FX.co ★ Fifth-generation fighters test the skies

Currently, jet aircraft is developing at an accelerated pace. The new machines of the fifth generationIn are ready to soar up into the sky. Along with the United States, Russia and China the other countries seek to create multifunctional fighters. The fifth generation jet aircraft machine requirements: the presence of radar and thermal stealth, supersonic cruise, high maneuverability, versatility. The informational on-board system, that has the high marginal automation and is included in a single combat network, is of great importance.

Leadership among the fifth-generation fighter aircrafts, taken into service, goes to the American aircraft F-22 Raptor. Its production is discontinued so far. About 187 aircrafts of this type of machinery is in service of 11 fighter air wings US Air Force. The aircrafts are not available abroad.

F-35 Lightning II is considered to be the second fighter of the fifth generation in the US. It is expected that this machine will replace the aircraft F-16, and not only in America. The total amount of the F-35 program output is expected to reach 2.5 thousand units. In the years 2015-2016, the air vehicles testing started in the compounds of the Air Force and Marine Corps. The mass production of the F-35 Lightning II will begin in 2018.

The aircraft T-50, the so-called Sukhoi PAK FA (Prospective Airborne Complex of Frontline Aviation) can be considered as the Russian rival of F-22 Raptor. The Indian aircraft of the FGFA program will be developed at its base. For the first time, T-50 tested the sky seven years ago. At the moment, the machine is close to the completion of the test. The basic serial deliveries will begin in the 2020s for the Russian Air Force.

China also creates air machines of the fifth-generation. The supreme example of the Chinese engineering is considered to be the twin-engine aircraft J-20, first conquered the sky 6 years ago. The machine combines custom design solutions and ideas borrowed from aviation models of other countries. However, despite the progressive development, the question about the real correlation of J-20 with all of the requirements for a fifth-generation aircraft remains open.

Japan, too, does not lag behind the global trend. Japanese engineers have developed a lightweight fighter X-2 Shinshin. Its creation began in 2004 on the ATD-X program. The final version of the aircraft must provide supersonic cruising, carrying the AESA radar and have an extremely low radar visibility. Japanese scientists are still working on it.