Boeing F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)

[Ainen]

What again?

F-22 took first flight in 1997.
J-20 program started around 2000. It's much younger than F-35, much less F-22. In simple terms, F-22 design was more or less fixed before release of windows 95.
J-20 was being assembled and flown in iphone era, and reached service more or less together with Huawei P30.
This isn't mere "timeline for dummies", and by no means an insult. It's that J-20 is that much later into modernity. And modernity for China watching is all - it's that incredible shift from one of worlds' poorest countries to one of two largest and most advanced, pushing western countries from high tech markets, market after market.
J.V. Vance may consider it unfair; it doesn't change the reality.

The F-22 could be easily upgraded to support multirole functionalities. We know it had the SWAPC margins for AIRST, so a dumbed down EOTS is fairly manageable, especially with further iterations of F119. SDB/JDAM integration all have been done without meeting major hurdles. Had the Raptor line been kept hot and running, I could see eventual fits to bring back the originally conceived combat systems, just like what the Eagle went through, and undoubtedly benefitting from concurrent stealth projects.

F-15(or 4th gens) get relatively simply upgraded simply through additions to their inherently federated architecture and non-stelath design. If something doesn't fit - slap it on, add a buldge, throw some power cables, or whatever. It's very easy to tell F-15EX apart from F-15Es through EW.
Heck, now they're simply slapping in damn tablets right into cockpits - either connecting them to the fcs through emulator(upload your update from app store from starlink behind your jump seat), or just ignoring it alltogether.

It's unthinkable to add something this way to F-22; integrated architecture, as advanced as it is, doesn't permit it. You need to do it the good old way, and you will do it in ADA, with remaining employees who didn't choose better opportunity elsewehere.
As a result, when there's need for some deeper integration - F-22 continiously stumbles. Yet legacy programs just proceed.

SDB/JDAM integration was indeed done early on - as it's a very simple integration, taking very little from the aircraft (though for very questionable use on aircraft without proper targeting sensors - at F-22 flight hour cost one may wonder if it isn't cheaper to "bomb" with JASSMs).

All of this is rather normal - some tech paths are not taken, most things, when main acceptance reaches them, get much easier and more convenient.
It's just that the way to fix it is called F-47. And it is only selected now.

 

[Josh_TN]

[SNIP/]
Agreed. My point is basically that US model(outpacing competition by being ahead of the curve) is very reliant on that - being ahead of the curve.

[SNIP/]

I have made a new thread for more general discussions about PrC vs US defense issues…let us continue discussions there rather than this thread. I’ll copy paste a reply there later. The moderators seem to be willing to let that roll and see if anyone exhibits bad behavior; no pushback so far.

ETA:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/the-davidson-window-conflict-between-the-u-s-and-prc.45831/#post-773303

 

[dark sidius]

View attachment 765208

I processed the image, and now it looks clearer.

Not the design we see for the F47 , what is that ?

 

[NMaude]

as is Soviet Navy, which was going to get carrier heavy by the very same ~2000.

When the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of December 1991 the Soviet Navy had its' first CVN under construction in the Ukrainian shipyards, it was 60% complete when it was cancelled and scrapped.

If the Cold War had lasted another five years (Easily possible if Andropov realised he'd fucked up big time invading Afghanistan and ordered the pull out of the Red Army before his death in 1984) the F-22 would've likely first flown earlier than 1997 and been produced in much larger numbers.

 

[quellish]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1906876252935348323

View: https://x.com/ASForcesMag/status/1906876252935348323

“The Pause” actually had a name, RISING EQUINOX, and RAND was doing the analysis under contract. Several reports were produced including one that is unclassified and available to anyone who asks the Air Force for it.

Or the “journalists” can write a new article each day about each sentence uttered on a podcast. A “job” that requires little thought and can be done by software.

I miss critical thinking.

 

[Forest Green]

April Fool.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1907011156981490033

View: https://x.com/AirPowerNEW1/status/1907011156981490033

 

[Flyaway]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1906016780629246322

View: https://x.com/Aviation_Intel/status/1906016780629246322


New piece about F-47 from TWZ

From that article.

• Kendall said he was doubtful any U.S. allies or partners would be willing to buy an export version of the F-47, especially given the expected unit cost and the potential for those jets to come with significant downgraded capabilities.

 

[DWG]

F-15(or 4th gens) get relatively simply upgraded simply through additions to their inherently federated architecture and non-stelath design. If something doesn't fit - slap it on, add a buldge, throw some power cables, or whatever. It's very easy to tell F-15EX apart from F-15Es through EW.
Heck, now they're simply slapping in damn tablets right into cockpits - either connecting them to the fcs through emulator(upload your update from app store from starlink behind your jump seat), or just ignoring it alltogether.

It's unthinkable to add something this way to F-22; integrated architecture, as advanced as it is, doesn't permit it. You need to do it the good old way, and you will do it in ADA, with remaining employees who didn't choose better opportunity elsewehere.

I don't see the architecture as a major issue. If it doesn't let you do what you want, subvert it - which is essentially what's happening with tablets in the cockpit.

As for Ada, if you can't get any software engineer writing decent Ada in a month I question their suitability for aerospace work - because we did it with guys with what the US would call a two year degree from the college across the road, and when they did have a three year degree, with guys whose major was chemistry and astrophysics and the like. And at the core, Ada's syntax is Pascal with bells on, and everyone should know Pascal.

Hell, I wasn't quite in the first tranche of engineers we re-roled into Ada from Jovial, but I was certainly second tranche, and our entire conversion process was a five day residential course at the University of Kent. Anything else we needed to know, we had our own copies of MIL-STD-1815 The Ada Programming Language.

Now I think of it, they put us through that course to work on F-22 HUD, though I was promptly side-tracked to design our Ada Programming Support Environment.