Recently, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan announced the establishment of a joint venture named “Apex” to design the “Sixth Generation Fighter Jet,” aiming for deployment of the jointly developed fighter jets by 2035.
Currently, major global military powers are accelerating the development of next-generation fighter jets. In the US-led “Next Generation Air Superiority” (NGAD) fighter jet project, the full-size model of an unmanned escort aircraft has been displayed at the Paris Air Show. A South Korean aerospace industry executive stated that South Korea would become the “latest country to develop the Sixth Generation Fighter Jet.” Overall, the competition for developing the Sixth Generation Fighter Jets is becoming increasingly fierce, attracting widespread attention.
The full-size model of the US Air Force’s F-47 fighter jet with its accompanying unmanned escort aircraft was exhibited at the Paris Air Show.
The United States is simultaneously advancing two independent next-generation fighter jet development projects: the Air Force’s NGAD project and the Navy’s F/A-XX carrier strike aircraft project.
It is reported that the NGAD project has broken through traditional platform concepts and is evolving into an air combat system that integrates manned/unmanned cooperation, multi-domain information fusion, and intelligent decision-making. The US Air Force has named the next-generation fighter jet as F-47, stating it will significantly outperform other fighters in terms of flight speed, maneuverability, and payload capacity, and can control multiple “collaborative combat aircraft” to form combat groups. It plans to begin deployment around 2030, replacing the current F-22 “Falcon” fighter jet. In May this year, US Air Force Chief of Staff David Orr first revealed the latest details of the F-47 fighter jet and its accompanying unmanned escort aircraft on social media, stating that the F-47 has longer range and more advanced stealth capabilities compared to the F-22.
The F/A-XX project is tasked with serving as the core strike force of the future US Navy battle group.
The project will integrate high-thrust ratio turbofan engines, adaptive radar stealth technology, and an intelligent mission management system, aiming to increase the operational range of the current F/A-18 by more than 60%.
In May this year, France, Germany, and Spain disclosed the core progress of the “Future Air Combat System” (FCAS) at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. Centered on the concept of “Operational Cloud,” the project is dedicated to building an intelligent collaborative combat system that covers the current “Rafale,” “Typhoon” fighter jets, next-generation fighters, and various unmanned systems. It aims to achieve multi-domain information integration with ground, sea, and space equipment, forming cross-service combat capabilities. The second phase of development is expected to commence in 2026, with deployment planned for 2040 to 2045.
In October 2024, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan reached a consensus to accelerate the “Global Combat Air Plan” (GCAP). This project integrates the Japanese F-X sixth-generation fighter project with the British and Italian “Bomber” sixth-generation fighter projects, aiming to develop dual-engine stealthy fighters. It incorporates an artificial intelligence-assisted decision-making system, hypersonic air-launched weapons, and multi-type drone coordination capabilities. The plan is to achieve the first flight of the prototype in 2027 and complete initial deployment before 2035, gradually replacing the UK’s Typhoon and Japan’s F-2 fighter jets. For the first time, the GCAP model was exhibited at this year’s Tokyo Military Police Defense Exhibition in Japan.
Russia has taken a different approach in the field of sixth-generation fighter aircraft development, with its codenamed MiG-41 “Future Long-Range Interceptor System” (PAK DP) accelerating its advancement. From a planning perspective, this type of fighter will replace the existing MiG-31, capable of cruising at Mach 3 (maximum speed of 4 Mach), and can perform large-scale high-speed interceptions in the stratosphere. Experts point out that its equipped “Kinzhal” hypersonic missiles and satellite interception weapons can destroy low-Earth orbit satellites.
Advancing this project signifies Russia’s intent to extend its aerial combat platforms into the field of space defense, aiming to form an integrated “air-space” operational capability.
Expert analysis suggests that next-generation fighters should achieve a “six-dimensional performance leap”, meaning longer range, more flexible maneuverability, stronger stealth capabilities, more precise strike capabilities, superior all-domain combat capabilities, and advanced networked combat management capabilities, in order to seize a lead in capturing future air superiority. This requires significant breakthroughs in areas such as aerodynamics, stealth, propulsion, situational awareness, weapon effectiveness, and information technology for the development of sixth-generation aircraft.
Despite the US Air Force’s claim that the F-47 prototype has been flying secretly for hundreds of hours and confidently approaching technological limits, the core power system required for this project—the adaptive variable cycle engine—still needs extensive technical verification in terms of material reliability and high-temperature testing. Furthermore, the unmanned escort aircraft YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A planned for the F-47 are still awaiting breakthroughs in autonomy and artificial intelligence levels, such as solving key issues like communication stability, algorithm reliability, and command safety. Additionally, challenges such as the complexity of flight control software and the difficulty of achieving all-directional stealth must be faced during the F-47 development process.
Currently, the French, German, and Spanish countries are jointly advancing the FCAS project development into a critical phase. Notably, the adaptive variable cycle engine technology planned for use in this project is still in the conceptual validation stage and has not yet entered the engineering validation phase. Meanwhile, issues related to thermal signal management due to high-power electronic devices remain to be resolved, and the reliability of algorithms for drones operating in complex electromagnetic environments has not yet passed tests.
Furthermore, the FCAS project encompasses next-generation fighter jets, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and “Operational Cloud” systems, which are highly complex. To achieve real-time data fusion and distributed decision-making, achieving efficient collaboration, it is necessary to solve challenges such as communication architecture and cross-platform interoperability.
In the GCAP project jointly promoted by the UK, Italy, and Japan, despite reaching consensus on core performance indicators for sixth-generation aircraft—demanding long-range capabilities, excellent missile loading abilities, and robust sensor and information network capabilities—the GCAP project also faces complex technical challenges in cross-generational development: in terms of stealth performance, the publicly disclosed fighter jet models show that they retain a dual tail design, which will increase the side-to-side radar cross-section and affect their all-directional stealth capability; regarding manned/unmanned coordination, the GCAP project plans to use unmanned aerial vehicles for combat operations, but no substantial progress has been made in addressing the technical challenges of autonomous unlocking of multi-platform task allocation.
In the global competition for sixth-generation aircraft development, the contradiction between technological breakthroughs and cost control is increasingly prominent. Experts point out that while pursuing an evolutionary leap in combat performance, not only are there significant challenges in technology validation, but also issues such as cost control, military demand iteration, divergent technological approaches, and bargaining over interests need to be addressed.
The NGAD project, as the world’s first publicly disclosed sixth-generation aircraft development plan, embodies a typical warning. According to media disclosures, the engineering manufacturing contract for the F-47 verification aircraft has exceeded $20 billion, with the total project value reaching several hundred billion dollars. It is expected that after mass production, the unit price will be at least $300 million. The former Air Force Secretary of the United States, Kendal, candidly pointed out: “The NGAD project is a very expensive platform, its cost is about three times that of the F-35.”
“More critically, the Air Force’s NGAD project and the Navy’s F/A-XX project have been mired in budget competition, leading to a deadlock in which the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX project has not received sufficient budget support for fiscal years 2025 and 2026, forcing its development to be postponed.
Both the FCAS project and the GCAP project are multinational joint research projects that face coordination costs due to international cooperation. The FCAS project is expected to require over 100 billion euros in investment over the next 20 years, yet it has been put on hold due to disputes over project leadership and disagreements among the three parties involved in joint research over unmanned collaboration and “operational cloud” technologies, resulting in delays in research progress and further escalating research costs. The GCAP project faces challenges from different operational needs of the UK, Japan, and Italy. The UK emphasizes air superiority, Japan focuses on anti-ship capabilities, while Italy seeks a balance between performance and cost. Coordination issues such as technical standards and distribution of benefits severely constrain the efficiency of cooperation, presenting difficulties in both research progress and cost control. Meanwhile, the Russian MiG-41 project is affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, making it difficult to secure sufficient funding and uncertain prospects for development.
Currently, the competition for sixth-generation aircraft extends beyond single platforms, evolving into a comprehensive contest of military industrial system capabilities. The United States relies on its substantial technological accumulation to gain an advantage, Europe and Japan hope for international cooperation to share risks, while Russia faces dual tests of funding and technology. Experts point out that the success or failure of sixth-generation aircraft development hinges on whether it can achieve a triple balance of “technological breakthrough—cost control—system integration.” This struggle reflects the collective strengths of national defense industries, scientific and technological innovation systems, and mechanisms for managing military needs.