Boeing’s F-47: First 6th generation fighter?

Boeing has a lot of weight on its shoulders, will it be able to live up to expectations?

The transition from fifth to sixth-generation fighter aircraft in today’s world represents a fundamental shift in how aircraft are designed and executed. Where fifth‐generation aircraft such as the F‐22 or Su-57 Felon combine stealth, sensors, and agility, sixth‐generation aircraft will emphasise adaptability, information dominance (collecting, processing and sharing data), and engagement with unmanned systems.

Boeing’s F-47 is exactly this, as it is reported to be built around an open-architecture mission system that can take in data from off‐board sensors, drones, space‐based satellites and ground radars, and fuse them into a unified battle-space picture in real time. It will likely also leverage artificial‐intelligence algorithms to prioritise threats, sort through sensor inputs, and recommend optimal engagement strategies, reducing pilot workload and decision delay. Furthermore, the F-47’s propulsion system that includes a variable-cycle engine will provide both high-speed acceleration capabilities required to evade threats and extra power to boost manoeuvrability. Thus, the F-47 is the perfect combination of an information powerhouse that is also combat ready, with hypersonic missiles that will likely be in its internal missile bay.

But when will we see it in combat?

The United States Air Force expects to achieve Initial Operational Capability around 2030, after validating stealth, propulsion, and avionics. Therefore, the F-47 is unlikely to fly its first real combat missions until approximately 2031–2033, first in low-threat situations and then in full-fledged combat situations after the USAF performs pilot training and logistics. But before then, we surely will keep getting sneak peeks at this aircraft and its possibility of completely defining combat.