The US has built and flown a prototype Next Gen fighter...

[West Coast]

US next gen fighter

https://theaviationist.com/2020/09/1...ation-fighter/

I imagine the voices occasionally heard banging the drum for re-starting the F-22 line will become more distant.

[etudiant]

Originally Posted by Nige321

It says so here...

The long pole in fighter development these days appears to be the systems software.
I'd be more impressed if there was some evidence that the USAF had found a way to shorten the 20-30 year interval between the first flight and full software capability.

[ORAC]

So good we had to have the news twice? Of course there well may be more than one out there.......

https://www.pprune.org/military-avia...l#post10886115

And harking back to 24th Aug.....

Future of the USN Carrier Force

.....The results of the AII program have not been released or even acknowledged by Air Force or defense officials since 2015, but the initiative suggests that one or two X-plane aircraft could be in testing now.......

[Less Hair]

At least manned.

[chopper2004]

Anyhow here is the official skinny

https://www.airforcemag.com/roper-re...share-details/


Might be worth checking news updates section in here as there’s recordings of chatter around the hmm ‘Box’ be it JANet or F-117 or some mystery a/c on trials.

https://dreamlandresort.com

Might be a clue somewhere ..

Anyhow What OEMS are involved in this USAF achievement ....

cheers

[sandiego89]

Very interesting. Wonder who the main contractor was/is for the demonstrator?. LM would seem to be on the list via Skunk-works Palmdale. NG perhaps or Boeing Phantom Works?

[Fonsini]

I confess I’m most interested to hear what engines they have (or perhaps will) put in it.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

There are strong indications of at least two classified, operational types in current US service, so the fact they built and flew NGAD in secret is not really surprising.

[Less Hair]

So where did you find these strong indications please?

[Ewan Whosearmy]

I am deliberately not mentioning specifics. But the indications are there if you're looking in the right places.

First example: pilots from a particular community 'disappear' for months at a time. When they come back, they're unable to say where they have been or what they have been doing - i.e. they don't even bother with a cover story. In this particular case, the suspicion is that they are rotating in and out of TDYs to fly an optionally-manned platform. This may well be it: https://theaviationist.com/2014/03/2...over-amarillo/

Second example: I am aware of recruitment into a black programme that is operational in nature and favours those who have been assigned to a small set of specific white world squadrons (i.e. these particular squadrons act as clearing houses into the programme). Recruitment into this programme has been active for a decade or more and these aircrew use cover stories.

[dagenham]

burning on a wall in pakistan ?

[Less Hair]

There is a big budget going into the black world not publicly accounted for. So something must be going on. And companies keep their people busy for something. Weapon systems need successors. This makes more than two programs going on very likely as a pure speculation. Still interesting that this got dropped now and Potus did drop another one recently.

[Ewan Whosearmy]

Which one did POTUS drop?

[Less Hair]

Some new nuke sort of thing nobody else seems to have.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...-weapon-412539

[NutLoose]

I wonder if one of the reasons the F117 have been seen flying recently, what better to hide an aircraft of a similar profile, if indeed it is, by being able to pass off the odd sighting as an F117

[fltlt]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

I wonder if one of the reasons the F117 have been seen flying recently, what better to hide an aircraft of a similar profile, if indeed it is, by being able to pass off the odd sighting as an F117

Or does the designation E signify advanced avionics/electronics being tested in an existing platform, the 117 itself perhaps.

[RAFEngO74to09]

New USAF policy announced a few days ago "“Aircraft, satellites, weapon systems and more that are digitally engineered will receive an ‘e’ prefix.”
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Disp...qktVINjFIC1dk/

[NutLoose]

What surprises me is the fact that digital engineering appears to be the new way of doing things, I would’ve thought digital engineering would’ve been in the production and development of new aircraft for the last couple of decades.

[tartare]

Originally Posted by NutLoose

What surprises me is the fact that digital engineering appears to be the new way of doing things, I would’ve thought digital engineering would’ve been in the production and development of new aircraft for the last couple of decades.

Indeed it has.
But with even more increasing computing power - more resolution - you have the ability to more definitively model computational fluid dynamics, load paths etc.
Means you can have a much more finalised design before you cut metal or autoclave composites.
No doubt it will be a while before we learn - if ever - but the information out at the moment suggests they may have reached a very advanced level of being able to design a `fully' digital airplane.
My non-engineer understanding is that the limitation to date on ultimately designing and test flying a notional design fully inside a digital windtunnel has been the resolution of the voxels allowed by computing power to simulate the fluid flows at sufficiently fine detail.
Perhaps there have been significant advances in that area.
Some one who knows more about this aspect of airframe design may be able to comment.
The same may be true for low observable characteristics.

[NutLoose]

More

The idea that you can design, construct, and test in the digital realm to a degree of fidelity that it is good enough to then leverage advanced rapid prototyping on an aircraft-sized scale to efficiently check that work in the physical world, and then quickly reiterate the process if need be, sounds great. At the same time, it's hard not to remain at least somewhat skeptical while also questioning just how new and revolutionary this concept actually is.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ou-think-it-is