Fifth - generation jet fighter A fifth - generation jet fighter is a fighter aircraft classification used in the United States and elsewhere encompassing the most advanced generation of fighter aircraft . Fifth - generation aircraft are designed to incorporate numerous technological advances over the fourth generation jet fighter . The exact characteristics of fifth generation jet fighters are controversial and vague , with Lockheed Martin defining them as having all - aspect stealth even when armed , Low Probability of Intercept Radar ( LPIR ) , high - performance air frames , advanced avionics features , and highly integrated computer systems capable of networking with other elements within the theatre of war for situational awareness . The only currently combat - ready fifth - generation fighters , the Lockheed Martin F - 22 Raptor s , entered service with the U . S . Air Force in 2005 . Development . USA . Previous generation stealth aircraft , such as the B - 2 Spirit and F - 117 Nighthawk , were designed to be bombers , lacking the LPI Active Electronically Scanned Array ( AESA ) radars , LPI radio networks , performance , and weapons necessary to engage other aircraft . In the early 1970s , various American design projects identified stealth , speed , and maneuverability as key characteristics of a next generation air to air combat aircraft . This led to the Request for Information for the Advanced Tactical Fighter project in May 1981 , which resulted in the F - 22 . The USMC is leveraging the USAF ' s experience with " fifth - generation air warfare " in the F - 22 , as they develop their own tactics for the F - 35 . USAF CoS Mark Welsh expects that " Competitors " will be fielding fifth - gen fighters in the 2018 to 2023 time frame . According to Lockheed Martin , the only fifth - generation jet fighter currently in operational service is their own F - 22 Raptor . US fighter manufacturer Lockheed Martin uses " fifth generation fighter " to describe the F - 22 and F - 35 fighters , with the definition including " advanced stealth " , " extreme performance " , " information fusion " and " advanced sustainment " . Their definition does not include supercruise capability , which has typically been associated with the more advanced modern fighters , but which the F - 35 lacks . Lockheed Martin attempted to trademark the term " 5th generation fighters " in association with jet aircraft and structural parts thereof , and has a trademark for a logo with the term . The rapid development of the Sukhoi PAK FA may see a rival for the F - 35 in the future . Russian and Chinese fifth generation fighters are expected to enter further development / service in 2017 , which is also the predicted year that the F - 35 program will enter the same stages . Russia . In the late 1980s , the Soviet Union outlined the need for a next - generation aircraft to replace fourth - generation fighter aircraft : Mikoyan MiG - 29 and Sukhoi Su - 27 in frontline service . Two projects were proposed to meet this need , the 4 . 5th generation fighter aircraft : Sukhoi Su - 47 and the Mikoyan Project 1 . 44 ( although later modernized MiG - 35 to 4 . 5th generation fighter ) . In 2002 , Sukhoi was chosen to lead the design for the new combat aircraft . As the first post - Soviet fighter , Sukhoi PAK FA ( T - 50 ) will incorporate technology from both the Su - 47 and the MiG 1 . 44 and when fully developed is intended to replace the MiG - 29 and Su - 27 in the Russian inventory and serve as the basis of the Sukhoi / HAL FGFA project being developed with India . A fifth - generation jet fighter , it is designed to fight against the American F - 22 Raptor and F - 35 Lightning II . The Sukhoi PAK FA performed its first flight 29 January 2010 . Russia is now constructing a new stealth lightweight multirole fighter – Mikoyan LMFS ( aka Projekt 1 . 27 , MiG - 1 . 27 ) by Mikoyan aircraft manufacturer . This jet fighter is based on the cancelled MiG 1 . 44 . China . By the late 1990s , several Chinese fifth - generation fighter programs , grouped under the program codename J - XX or XXJ , were identified by western intelligence sources . PLAAF officials have confirmed the existence of such a program , which they estimate will enter service between 2017 – 2019 . Nevertheless , the United States has predicted that it may possess as much as 20 times more " advanced stealth fighters " than the Chinese by 2020 . By late 2010 , two prototypes of the Chengdu J - 20 had been constructed and were undergoing high - speed taxi trials . The J - 20 made its first flight on 11 January 2011 . China remains dependent on reliable Russian jet engines and advanced radars and so does not yet have an independent fifth generation jet fighter program , according to a Russian news report . Another stealth fighter design from SAC started to circulate on the internet in September 2011 . In June 2012 , photos about a possible prototype of F - 60 being transferred on highway began to emerge on the internet . This aircraft was named Shenyang J - 31 later , and made its maiden flight on Oct 31 , 2012 . News has emerged that Pakistan and China will develop an improved Block III variant of the JF - 17 Thunder , with possible fifth generation characteristics . The new fighter will be unveiled in 2016 . Other Countries . In 2011 Turkish Aerospace Industries initiated a $ 20 million concept design phase for a fifth - generation fighter TFX . In 2013 a decision should be made for the future of this project . Turkey is the only JSF member with a program of its own . Turkish Aerospace Industries has stated that the program will cost $ 120 billion ( with engine development ) . South Korea ' s KAI KF - X program was initially intended to produce a fifth - generation fighter , but this was later scaled back . Japan also has project Mitsubishi ATD - X . India is developing the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft ( AMCA ) , a twin - engine fifth - generation stealth multirole fighter apart from Sukhoi / HAL FGFA project being developed with Russia . The main purpose of the AMCA is to replace the aging SEPECAT Jaguar & Dassault Mirage 2000 . Unofficial design work on the AMCA has been started . Russia will also provide India with an advanced version of the Sukhoi - 30MKI , which will have fifth generation capabilities and stealth features . India will be giving 18 Sukhoi - 30K aircraft to Russia , to replace them with the advanced Sukhoi - 30MKI , which is being christened as " Super Sukhoi " that boasts of fifth - generation features . The sudden emergence of fifth generation jet fighters has caused other countries to either adopt their own , or if they are unable to do so , upgrade their current fourth generation fighters to the 4 . 5th generation level . In 2012 , Lars Helmrich of the Swedish Air Force testified to parliament that the current fourth generation Saab JAS 39 Gripen would be useless in air - to - air combat by 2020 and that only the 4 . 5th generation Gripen NG would stand a chance . Common design elements . Giovanni de Briganti has defined the defining elements of a fifth generation fighter to be : In order to minimize their radar cross - section ( RCS ) , all fifth - generation fighters use chines instead of standard leading edge extensions and lack canards , though the Sukhoi PAK FA T - 50 has engine intake extensions that seem to function somewhat like canards and the Chengdu J - 20 designers have chosen the agility enhancements of canards in spite of their poor stealth characteristics . They all have twin canted vertical tails also to minimize side RCS . Most fifth - generation fighters with supermaneuverability achieve it through thrust vectoring . They all have internal weapon bays in order to avoid high RCS weapon pylons , but they all have external hardpoint s on their wings for use on non - stealthy missions , such as the external fuel tanks the F - 22 carries when deploying to a new theater . All fifth - generation fighters have a high percentage of composite materials , in order to reduce RCS and weight . Software defined aircraft . All revealed fifth - generation fighters use commercial off - the - shelf main processors to directly control all sensors to form a consolidated view of the battlespace with both onboard and networked sensors , while previous generation jet fighters used federated systems where each sensor or pod would present its own readings for the pilot to combine in their own mind a view of the battlespace . The F - 22A was physically delivered without synthetic aperture radar ( SAR ) or situational awareness infra - red search and track . It will gain SAR later through software upgrades . However any flaw in these huge software systems can knock out supposedly unrelated aircraft systems and the complexity of a software defined aircraft can lead to a software crisis with additional costs and delays . Sukhoi calls their expert system for sensor fusion the artificial intelligence of the PAK - FA . An automatic software response to an overheat condition apparently has contributed to at least one fatal crash of an F - 22 . There is ongoing research to apply Track - before - detect across Sensor fusion in the core CPU to allow fifth generation fighters to engage targets that no single sensor has by itself detected . The F - 35 uses Software - defined radio systems , where common middleware controls FPGA s . Col . Arthur Tomassetti has said that the F - 35 is a " software intensive airplane and software is easy to upgrade , as opposed to hardware . " Advanced engines . Fifth generation jet fighters use the newest generation of high performance jet engines and only the American Pratt & Whitney F119 is fully developed . The engines for the F - 35 are still under development , the Chinese are dependent on Russian engines , and even the Russians are falling short in the development of the latest jet engines . Situational awareness . Sensor fusion and automatic target tracking are projected to give the fifth - generation jet fighter pilot a view of the battlespace superior to that of legacy AWACS aircraft that may be forced back from the front lines by increasing threats . Therefore tactical control could be shifted forwards to the pilots in the fighters . Michael Wynne , former Secretary of the United States Air Force , has suggested elimination of the Boeing E - 3 Sentry and Boeing E - 8 Joint STARS in favor of more F - 35s , simply because so much effort is being made by the Russians and Chinese to target these platforms that are built to commercial airliner standards . However , the more powerful sensors , such as AESA radar which is able to operate in multiple modes at the same time , may present too much information for the single pilot in the F - 22 , F - 35 and T - 50 to adequately use . The Sukhoi / HAL FGFA offered a return to the two - seat configuration common in fourth generation strike fighters , but this was rejected over cost concerns . The limits of stealth . Even committed fifth generation fighter users such as the Israelis concede that advances in sensors and computing will overcome a pure stealth configuration within a decade . This is why the Israelis insisted that the F - 35 have defined interfaces so that the electronic warfare systems could be constantly improved to match the threat . All known fifth generation designs have extensive electronic warfare systems , partly in response to an incident where the limited EW systems on a F - 117 may have led to its loss in combat . Stealth is now seen as " part of the overall electronic warfare issue " , in that a stealthy platform is easier to hide with the assistance of jamming . Critics and alternative definitions . The definition of the term " fifth - generation fighter " from Lockheed Martin has been criticized by companies whose products do not conform to these particular specifications , such as Boeing and Eurofighter , and by other commentators such as Bill Sweetman : " it is misleading to portray the F - 22 and F - 35 as a linear evolution in fighter design . Rather , they are a closely related pair of outliers , relying on a higher level of stealth as a key element of survivability – as the Lockheed YF - 12 and Mikoyan MIG - 25 , in the 1960s , relied on speed and altitude . " The United States Navy and Boeing have placed the Boeing F / A - 18E / F Super Hornet in a " next generation " fighter category along with the F - 22 and F - 35 , as the Super Hornet has a " fifth generation " AESA radar , modest radar cross - section ( RCS ) reductions and sensor fusion . A senior USAF pilot has complained about fifth - generation claims for the Super Hornet : " The whole point to fifth generation is the synergy of stealth , fusion and complete situational awareness . The point about fifth - generation aircraft is that they can do their mission anywhere – even in sophisticated integrated air defense [ IADS ] environments . If you fly into heavy IADS with a great radar and sensor fusion , but no stealth , you will have complete situational awareness of the guy that kills you . " Michael “ Ponch ” Garcia of Raytheon has said that the addition of their AESA radars to the Super Hornet provides " 90 percent of your fifth - generation capability at half the cost . " And a top Boeing official has called their newest 4 . 5th generation fighters " stealth killers " . In response to the use of the " fifth generation " term , Eurofighter has made a fifth - generation checklist placing different weights on the various capabilities , and arguing that the application of the label to strike aircraft such as Lockheed - Martin ' s F - 35 is ill advised , and even inconsistent with the aircraft ' s specifications . Meanwhile , Eurofighter adds " net - enabled operations " as noteworthy requirement and de - emphasizes full - scope low observability as only one factor in survivability . In the same article Eurofighter GmbH appear to acknowledge the remarkable performance of Lockheed Martin ' s F - 22 aircraft , while demonstrating that labels as simple as " fifth generation " may easily be devised to serve the interests of the writer . Richard A . Bitzinger of the S . Rajaratnam School of International Studies , a former consultant for the American RAND think tank suggests that Western Europe ' s " failure " to develop a fifth - generation jet fighter may reduce these former leaders in the market to also - ran status as the world ' s attention shifts to the competition between the United States and Asian powers . Canadians Alex Wilner and Marco Wyss of the Center for Security Studies claim that Europe ' s failure to " keep up " with the F - 35 may make the European jet fighter manufacturers close up shop . However Europe may return with a trans - national ' sixth generation ' UCAV , assuming that the political entanglements can be evaded . The European Defence Agency has warned that the European $ 60 billion industry could collapse by 2020 . The Russian Defense Ministry defines fifth generation as including " stealth technology , supersonic cruising speed , highly - integrated avionics , electronics and fire - control systems " . Related Development . Technology Demonstrators 5G Design and Development Proposed 5G fighters