Fifth-generation fighter

A fifth-generation fighter is a way to group jet fighter aircraft. It includes major technologies developed in the first part of the 21st century.  these are the most advanced fighters being used. People do not always agree on the exact features of a fifth-generation fighter, and not every fighter has all of them. However, they usually include stealth (being hard to detect), low-probability-of-intercept radar (LPIR), a body (airframe) that can move quickly and fly at supercruise speeds, and advanced avionics (electronics). They also have highly integrated computer systems that can connect with other friendly forces (networking) to get a better understanding of the battlefield (situational awareness). This also helps with command, control and communications (C3) abilities.

 the fifth-generation fighters that are ready for combat are: the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, used by the United States Air Force (USAF) since December 2005; the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) since July 2015; the Chengdu J-20, used by the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) since March 2017; the Shenyang J-35, used by the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) since September 2025; and the Sukhoi Su-57, used by the Russian Air Force (VVS) since December 25, 2020. Other countries and groups of countries are also working on their own fifth-generation fighter projects.

Characteristics
The new group of advanced fighter aircraft in the first decades of the 21st century is called the fifth generation. The exact features of a fifth-generation fighter are not always agreed upon, and not every fighter type has all of them. Some ways of counting fighter generations list more than five groups leading up to this new one. thumb|The Su-57 and F-35 at Aero India 2025. Older fourth-generation fighters were mostly built for high maneuverability and close-range "dogfighting". Fifth-generation fighters have different features. These features usually include stealth, which means weapons (munitions) are stored inside the plane to make it harder to detect. They also have high maneuverability and are often able to take off and land on short runways. Another feature is supercruise, which is the ability to fly faster than sound for a long time without using reheat. They also have advanced electronics (avionics), like low-probability-of-intercept radar (LPIR). They use networked data fusion, which combines information from many sources to give the pilot better situation awareness of the battlefield. Finally, they are multirole, meaning they can do many jobs at once, such as helping with command, control and communications (C3).

To make them harder to see on radar (a small radar cross-section or RCS), most fifth-generation fighters use chines instead of standard leading edge extensions. They also usually do not have canards (small wings near the nose). However, the Sukhoi T-50 has parts near its engine intakes that act somewhat like canards. The designers of the Chengdu J-20 decided to use canards to make the plane more agile, even though this can make it less stealthy. These fighters also have two vertical tails that are tilted (like a V-tail) to help reduce radar detection from the side. The fighters that have supermaneuverability usually get this ability by using thrust vectoring.

All of these fighters have internal weapon bays (spaces inside the plane) to carry weapons. This helps them avoid using weapon racks (pylons) on the outside, which make the plane easier to see on radar. However, they still have external hardpoints on their wings. These can be used for missions where stealth is not needed, or for carrying extra fuel tanks, like the F-22 does when flying to a new base.

All fifth-generation fighters are also made of a lot of composite materials. This helps reduce their weight and their radar signature (RCS).

Software-defined aircraft
All fifth-generation fighters that we know about use regular commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) main computer processors. These processors control all the plane's sensors. The sensors' information is combined (sensor fusion) to create one clear picture of the battlefield for the pilot, using both the plane's own sensors and information from other friendly forces. In older jet fighters, each sensor or piece of equipment would give its own separate information, and the pilot had to mentally combine all that information to understand the battlefield.

For example, when the F-22A was first delivered, it did not have synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or an infra-red search and track system for situational awareness. It is getting the SAR ability later through software updates. However, a problem in these very complex software systems can shut down other parts of the plane that seem unrelated. The complexity of an aircraft that depends on software can lead to big software problems (software crisis), causing extra costs and delays. By the end of 2013, the biggest worry for the F-35 program was its software, especially the software needed to combine all the data from its different sensors.

The company Sukhoi calls its expert system for sensor fusion the 'artificial intelligence' of the Su-57. Flight tests for its new electronics system began in 2017. This system uses a multicore processor and fiber optic networks. The system is not perfect. In December 2020, the first production Su-57 crashed because of a problem with its computer flight control system.

An automatic software reaction to an overheating problem was one of the causes of an F-22 crash. Problems with the electronics also helped cause an F-35A crash in 2020.

The F-35 uses software-defined radio systems. In these systems, common middleware controls field-programmable gate arrays. Col. Arthur Tomassetti has said that the F-35 is a "software intensive airplane and software is easy to upgrade, as opposed to hardware".

To make it easier to add new software features, the F-35's software system separates security jobs between the main kernel and the applications.

Steve O'Bryan of Lockheed Martin has said that the F-35 might get the ability to control UAVs (drones) through a future software update. The U.S. Navy is already planning to let a person in an aircraft control its Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike system, using the drone as a "flying missile magazine" (a platform that carries extra missiles).

Situational awareness

By combining a stealthy body, stealthy sensors, and stealthy communications, fifth-generation fighters are designed to attack other aircraft before those targets even know they are there. Lt. Col. Gene McFalls of the USAF has said that sensor fusion will use databases to correctly identify aircraft from far away.

It is expected that sensor fusion and automatic target tracking will give the fifth-generation jet fighter pilot a view of the battlefield that is better than the view from older AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft. Those older planes might be forced to fly further away from the battle because of new threats. Because of this, tactical control could be moved from the AWACS plane to the pilots in the fighters. Michael Wynne, a former Secretary of the United States Air Force, suggested getting rid of the Boeing E-3 Sentry and Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS planes. He said the money should be spent on more F-35s, simply because enemies are trying hard to target these large, older planes, which are built like airliners.

However, the more powerful sensors, like AESA radar that can do multiple jobs at once, might give the single pilot in the F-22, F-35 and Su-57 too much information to use effectively. The Sukhoi/HAL FGFA project offered to use a two-seat design, which is common in fourth-generation strike fighters, but this idea was dropped because it cost too much.

Research is being done on using a track-before-detect method with sensor fusion in the main computer. This would let fifth-generation fighters attack targets that were not spotted by any single sensor on its own. Probability theory (a type of math) is used to decide "what data to believe, when to believe and how much to believe".

These sensors create too much data for the plane's computers to process completely. Instead, sensor fusion works by comparing what it sees to "threat libraries" already loaded into the computer. These libraries contain information about known enemy weapons and abilities in a certain area. Things that do not match a known threat are not even shown to the pilot.

Combat cloud

Gilmary M. Hostage III has suggested that fifth-generation jet fighters will work together in a "combat cloud" with future unmanned combat aircraft (drones). Michael Manazir has suggested this could happen soon. For example, a UCLASS drone could be loaded with AMRAAM missiles, and an F-35 pilot could give the command for the drone to launch them.

 Related pages 
 Air superiority fighter
 Stealth aircraft

References
Notes

 Writings on the subject 


Category:2000s aircraft
Category:2000s in technology
5th generation