December 26th will be a day destined to go down in history – in addition to the instructor’s birthday, the world’s first sixth-generation aircraft also made its maiden flight today. This is the first time since the invention of the aircraft that a groundbreaking fighter model has appeared in the East of the world rather than the “more advanced” West.
What impressed Chinese military fans was that when the US F-22 ushered in the era of fifth-generation aircraft, the main force of the Chinese Air Force was still outdated second-generation aircraft. When it comes to what the fifth-generation aircraft is, the world has to bring out the “4S” standard formulated by the US Air Force based on the F-22.
But in just 20 years, everything has changed.
Everyone should have seen the videos and photos circulating on the Internet. For well-known reasons, the author dare not make random interpretations and guesses, and there is no official statement confirming that this is the sixth-generation fighter, but based on the existing information and the development trends of various countries for the sixth-generation aircraft, there is still a lot to talk about.
Yes, the J-10 was accompanied by the J-6 when it made its maiden flight; the J-20 was accompanied by the J-10 when it made its maiden flight; and this time, it is finally the turn of the sixth-generation aircraft to make its maiden flight! This is the “Chinese speed”!
These photos and videos roughly show the basic features of the rumored sixth-generation Chinese fighter: manned, larger in overall size than the J-20, ultra-flat design and full wing-body fusion, complete elimination of the vertical tail, with both ventral and dorsal air intakes, and a slightly odd three-engine layout…
If we look at one of the Pentagon’s previous design drawings for the “Next Generation Air Dominance” (NGAD) fighter, we can find that the sixth-generation aircraft of China and the United States are quite consistent in some aspects – but the author would like to say that considering that China’s sixth-generation aircraft has already made its public maiden flight, while the United States’ sixth-generation aircraft has only been “rumored to have undergone so-called secret tests,” China is actually far ahead of the United States in related fields.
In terms of size, the sixth-generation aircraft of China and the United States are larger than heavy fighters, which largely reflects the special requirements of air power countries for future fighters in terms of range and payload. During the service of the fifth-generation aircraft, countries have found that the high-speed flight capability of advanced fighters is very advantageous in obtaining favorable positions in air combat, especially the supersonic cruise capability has become the core of the “hit and go” tactics of the fifth-generation aircraft in air combat. However, if the fifth-generation aircraft wants to maintain its stealth characteristics, it can only rely on the limited internal bomb bay, and the actual ability to mount diversified weapons is poor (even the so-called multi-purpose F-35 fighter, the weapon carrying capacity of the internal bomb bay is far less than that of light fighters such as the F-16).
Therefore, if the sixth-generation aircraft wants to break away from the role of a simple air superiority fighter, it must have greater weapon mounting capacity, greater fuel carrying capacity, and longer supersonic or even hypersonic flight capabilities on the basis of the fifth-generation aircraft. (Especially if it wants to fight in the vast Pacific region, long range is one of the basic indicators. Therefore, the short-legged F-22 is not very popular with the US Pacific Air Force.)
The US sixth-generation aircraft design concept map also generally adopts a tailless design
Secondly, the ultra-flat design, full wing-body fusion, and complete elimination of the vertical tail of the sixth-generation aircraft embody two characteristics: ultra-stealth capability and ultra-high-speed flight capability. Although the fifth-generation aircraft are all stealth fighters, most of them adopt the traditional tail layout, which emphasizes the stealth characteristics of the front hemisphere. The towering vertical tail becomes the largest radar wave reflection source on the side. However, with the advancement of modern anti-stealth radar technology, especially the advancement of anti-stealth radar systemization technology, the future sixth-generation fighters will need to guard against radar detection from different directions when infiltrating the opponent’s air defense network. Therefore, the omnidirectional ultra-stealth design is very important. Therefore, the sixth-generation aircraft of China and the United States basically use a tailless layout.
At the same time, without the huge resistance brought by the vertical tail when flying at high speed, the sixth-generation aircraft will be able to achieve higher cruising speeds and high-speed sprint capabilities more easily. As I said before, based on existing experience, fighters with high-speed flight capabilities will have greater advantages in future air combat. Of course, without the tail, the flight control performance of the aircraft will indeed decline, but the control wing surface on the trailing edge of the wing can also make up for it to a certain extent.
The basic theory of aircraft flight control determines that the vertical tail is very important for the fighter’s air maneuverability. This is why traditional fighters generally adopt the traditional vertical tail design. Only stealth bombers such as the B-2 or B-21 that use a flying wing layout, which do not pay attention to air maneuverability and emphasize stealth requirements, will cancel the vertical tail.
What I want to emphasize is that, as can be seen from the fact that the sixth-generation aircraft of various countries generally adopt a tailless design, the close-range combat performance of future fighter jets is likely to become increasingly weakened, and the status of high-speed flight capability (including sustained flight capability and maximum flight speed) will be increasingly valued.
From this angle, you can see the obvious engine air intake on the back of the aircraft
Finally, there is the weird three-intake design. The belly air intake is one of the classic fighter aerodynamic layout designs, but the dorsal air intake is quite strange – because the fuselage shields the air intake, at high angles of attack, the air intake will be affected by the low pressure of the aircraft turbulence, resulting in a decrease in intake efficiency, thus affecting flight performance. As to why China’s sixth-generation aircraft uses both dorsal and belly air intakes, the author boldly speculates a possibility: Could it be equipped with two engines at the same time?
In the previous introduction to the “Ming Di” series of wide-area aircraft, the author has introduced that different aviation power is needed for conventional flight and higher-speed (quasi) hypersonic flight. For example, a turbofan engine is sufficient for conventional flight, but to ensure hypersonic flight, a more advanced scramjet engine or detonation ramjet engine is required, and their requirements for the air inlet are completely different. Therefore, China’s sixth-generation aircraft may use the belly air inlet to provide air intake for the turbofan engine during conventional flight; and when flying at hypersonic speeds, the dedicated air inlet on the back of the aircraft is enabled to drive the scramjet/detonation ramjet engine. At this time, the fighter in the hypersonic flight state cannot fly with a large overload, so there is no need to worry about the shielding effect of the fuselage on the back air inlet. Considering that the “Ming Di” series of wide-area aircraft have been successfully tested many times, the relevant power system should be mature.
If this speculation is true, it also confirms the author’s speculation that China’s sixth-generation aircraft attaches much more importance to high-speed performance than the outside world imagines.
This concept model, which has been exhibited by China Aviation Industry at the Zhuhai Air Show many times, reveals a lot of informationIn addition to these visible external features, the sixth-generation aircraft should also have many invisible advanced features, including a higher level of intelligence, a wider range of sensor detection capabilities, and a stronger ability to cooperate with unmanned wingmen. Of course, from the progress of the Chinese Air Force in related fields in recent years (a new generation of gallium nitride active phased array radars, the emergence of a variety of intelligent drones, and the appearance of the J-20S two-seat stealth fighter), we can believe that China’s sixth-generation aircraft will be an epoch-making fighter from the outside to the inside.
For today’s surprise, all my feelings can be summed up in one sentence:
The era of the sixth-generation aircraft has begun, and the rules of future air combat will be set by China.