tailgate wrote:While I love and admire the allies we have, we are so far ahead of anybody right now it’s silly. I’ve heard talk of 6th gen in the work up stages, I’ve heard from good friends that 7th gen is on the doorstep. A few of my retired aviator friends have told me we are already playing with concepts for the 40-50 timeframe. It amazes me sometimes the forward advancements we are making. Just my thoughts
Well I am not sure what the distinction is between 6th and 7th gen, it is great we the US are doing lots of R&D. I suspect China has all sorts of high stuff for 2040 planned as well. China is building for the long term and export considerations are minor.
I do agree these European fighter projects are not shaping up to provide much pure warfighting advantage over a F-35 of 2040. The Tempest may indeed more modular and upgradeable than the F-35 and that might appeal to some program partners or export customers. The BAE sheet says the Tempest has "balanced survivability", so I expect it will have closer to Typhoon style performance in the air, including high altitudes.