Since World War Two, one of the most significant challenges Nazi Germany's head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goring, wanted the Ho-229 to for military aviation has been the task of defeating radar be able to penetrate enemy territory to a depth of 1,000km (621 miles). WORDS BY ROB COPPINGER The Ho-229 had a fatal test-flight crash before the end of the war, but a production order for 40 was still made. ADAR PROVED ITS could see the Bf 109's deficiencies, and However, it never actually went into effectiveness 80 years ago began to think about an aircraft that production and, when the United States' in the Battle of Britain, could defeat the RAF's Hawker Hurricane Third Army overran Friedrichsroda, when the new long-range and Supermarine Spitfire. Germany, in April 1945, its soldiers found detection technology The design that emerged from Horten's the Ho-229 prototypes, three through six. allowed the Royal Air subsequent contemplation, with the Above: The Convair The Horten brothers had built and Ki ngfish was Force to know where, when and how help of his brother, Rei mar, was the des igned with various flown delta-shaped flying wings since the to counter the waves of Nazi fighters Horten Ho-229, a single pilot, twin-jet, stea lth features. It 1930s, but they w ere not the only ones and bombers attacking the country. delta wing-shaped fighter bomber. With com peted for the US to have such an interest. Jack Northrop, govern ment's high­ One of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilots its two Junkers Jumo 004 8-2 turbojets, speed reconnaissance who would build the company that bore assaulting the UK was Walter Horten the Ho-229 was estimated to be able to aircraft contract, that his name, had also been working on them of the Luftwaffe's fighter squadron achieve a top speed of 527 knots (977kph). would eventually be during the same decade, and had first won by the Lockheed 26, stationed in occupied France. The According to the National Air and Space SR-71 Blackbird flown his flying wing Northrop Model 1 squadron's technical officer, Horten, Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, Alexander Fedosenko Mockup (N-1M ), on July 3, 1940.

December 2020 // www.Key.Aero Seven years later, Northrop was ready to Northrop and the Horten brothers were test fly its own jet-powered flying wing, developing their flying-wing designs. but a far larger one than the N-1Mor the A number of nations were working on Ho-229. The Northrop YB-49 had a 52.4m radar at the time: the UK, Germany, (172ft) span, compared to the N-1 M's Netherlands, USA, France, Japan and 11 .6m or the Ho-229's 16.8m. However, Russia, then the Soviet Union. The US, UK like the Ho-229, the second prototype and Germany were advanced enough that crashed, coming down on June 5, 1948. by the mid-1930s they had functioning The flying wing bomber would not radar systems able to detect aircraft supersede the tried-and-tested tube­ more than 10 miles away. In 1936, the UK and-wing design and not until the 1980s achieved a 75-mile detection range. In would the US Air Force see its like again. 1938, an American radar on board a naval It was in the 1980s that Reimar Horten vessel detected an aircraft 100 miles away. made the claim that the Ho-229 had been Radar had arrived. designed with stealth in mind. Articles According to the Smithsonian, Rei mar by the Smithsonian explain that Rei mar first wrote about aircraft radar cross Horten made this assertion in 1983 - the section (RCS) in an article about flying same year the Lockheed Martin F-117 wings, which was published in the Nighthawk secretly entered service - in May 1950 issue of Argentina's National his book, Flying Wings: the History ofthe Magazine of Aeronautics. The RCS is a Horten Aircraft. According to Horten, he measurement of the strength of the had considered placing layers of charcoal returned signal from the aircraft painted within the wood construction of the by the radar beam. Ho-229, which he claimed would have According to Russell Lee, the absorbed the radar-signal energy. Smithsonian's aeronautics department Ideas about defeating radar are much supervisory curator for all-wing aircraft, older than the detection technology Reimar and Northrop had corresponded itself. Writing for the United States' after the war. Jack Northrop however Centennial of Flight Commission website, had no interest in collaborating with the historian Dwayne Day pointed out:"ln German engineer and former Nazi party the 19th century, Scottish physicist James member, who had migrated to Argentina Clerk Maxwell developed a series of after the war. If he had chosen to join mathematical formulas to predict how forces, Lee pointed out that Northrop electromagnetic radiation would scatter could have benefited, as the available data when reflected from a specific geometric shows that the Horten wing was stable. shape;' adding that Maxwell's equations The YB-49's stability was not as good, were later refined by the German scientist, hence the crash that was fatal for the pilot Arnold Johannes Sommerfeld. and for the type. Radar would arrive many decades after While history remembers the Horten Maxwell; in fact it became a reality while brothers for their engineering genius,

www.Key.Aero II December 2020 December 2020 // www.Key.Aero not everything Rei mar claimed was true. Investigations into the Ho-229 by the Smithsonian staff and Northrop Grumman found that there was no clear evidence of stealth capabilities. There was also no confirmation of charcoal, and an investigation by a Northrop Grumman­ funded documentary production company discovered the Ho-229 could not have evaded the Allied forces' radars of that era. The radar signature test of a full-size Ho-229 model conducted by Northrop Grumman engineers did conclude that there was some reduction in the RCS compared to a normal fighter, but the notion that the Horten brothers had designed it w ith stealth in mind was found to be unconvincing. While Rei mar's boasts are apparently false, the flying w ing shape has since been closely associated with stealth. Despite Maxwell's 19th-century equations, deflecting or absorbing radar waves was not the immediate solution to counter the detection technology that defense scientists opted for. Jamming was their first idea, and, in May 1938, a British Saunders Roe A.27 London twin-engine Below: This rear view of the Horten Ho 229 biplane flying boat jammed radar. V3 shows its Nazi Knowing this was possible, the British then emblems of the installed anti-jamming technology across 1940s Luftwaffe Smithsonian Air and their radar network. Jamming is still a part Space Museum/Ben of the electronic-warfare portfolio, but Sullivan 2013 active sensors give away a transmitter's Right: The Teledyne location; being invisible to radar was Ryan AQM-91A ultimately the better option. Compass Arrow In the US, w hile the Ho-229 became a drone at the Nationa l Museum of the United World War Two curiosity, slow ly rotting States Air Force away in storage, Northrop's flying wing USAF

test flights and the ideas of RCS signal w ith turbojet s, the Kingfish used ramjet reduct ion were not forgotten. engines to reach Mach 4 at 90,000ft and Towards the end of the 1950s and had stealth aspects to it. the beginning of the 1960s, the US The Kingfish's stealth feat ures included government was interested in high- a delta flying wing shape, exhaust speed reconnaissance aircraft. The shoot­ shielding and a more angular fuselage down by Russia of Francis Gary Powers for radar signal scattering, but its design and his Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady in lost out to t he Blackbird, because ramjet 1960 made higher speed an imperative. engine technology was not developed Various designs competed, but they enough. While a t urbojet uses a series of would eventually lose out to the Lockheed rotating blades to increasingly compress SR-71 Blackbird. One of t hem was the the air before combustion, the ramjet Convair Ki ngfish. While t he Blackbird consists of a complex tube whose shape was designed for achieving Mach 3 does the same job compressing t hat

www.Key.Aero II December 2020 , December 2020 // www.Key.Aero ...... ~--,... www.Key.Aero II December 2020 incoming air- but the rate of the airflow is significantly higher. Later in the 1960s, one attempt at stealthier aircraft was not even piloted - the Teledyne-Ryan AQM-91 A Arrow Compass drone. Air-launched, its vertical surfaces were canted inward to thwart radar reflections, and it used radar-absorbing materials. The Arrow Compass was ready to be deployed in 1971, but it was not deemed necessary. In the 1970s, the US Department of Defense's (DoD) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) studied adversaries' new surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems, concluding that US aircraft were vulnerable to detection and attack by SAMs. The loss of Francis Gary Powers' U-2 a decade earlier had been clear evidence that Russian SAM systems were a threat. According to the United States Air Force Museum, by the 1970s new materials and techniques allowed engineers to design an aircraft with stealth qualities. DARPA embarked on a program to develop strategies and technologies for reducing radar detectability. These included reducing the radar cross­ section with a combination of aircraft shaping to minimize the number of radar return spikes and the use of radar absorbent materials. In the mid-1970s, DARPA says it oversaw the development of Have Blue, the first practical combat stealth aircraft, which made its first test flight at the end of 1977. This led to the procurement by the Air Force of the Lockheed Martin F-117 A Nighthawk

December 2020 // www.Key.Aero stealth fighter, which became operational in October 1983. Other technologies DARPA developed included inlet shielding and windshield coatings that could defeat possible radar reflections, as well as infrared shielding. This shielding, along with exhaust cooling and enhanced heat dissipation, was aimed at reducing the heat signature of the aircraft, as heat-seeking missiles lock on to this. In 1980, while the F- 117 was still in development, there was a scale version of what would become the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber sitting in a NASA wind tunnel, listed as a pressure model. According to NASA, the security cameras at the wind tunnel facility at Langley Research Center were switched off when the model was on site. Northrop Grumman engineers arrived with their own security staff and only the Langley facility managers, engineers and technician test crews, who were required to see it, were allowed to. The first B-2 test was conducted in the 16-FootTransonic Tunnel in December 1980. Four years earlier, in 1976, Northrup had received a sole-source grant from DARPA to develop what was then called the Battlefield Surveillance Aircraft­ Experimental, or BSAX, aircraft, named after the program that developed it. Later, it was called Tacit Blue and it laid the technological foundations for the Spirit. The experimental Tacit Blue aircraft first flew in 1982, and was capable of operating radar sensors, while maintaining its own low radar cross-section. It also incorporated aerodynamic innovations, which contributed to the B-2's design. The Spirit was ultimately revealed to the world in November 1988. Officially retired in 2008, the Nighthawk had flown missions over Panama, the former Yugoslavia and Iraq. The 20 B-2s still in service are with the 509th Bomb Wing and the 131 st Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Missouri. They are expected to be replaced by the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider, another flying wing, from 2025. For now, the next step (See the Future of Stealth, pages 44-47) is in the hands of the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, and whatever plans other nations may have. Further into the distance, it remains to be seen what will emerge from the US DoD's Next Generation Air Dominance program. •

www.Key.Aero II December 2020 Tactical Fighter (ATF.) rirogram, the Lockheed Martin F.-22A Raptor was develoried to counter tne then rising threat of advancing Soviet fighter aircraft. Designed riurely for ai~ dominance, the Raptor combines stealth, srieed, high maneuverability, and enhanced survivability witn a ...... and air-to-ground munitions. At the time, the USAF. looked to Lockheed and Northrori for a solution to fulfil a requirement for an enhanced air ...... used to deter Soviet air-to-air threats and ...... •• . : .- . . .. a fly-off competition and evaluation of both rilatforms, in 1991, Lockheed's YF.-22 prototype beat Northrop's YF-23 Black Widow and was further develoried into the F.-22A Raptor. . .. .- .- graced the skies for its maiden flight from Dobbins Air Force Base (AF.Bl in Marietta, Georgia, with Lockheed's F.-22 chief test pilot, P.aul Metz, at the controls. The aircraft entered low-rate initial riroduction in 2001 and completed its initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) rihase in 2004. In May 2005, the first F.-22A arrived at a frontline fighter wing and, in Decemoer ...... •I• I • Originally, the USAF. sought 750

OR YEARS, THE US kept its take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) Designed from the outset to be a stealth combat aircraft for itself, F-35B; and the F-35C carrier variant multi-role platform, the F-35 can be having forbidden the export (CV). As of October 2020, more than 570 configured to undertake various of such platforms, even to examples have been produced across all operational missions. It can conduct its friends. However, the rise configurations for the US and its allies. air-to-air, air-to-ground, electronic of the Lockheed Martin F-3S The platform is currently in operational attack (EA), suppression/destruction of enemy air defenses (S EAD/DEAD) Lightning II family has changed all this, service with the military air arms and intelligence, surveillance and having been largely developed alongside of Australia, Israel, Italy, Japan, the reconnaissance (ISR) missions. some of America's closest military allies. Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, the The F-35 is considered to be the most The F-35 was born through the Joint UK and the US. Examples have also been advanced combat aircraft developed by Strike Fighter (JSF) program, which ordered by Belgium, Denmark, Poland, the US and its allies to date. This claim is backed up by the multi-role fighter's was established to develop a multi-role and Singapore. employment of sophisticated sensor platform that would ultimately replace The type is also under consideration and cloaking technologies, information a large number of fighter and ground by Canada, Finland and Switzerland, all sharing capabilities and overall stealth attack/strike aircraft in service with the of which are seeking new fighter aircraft. design. Through avionics and sensor US and its allies. Greece has also declared its intention to fusion, the F-35 provides pilots w ith enhanced situational awareness, Initially, the project involved Australia, order a number of examples. command and control (C2) and advanced Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, On December 15, 2006, the first networking capabilities. Norway, Turkey, the UK, and the US. Two example - an F-35A - graced the skies Notably, the platform features platforms were developed - Boeing's over Fort Worth, Texas. The Lightning is Northrop Grumman's AN/ APG-81 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, X-32 and Lockheed Martin's X-35. The in operational service with the USAF, US BAE Systems' AN/ ASQ-239 Barracuda latter was selected in October 2001 after Marine Corps (USMC) and US Navy. electronic warfare system and Lockheed intense evaluation. The F-35A is solely operated by the USAF Martin's AN/ AAQ-40 electro-optical There are three main variants of the and the F-35B is in service with the USMC, targeting system (EOTS), along with a Lightning family; the conventional take­ which also employs the F-35C alongside number of other systems. off and landing (CTOL) F-35A; the short the US Navy.

...... _ ...... ,,n'>n '' """'" 11 ..... 1\,., ..... ALockheed Martin F-358 Lightning II flies in formation with one of its sister variants, the F-35C, on March 14, 2013. The F-35B version is configured for short take-off and vertical landings (STOVL), whereas the F-35C is designed to operate conventionally from US Navy aircraft carriers Lockheed Martin/Liz Kaszynski

With three distinct variants, Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II family offers sophisticated cloaking technologies and multi­ mission capabilities to a worldwide audience BY KHALEM CHAPMAN

,.., . ... , IJ,..., I\,_ ..,.. II n ...... -i...... '> '> Advances in radar were said to end the age of stealth, but a review of platforms in development shows that is not the case WORDS BY ROB COPPINGER THE FUTURE OF STEALTH

T BECAME FASHIONABLE for a the Chinese People's Liberation Army Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit. while to make the claim that sponsored website, 'China Military' have A stealth bomber that can realistically radar-evading stealth technology run stories about a stealth bomber they be viewed in comparison with the Spirit, was obsolete almost immediately call Xian H-20. and was revealed in more detail this year, after it was deployed by the United In stories from China's English language is the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider; States military in the 1980s. The state-owned 'Global Times' newspaper, the replacement for the B-2. The first claims were that low-frequency radar, the H-20 is compared with the iconic concept image of the Raider in flight was bi-static radar and, much later, quantum radar would all make anti-radar designs, materials and coatings a waste of money. But looking around the world there is not a major power, or aspiring Above: China's People's Li be ration power, that isn't talking about low­ Army Air Force observable piloted and autonomous Chengdu J-20 stealth aircraft for their future air force. fighter flying at the 2016 Zuhai Airshow A first Chinese stealth aircraft had been Piotr Butowski expected this year at the now postponed China International Aviation & Aerospace Left: Boeing's Bird of Prey served as Exhibition (known widely as the Zhuhai a highly classified Airshow), which would have been held project from 1992 to from November 10-15. The aviation 1999 before Boeing officials unveiled ii community had been abuzz with rumors October 18, 2002. that the first public flight of the alleged The Bird of Prey can Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation now be seen in the National Museum of H-20 stealth bomber would take place. the USAir Force in For five years, Chinese state media and Dayton, Oh io Boeing

, December 2020 // www.Key.Aero apparently not upended stealth fighter operational by 2024 is the Boeing design as the F-22 and the F-35 MQ-25 Stingray. This is an autonomous are going to be operational for decades, tanker with an LO design that operates with a number of other US military from an aircraft carrier. Boeing began platforms in development, and whose its unmanned combat aircraft program designs are known. in 1998. The following year, the US Department of Defense's Defense Riding the Valkyrie Advanced Research Projects Agency, One of those is referred to as a loyal and the USAF, chose Boeing to build two Above: Mock-up of the Turkish Aerospace wingman or attritable unmanned air X-45A demonstrator aircraft for the Joint Industries TT-X combat vehicle (See'Skyborg comes to Unmanned Combat Air System program. fifth-generation the rescue; pages 14-17). A prototype has The X-45A has a low-observable design. stealth fighter that was unveiled at already been flown four times in the last During its May 22, 2002 first flight, the the 2019 Paris Air 18 months. X-45A flew for 14 minutes at Edwards Air Show Wikimedia/ The Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie is the flight Force Base, California, reaching 195 knots JohnNewton demonstrator for an attritable unmanned (225mph) and an altitude of 7,500ft. released in 2016 and then more detailed Below: Franco­ aircraft system the US military wants Work that would feed into these photo-realistic renderings of it parked in German-Spanish operational from 2023. The Valkyrie's LO designs of the 2000s began in the Future Combat Air hangars were made public in 2020. System concept design incorporates features from a early 1990s. With the B-2 entering into While the B-2 and the Lockheed image of a Next concept known as low observable (LO), service at the start of the 1990s, from Martin F-1 17 Nighthawk's radical Generation Weapon which means it has stealth characteristics. 1992 until 1999 Boeing developed new System fighter with designs were revealed to the public autonomous loyal Another LO design test flown in ways to design and build aircraft using in 1988 and 1989, respectively, those wingmen Airbus recent years and expected to become large single-piece composite structures. shapes have not been repeated for every stealth aircraft since. The B-21 is a flying wing, but the aircraft produced since 1989 and said to have stealth properties, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, are more conventional in design. The US is deploying them despite the claims of stealth-defeating bi-static and quantum radar. A bi-static radar has a transmitter and a distant receiver. The disturbance of the signal between the two by a large body moving past at high speed is what is detected. Quantum radar uses entangled photons, where the effect of a body on transmitted photons is detected in the entangled photons held at the radar base. These radars have

www.Key.Aero II December 2020 RAND cites development challenges and recent crashes as the reasons for the delay. The organization pointed out that the head of Sukhoi Aviation, the UAC subsidiary that develops the Su-57, resigned earlier in 2020. This was said to be due to development delays, including the December 2019 test-flight crash of the first 'operational' Su-57. Between that 2019 crash and the 2010 first flight, five Su-57 prototypes underwent testing. They demonstrated its handling characteristics at sub and supersonic speeds, flight at low and high altitudes, at post-stall angles of attack, and in different configurations. The composite materials selected are and engineered for high maneuverability. The RAND commentary points to engine good absorbers of radar signals. The The prototype integrates an airframe, development as a major obstacle for Above: Th is artist experimental aircraft that emerged from engines, and other systems and rendering of a the aircraft. While the prototypes have that work and was flown 38 times was the equipment that could be adapted to other Northrop Grumman been using a first-generation engine, the 'Bird of Prey'. Boeing used those design fighter platforms. B-21 Raider concept second-generation powerplant intended in a hangar at techniques for its Joint Strike Fighter In a 2016 Mitsubishi presentation, the Ellsworth Air Force for operational use is still not ready. demonstrator and the X-45A. The Bird of company said it intended to continue Base, South Dakota. Russia has tried to partner with other Prey was made public in 2002. the development of key technology Ellsworth AFB is nations to develop the Su-57, but Indian one of the bases areas, such as integrated sensors, expected to host the co-operation did not last long. RAND Backing stealth composite structures and stealth designs. new stealth bomber concludes that the Su-57 is unlikely to The investments by the US in the 1990s Development of the X-2 continues. Northrop Grumman be ready for export before the late 2020s, and during the 21st century are now The Republic of Korea began working Below: Northrop and challenges for Russian electronics bringing to the fore a range of stealthy on its Korea Fighter eXperimental (KF-X) Grumman's future means that the Su-57 is only really platforms, piloted and autonomous. in 2015 and expects it to be operational unmanned aircraft fifth generation because of its low­ system concept has Investment by the Europeans, Russia, in the late 2020s. The prototype entered long unrefueled observable design. China, Turkey, Japan and South Korea over final assembly on September 1, and that range, mission Turkey has an increasingly close the next 10-20 years could bring more is expected to be completed by mid-2021. endurances greater relationship with Russia. Procurement of than 24hrs, robust stealthy platforms into the battlespace. The first flight test is projected for 2022, mission systems, a the Russian 5-400 surface-to-air missile While the H-20 was expected to appear and full system development for the KF-X weapons capacity, system in 2019 saw the Eurasian country at the Zuhai Airshow, the Chengdu J-20 is planned for 2026. and open mission removed from the F-35 program, but systems architectures is known to be flying with the People's However, the KF-X is not described as a Northrop Grumman Tukey denies this is legal. Liberation Army Air Force. fifth-generation or as stealthy. Its maker, The USAF's China Aerospace Studies Korea Aerospace Industries, states it has Institute stated in February 2018 that the enhanced survivability and precision J-20 is similar to the Lockheed Martin strike. A stealth fighter that is rolling off F-22 Raptor and Russia's United Aircraft the production line is Russian Federation's Corporation (UAC) Sukhoi Su-57. The J-20, Su-57. Described as a 'fifth generation' the institute said, "is a high-speed fighter fighter by UAC, its first flight took place that is very maneuverable with capacity on January 29,2010. After ground tests, for long range and stealth''. the flight test program began on April 29 In 2014, the US-China Economic and of that year. Despite 10 years of testing, Security Review Commission said of the the aircraft is still not operational with the J-20 that it"'will confront the US military Russian Air Force. with, in effect, the dilemma that the US According to an onlin e commentary by Air Force has for 20 years been imposing the US think tank, the RAND Corporation, on adversaries - how to defend against dated August 17, 2020, a handful of Su-57 low-observable aircraft'.' prototypes were flown in Syria in 2018 While Japan is buying 100 F-35s, it has and 2019. In August, Russia publicised been developing its own stealth fighter. the ongoing production of Su-57 aircraft The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries X-2 and its ministry of defense stated that 76 advanced technology demonstrator examples will be delivered to the Russian flew for the first time in April 2016. Federation Air Force by 2028. That RAND Japan wants to replace its Mitsubishi F-2 commentary - entitled 'Russia's Su-57 with a domestically-produced stealth Heavy Fighter Bomber: Is It Really a Fifth­ fighter. Mitsubishi describes the X-2 as Generation Aircraft?' - also stated that a 'prototype stealth aircraft; the first in initial operational capability would not Japan to feature anti-radar technology occur'until the mid-2020s at the earliest'.

December 2020 // www.Key.Aero On July 17, 2019, the US government Airbus announced they would co­ Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) announced Turkey's suspension from the operate on the then French and German as a family of capabilities enabling air F-35 program. A month before, in June governments' Future Combat Air System superiority in the most challenging at the Paris Air Show, Turkish Aerospace (FCAS). In an April 2018 statement, operational environments. The first NGAD Industries (TAI) unveiled a mock-up of its Dassault and Airbus said their roadmap flight took place 11 months after the TF-X, a proposed stealthy fifth-generation included demonstrators by 2025. USAF officially stood up an advanced fighter. The TF-X program had started A life-size model ofthe proposed FCAS aircraft program office in October 2019, to three years earlier in 2016. next-generation weapon system (NGWS) oversee the project. According to TAI, TF-X will replace was unveiled by France, Germany and The assistant secretary of the air force Turkey's fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 Spain in June 2019 at the Paris Air Show. for acquisition, technology and logistics, Fighting Falcons and enter service in Spain joined FCAS in early 2019. At the Will Roper, told the Air Force Association's the 2030s. Turkey will use its knowledge Paris show, the three countries signed an 2020 Virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference gained from the F-35 program to build its agreement for the NGWS, which is actually on September 15: "NGAD has come so far, TF-X, which TAI states will be interoperable the fighter aircraft that is expected to that the full-scale flight demonstrator has with the F-35. The TF-X is described by TAI replace Eurofighter, Panavia Tornado and already flown in the physical world and it's as having sensor fusion, low observability, Dassault Rafale from 2035. broken a lot of records in the doing;'but artificial intelligence, an internal weapons According to Dassault, FCAS is a system he made no further specific claims. bay and would use novel weapons. It of systems, combining a wide range of Chinese researchers have touted would be operational until the 2070s. connected elements operating jointly. the anti-stealth capabilities of high Head west from the Turkish capital, and These elements include the NGWS fighter, frequency radar, but little is now heard in Europe you'll find the Tempest and medium-altitude, long-endurance UAS, of low-frequency, bi-static radar and future combat air system (FCAS) programs. future cruise missiles, drones flying in quantum radar. Despite all these claims, In 2018 at the Farnborough International swarms, and partner nations' existing governments are still putting money into Airshow, the UK government announced piloted aircraft. FCAS will be interoperable materials, coatings and fuselage designs its new combat air strategy, which with satellites, NATO systems and land said to make aircraft low observable. In the includes Tempest, a next-generation fast and naval combat systems. The FCAS next 10-20 years, the Chengdu J-20, TAI TF­ jet that would have an initial operating work included a concept study that would X, KAITFX, RAF Tempest, European FCAS capability from 2035. Flown by a pilot be completed by the end of 2020. Early and USAF NGAD will enter service. Aircraft or autonomously, Tempest will have NGWS concepts had tailless designs, but remain in service for decades: the Boeing advanced power and propulsion systems, now they have twin tails like the Raptor F-15 Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-16 be rapidly upgradeable, cyber resilient and Lightning II. This is a mock-up Fighting Falcon are almost 50 years old; of theTem pest and use swarming and energy weapons. While other countries work towards next-generation the B-2 is already 30. Stealth fighters and Called a sixth-generation combat aircraft capabilities found in the United States' fighter, the UK's bombers being developed now will likely by the Royal Air Force, it would replace the Raptors and Lightning lls, the USAF has proposal for a be operating in 2050 and beyond. The art rep lacement for the EurofighterTyphoon's capabilities. already flown a prototype of its next­ Eurofighter Typhoon of stealth may be dark, but its future can In April 2018, Dassault Aviation and generation platform - and describes RAF/BAE Systems already be clearly observed. ~~

www.Key.Aero II December 2020