Hi, last week I had a malfunction, so no video. This week I am doing a voiceover, and I'm taking this opportunity to discuss something that I wanted to discuss for quite some time that is how important are fighters generations. Yes, because I've heard a lot of heated discussion on the internet about which fighter belongs to which generation, as if, yeah, it was something important. Well, maybe maybe not, let's see. This fighter generation thing is definitely American and let's say Western. Chinese have their own classification. Russians adopt the Western classification when they're trying to sell something abroad, but they don't care too much. There are still some third generation aircraft in service, but the bulk of what is in service today belongs to the four generations. They were characterized by high maneuverability, obtained by designing aircraft intrinsically unstable in pitch, fly-ball wire and digital controls, pulls Doppler radars with look-down, shoot-down capabilities, and the first generation of active-humming air-to-air missiles. Western aircraft belonging to these generations are the F14, the F15, the F16, the F8, the Mirage 2000, the Tornado. Russian aircraft belonging to this generation are the Shauli 27, the Shauli 24, MiG-29 or the MiG-31. And here we see the first issue. Set at the beginning, four generation is characterized by high maneuverability and intrinsic instability. Well, F14 is not, F15 is not, the MiG-31 is not, the Tornado is not, and yet there's still considered four generation aircraft. This is the first point I want to make. We can enlist some design features, but in reality there's actually a blend of various features that are implementing on different aircraft. So in the end being part of a generation depends more on the time when the aircraft was designed and entered service and the broad similarity of the technologies being used. But very broad. And then the first generation did not assure the fifth. In fact, we are in the years when Cold War ended, research and development investment slowed down. So what we had at the time was a generation 4+. Most analysts, including the 4-plus generation aircraft like the Su-30, the Gripen, the Rafale or the Typhoon. The first-plus generation is characterized by the even improved maneuverability. Some implement to reduce the radar's signature, but definitely not achieving stealth, supercruise. And in my opinion, most crucially, the first forms of network in warfare with sensor fusion and collaborative targeting. After the 4-plus generation, some marketees or analysts have introduced the generation 4+. Or 4.5. The key feature of this generation is the adoption of Pisa and Aisa Raiders, which are almost a quantum lead in radar performance. Also in this generation, the use of digital technologies in networking, sensor fusion, and the processing of all the information useful for the pilot's situation and awareness is finally becoming of age. Aircraft being part of this generation are the latest version of the F-16, the F-18E or the Su-35. In Euro profile, F-3 and F-4 can be classified generation 4.5 and definitely the GripenE is a generation 4.5. So we have 3 generations 4, 4-plus and 4-plus plus that are basically evolutions of the same airframes. And then generation 5 comes along. This is not an evolution, but it is a revolution. The defining feature of the generation is stealth. Sault being designed into the airframe natively. The F-22 or the F-35, but even the more recent J-20 or Su-57 have been designed since the beginning to be stealth aircraft to have an extremely low radar cross-section, at least in part of the aspects. Other feature of the fifth generation is an even more advanced sensor fusion and networking, supercruis at very high speed, and in some cases maneuverability is pushed to the max. However, even in this case, not all the aircraft have the same feature. For example, the F-22 and the Su-57 are designed to be extremely maneuverable and probably the Su-57E is the most maneuverable aircraft ever designed, but the F-35, while holding its tone, is not as extreme as the others. So now that we went through the evolution of the last 40-50 years, the question is, is belonging to a specific generation making any difference? Well, has everything the Assa is, yes, but also no. In the sky there is nowhere to hide, it is a featureless environment, given a fair one-to-one confrontation, in general a more modern aircraft is going to defeat an older one. If the fight is fair, hiking a medieval tournament, that's probably what is going to happen. Unfortunately, the fight is never fair. Even a featureless environment tactics do exist. Pilot training and tactical acumen is still very important, and it can definitely tilt the balance in favor of a potentially older aircraft if it is better used. Tactical situation dictates pilot's choices, in some cases it's okay to retreat and run away in some other cases you need to stay there and at least try fighting, because if you run away some other important assets will be destroyed. Not to speak of the presence of force multipliers like A-Wax or Electronic Surveillance Aircraft or any other information network that can coordinate or provide additional situational awareness, and it's not by chance that we speak about multipliers, all this factor multiply each other. Another important element is that today, thanks to the design advancements of the end of the 20th century, and the fact that all the Air Forces tend to be quite cash-strapped, upgrades to a platform tend to matter much more than they used to. And in fact, before we said that basically generation 4++ is derived by taking older frames, old designs, upgrading them, modernizing them with features that are native to the 5th generation. So the same aircraft depending on the variant could be a 4 generation of 4++ or a 4++. The two typical representative of this evolution are the American F16 and the Russian Su-27. Back today the F16 blocks 70, 72 are definitely 4++ in the same way the Su-35 is. So at the end of the day, what do we need generations for? Well, in my opinion, mostly nothing. They are just the marketing construct. They just identified very, very, very broad similarities in features and performance, but they are not indicative of the actual performance of an aircraft. So the only real marker of something qualitatively different going on is the interface between the 4++ and the 5th generation. But otherwise it is basically a continuum of features and performances. I believe that this is really fascinating and this is the reason why I keep looking into these things. What? Oh, you're asking what about the 6th generation? Well, that would be the subject of another video. I really hope you have enjoyed this particular video and a normal thank you to all those who are supporting the channel by one of donations on PayPal, by becoming a member or own Patreon. I bring you all in my delapidated heart and what you do matters a lot. 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