s.

The U.S. Air Force is also testing the B-21, a next-generation bomber that incorporates more technical advancements and is promoted by its maker, Northrop Grumman, as “the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft to reach the skies,” in addition to the fighter jet.

Things You Should Know

“The definition of a sixth-gen fighter is a little squishy, no matter the country,” said Clayton Swope, a senior fellow in the Defense and Security Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project.

The goal of China’s and the United States’ sixth-generation fighters is to outperform the F-22 and J-20, which are the fifth generation. “It would probably have significantly better stealth, networking, computing, sensing, and engines than its predecessors,” said Swope.

According to The Aviationist’s editor, David Cenciotti, there is no general agreement on what constitutes a fighter jet generation “either globally or even among Western nations,” hence it would be more correct to call the next aircraft generation the “next-generation.”

According to Cenciotti, the next-generation fighter aircraft will have a variety of possible design features, such as improved low observability, which makes it almost undetectable, and the ability to fly missions that are manned, remote-controlled, or AI-controlled.

The next natural step in manned combat aircraft, according to veteran aerospace writer and former industry executive Bill Sweetman, is to combine supersonic speed and maneuverability with what he dubbed “all-aspect stealth,” which makes the aircraft less detectable to radar from the front, side, and rear. “But this is hard to do, and the result gets large and expensive,” he said.

China’s fighter jet generation classification is somewhat different from the Western and Russian classifications, according to Kitsch Liao, associate director of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, even if there isn’t an officially accepted classification for fighter aircraft generations.

According to Liao, China “skipped” the Western third generation because of its Cold War break with the Soviet Union, which had supplied the first two generations. At first, the J-20 was called the fourth generation, which is really similar to the F-22.

In contrast to the more integrated and modular strategy used by the West, China is rapidly producing many fighter aircraft airframe variants. “But either way, comparing ‘generations’ is a somewhat dangerous simplification,” Liao remarked.

What Individuals Are Saying

Clayton Swope: “The two cutting-edge aircraft that were seen in [China] in late December are just being speculated upon by analysts as sixth-generation planes. However, it is evident that the airplanes have advanced, cutting-edge designs.

Kitsch Liao said, “I wanted to stress the issue with the generation moniker because as time goes by, capabilities seem to blend between generations… this situation would only become more complex and confusing in the future should the ‘generation’ moniker persist.”

David Cenciotti said, “When it comes to 6th gen, the definition is even murkier, with buzzwords like ‘AI’ being thrown around to stake a claim.”

“Generations are confusing and not always helpful,” said Bill Sweetman. Prior to the 1990s, no one discussed them, and the Russians were the first to take the concept seriously. However, Lockheed Martin, a U.S. military contractor, later used the phrase “fifth-generation” as a marketing ploy to make anything other than the F-22 and F-35 seem outdated.

What Follows

Which nation—China or the United States—will finish developing the next-generation fighter aircraft and deploy it first is still up in the air. As part of the broader U.S.-China rivalry, both countries are probably going to speed up their separate projects in the next year.