 "America’s F-47 vs China’s J-36: How race for world’s first sixth-gen fighter jet is hotting up")
America has said it will build a sixth-generation fighter jet.
US President Donald Trump, making the announcement, said Boeing will develop the fighter jet – which will be known as the F-47.
“They will have unprecedented power,” Trump said. “America’s enemies will never see [them] coming.”
US airpower is currently led by the F-35 built by weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
The fifth-gen jet, each of which costs between $80 million and $115 million, is recognised as the most complete fighter plane in the skies.
However, some critics have called it a ‘white Elephant.’
The F-47 is envisaged as a replacement for the F-22 raptor.
But what do we know about the F-47? How does it compare with China’s J-36?
Let’s take a closer look:
What do we know?
You may well wonder what the 47 stands for.
Trump, incidentally, is the 47th President of the United States.
But he insists that’s a coincidence.
“The generals picked a title, and it’s a beautiful number,” Trump was quoted as saying in the Oval Office. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it.”
The plane is officially called the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD).
NGAD was conceived as a “family of systems” centered around a sixth-generation fighter to counter adversaries such as China and Russia.
As per St Louis Public Radio, the plane will be built at a Boeing manufacturing space in the city.
As per BBC, Trump called it the ‘most lethal aircraft ever built.’
He claimed a test version of the plane had been flying in secret for years.
“There’s never been anything even close to it, from speed to manoeuverability, to what it can have, to payload,” Trump said.
“Our allies are calling constantly,” Trump added. He said foreign sales could be an option.
“They want to buy them also.”
The plane’s specifications, for obvious reasons, are being kept under wraps.
However, it will have stealth capabilities, advanced sensors and cutting-edge engines.
An artistic representation of the plane put up at the White House showed a tiny part of it – along with front landing gear.
As per AirandSpaceForces.com, artistic renderings of the F-47 show a number of differences from other stealth craft.
“While the images show a conventionally stealthy nose and bubble canopy with a chiseled chine and a flattened overall fuselage shape, they also reveal both canards and wings with a distinctive upward angle, features that aren’t typical of previous stealth designs,” the piece stated.
Boeing said that the F-47 will build on “Boeing’s fighter legacy” which includes the P-51 Mustang, F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet, and EA-18 Growler.
As per Fortune, the F-47 will fly alongside an autonomous drone.
The AP reported that the plane will cost $20 billion to develop initially.
The War Zone estimated that the final cost will be in the billions.
“We’ve given an order for a lot. We can’t tell you the price,” Trump said.
“Despite what our adversaries claim, the F-47 is truly the world’s first crewed sixth-generation fighter,” Chief of Staff Gen. David W Allvin was quoted as saying by AirandSpaceForces.com
The website quoted Allvin as saying that X-planes have been testing NGAD technologies for the last five years, “flying hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the edge of technology with confidence.”
This has “accelerated the technology, refining our operational concepts, and proving that we can field this capability faster than ever before. Because of this, this fighter will fly during President Trump’s administration.”
“With the F-47, we will strengthen our global position, keeping our enemies off-balance and at bay,” Allvin said. “And when they look up, they will see nothing but the certain defeat that awaits those who dare to challenge us.”
How does J-36 compare?
The J-36 is China’s sixth-gen fighter plane.
As per The War Zone, it is being built by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation.
Its details too are a closely-guarded secret.
Its features include a triangular, tailless configuration which increases stealth by tamping down on radar signature.
It is also thought to increase aerodynamic efficiency for long-range operations.
However, this may come at the cost of maneuverability without advanced thrust-vectoring engines.
The J-36 is said to be powered by three WS-10C turbofans.
This engine plan, which is extremely unconventional, has likely been undertaken to maintain high speeds and operations at extreme altitudes.
The J-36’s overall size likely means it has the capacity to carry extra fuel.
It is thought to have internal space for advanced weapons and sensors. The J-36 likely has side-looking airborne radar, electro-optical sensors, and low-observable technologies.
As per The Diplomat, the J-36 is thought to be around 22 metres in length.
It is said to have a 20-metre wingspan.
It has a low observable, double delta tailless flying wing planform, with a huge and blended fuselage. A canopy is present – giving rise to rumours it may have a two-pilot cockpit with them side-by-side.
The J-36 has two side air intakes of a caret design, and also a dorsal air intake of unclear geometry.
The J-36 is thought to have a big central internal weapons bay (IWB).
This could contain the PL-17 air to air missile.
It is thought to have two smaller IWBs on the side
It is thought that its maximum take-off weight will be more than 50 tons.
It also has dual wheel main landing gear.
The J-36 also has split flap rudders on the outboard wing positions.
As per The Times of India, images and videos of the J-36’s maiden came to light in December 2024 – on the anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth, the founder of the People’s Republic of China.
The J-36 took to the skies alongside a Chengdu J-20s plane.
Though China has claimed the J-36 is a ‘sixth-gen fighter,’ this is impossible to verify.
What do experts say?
Some people have claimed that fighter planes are obsolete in today’s world.
As per Fortune, Elon Musk , has called the F-35 an “expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none.”
Musk, who is a high-profile confidante of Trump, in November claimed “some idiots are still building manned fighter jets like the F-35.”
“And manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones anyway. Will just get pilots killed,” he wrote on X.
However, experts say that despite grumbles from certain quarters, manned aircrafts will continue to rule the skies.
Bill Sweetman, writing for The Strategist, claimed that the J-36 represents a “significant leap in aviation technology.”
As Stacie Petty John, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the Washington Post, “This is one of the US Air Force’s core strengths, so continuing to invest in the high-end aircraft that allows us to do this is key to maintaining an edge over China.”
“The president’s decision to move forward with the F-47, also known as the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, is likely to be the most important defense decision that he makes during his entire term,” retired Air Force Lieutenant General David Deptula told Fox News.
That’s because “our entire way of waging war” involves integrating all the services, which depends on US control of the air, Deptula explained.
“No major military campaign can succeed without air superiority,” Deptula, who served as the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, added.
NPR quoted Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth as saying the development sent a strong message about America’s commitment to its airpower.
The new fighter jet “sends a very clear, direct message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere.”
The development is a big win for Boeing and a reversal of fortune for a company that has struggled on both the commercial and defence sides of its business.
It is a major boost for its St Louis, Missouri, fighter jet production business.
Boeing’s win means it will make the jet fighter and receive orders worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the contract’s multi-decade lifetime.
“We recognise the importance of designing, building and delivering a 6th-generation fighter capability for the United States Air Force,” Steve Parker, who leads Boeing’s defence business, said in a statement. “In preparation for this mission, we made the most significant investment in the history of our defense business.”
The loss is another blow to Lockheed after it was eliminated from the competition to build the Navy’s next-generation carrier-based stealth fighter, and amid growing discontent from the Pentagon over delays in upgrading its F-35 fighter jet.
In recent weeks, Trump met with Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet to discuss the F-35, according to three sources.
“The win is a major boost for the company, which has struggled with cost overruns, schedule delays and execution on other Department of Defense programs,” said Roman Schweizer, an analyst at TD Cowen.
“While disappointed with this outcome, we are confident we delivered a competitive solution,” Lockheed said in a statement. “We will await further discussions with the US Air Force.”
However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the weapons firm.
“The silver lining of this award for Lockheed is that the Air Force sees value in manned capabilities at the same time China is ramping its fifth gen fighter production,” analysts wrote, as per Fortune.
With inputs from agencies
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