Sixth-generation fighter
A sixth-generation fighter is a conceptualized class of jet fighter aircraft design more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters that are currently in service and development. Key characteristics include advanced stealth technology, increased range and beyond-visual-range weapons, and potentially manned-unmanned teaming.
, national and multinational programs are in progress, with the first sixth-generation fighters expected to enter service in the 2030s.
The United States Air Force in 2025 selected the Boeing F-47 design from its Next Generation Air Dominance program, started in 2014 to replace the F-22 Raptor. The United States Navy is also pursuing the F/A-XX program to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.
China has test-flown two sixth-generation aircraft prototypes, tentatively named the Chengdu J-36 and Shenyang J-50. Russia has been developing the Mikoyan PAK DP since the mid-2010s, as an interceptor to replace its Mikoyan MiG-31.
Since 2017, France, Germany, and Spain have jointly developed the Future Combat Air System, to supersede the Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon. Italy, Japan, and the UK have collaborated via the Global Combat Air Programme since 2022, replacing their Eurofighter and Mitsubishi F-2 fleets.
Characteristics
Sixth-generation fighter concepts generally share some assumptions. One is that fifth-generation aircraft will not be good enough at future air-to-air combat, surviving the anti-access/area denial environment, and ground support/attack. Another is that sixth-gen planes will do less close-in dogfighting, but beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles will remain important. Others include the need to handle ground support, cyber warfare and even space warfare missions; and the need to be able to direct or fight with more numerous fleets of satellite drones and ground sensors in a high-traffic networked environment, allowing for greater insights through data-informed decision-making.These and other assumptions suggest these design characteristics:
- Designed using digital engineering
- Advanced digital capabilities including high-capacity networking, artificial intelligence, data fusion, cyber warfare, data-to-decision and battlefield command, control and communications capabilities.
- Use of gallium nitride in power transistors
- Optionally manned, with the same airframe capable of conducting piloted, remote controlled or onboard-AI controlled missions.
- Enhanced human-systems integration, with virtual cockpits presented via helmet-mounted displays which allow the pilot 360-degree vision with AI-enhanced battlefield awareness, and replacing conventional instrument panels.
- Advanced stealth airframes and avionics.
- Advanced variable-cycle engines able to cruise economically but still deliver high thrust when required.
- Increased-range stand-off and beyond-visual-range weapons.
- Potential use of directed-energy weapons such as a laser close-in weapon system.
- Software architecture with separation of flight critical operations from other functionality
- Potential capability for suborbital flight to achieve global reach, evade defenses, and satellite operations.
History
Brazil
On 6 May 2024, during a press trip at the Embraer factory in the city of São José dos Campos, São Paulo, the Director of Industrial Cooperation of Saab in Brazil, Luiz Hernandez, stated that Brazil will develop a sixth-generation fighter based on technologies from the Saab JAS 39 Gripen, already in production in the country. The project would be a cooperation between Embraer and the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology. The Vice President of Embraer's defence division, Walter Pinto Junior, confirmed the idealization of the project, and commented that "for Embraer, fighter aviation is a possibility of taking higher flights", but highlighted that the company still needs a "business plan, to make a viable long-term project".China
After successfully developing the 5th-generation J-20 stealth fighter, China was then working on the development of a next-generation aircraft. In January 2019, Dr. Wang Haifeng, chief designer of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation announced that China had begun pre-research on sixth-generation aircraft, predicting that the program would come to fruition by 2035.In 2018, Chengdu Aerospace Corporation reportedly submitted eight proposals for the sixth-generation fighter design, and four designs were tested in low-altitude wind tunnels. In the same year, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation also reportedly developed prototypes for the next-generation aircraft.
In October 2021, a fighter aircraft with a tailless design was spotted in Chengdu Aircraft Corporation facilities.
In September 2022, United States Air Force General Mark D. Kelly, head of the Air Combat Command said China was on track for its sixth-generation fighter program, and that it looked at sixth-generation technology in the same way USAF did in terms of using a ‘system of systems’ approach while offering “exponential” improvements in stealth, processing power, and sensing. He added that China saw that the technology allowed for iteration based on open mission systems and that the country's ability to master the advanced levels of stealth required for sixth-generation platforms was part of that iterative approach.
In February 2023, Aviation Industry Corporation of China shared its six-generation fighter aircraft concept on social media. The featured concept included diamond-shaped wings and tailless design, which correlated with earlier images released in various AVIC presentations.
In November 2024, AVIC released footage of a mockup of the Baidi B-Type “integrated space-air fighter”. Some commentaries believed the mock-up indicated six-generation fighter capabilities, while critics stated claims of space operations capability lack evidence and were "dubious". The mock-up was later proved to be a marketing plan for an AVIC-sponsored science fiction novel.
On 26 December 2024, social media photos and videos suggested Chengdu Aircraft Corporation has publicly flown a prototype aircraft in Chengdu, Sichuan. The aircraft was spotted flying around an airport owned by CAC and features a trijet tailless flying wing design. Tentatively designated Chengdu J-36 by defense analysts, it was trailed by a Chengdu J-20S twin-seater stealth fighter as the chase plane. The aircraft was believed to have advanced stealth and sensor features, while its capabilities, roles, and design details remained speculative. Observers believe that CAC chose 26 December to carry out the flight in commemoration of Mao Zedong's birthday on that day. On the same day, further social media posts indicated a second airframe, featuring a cranked arrow configuration with sharply swept wings, was spotted near Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's facilities. Unconfirmed reports suggested the Shenyang fighter made its maiden flight on 20 December 2024. The Shenyang aircraft prototype seemed to be smaller than the Chengdu one. It was trailed by a Shenyang J-16 strike fighter as the chase plane. The aircraft was tentatively named Shenyang J-50 or Shenyang J-XD by analysts for identification, but further information was limited.
On 5 August 2025, a third tailless stealth aircraft prototype was spotted in China, with a distinct silhouette different from the previous J-36 and J-50. The photo on social media displayed an aircraft with pointed nose, highly swept wings with cropped tips, and W-shaped trailing edge featuring a central extension in triangular shape. Defense analysts speculated the airframe was an early prototype of China's sixth generation "loyal wingman" drone or an crewed aircraft competing with J-36 and J-50. South China Morning Post reported that the aircraft design is a carrier-based fighter, and its design can be traced to a research paper published by the Northwestern Polytechnical University.
France, Germany, Spain
Within the Future Combat Air System programme, France, Germany, and Spain are jointly working on a sixth-generation fighter known as the Next-Generation Fighter.India
On 8 October 2020, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria said the Indian Air Force has a clear roadmap for sixth-generation combat systems such as directed energy weapons, smart wingman concept, optionally manned combat platforms, swarm drones, hypersonic weapons, and other equipment. On 22 October 2021, Bhadauria's successor Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari said India's fifth-generation AMCA, which was then under development, would have some sixth-generation technologies.Italy, Japan, UK
In 2010, the Japanese government revealed the concept sixth-generation jet fighter, the i3 FIGHTER. i3 is short for informed, intelligent and instantaneous.In July 2014, Jane's Information Group reported that a House of Commons Defence Select Committee had published a report about the UK's "post-2030 combat aviation force structure". The report highlighted a possibility of the UK committing to a next generation fighter program to potentially replace the Eurofighter Typhoon post-2030; the Eurofighter Typhoon has since had its intended service life extended to around 2040. On 22 March 2016, Japan conducted the first flight of the Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin testbed aircraft for this project.
In July 2018, Gavin Williamson, then Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, unveiled the United Kingdom's Combat Air Strategy and announced the development of a sixth-generation fighter concept named the Tempest for the Royal Air Force at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow.
In 2019, Sweden and Italy joined the Tempest project. During the same year, India and Japan were also invited to join the project. On 1 April 2020, the Japanese F-X program was announced. In 2022, after a year of ever closer collaboration with the Tempest project and a retreat from an industrial partnership with Lockheed Martin, Japan merged its F-X project with the BAE Tempest fighter development to form the three nation Global Combat Air Programme while opting to pursue separate drone development. Two weeks after the agreement was signed between the UK, Italy & Japan; Sweden signed a bi-lateral defence trade agreement with Japan allowing them to continue on as an observer in the programme and the option to participate as a development partner in the future if desired.