2024 is a big year for scientific and technological innovation, in addition to Chengdu's latest development of the J-20 fighter into service, the mainland's independent research and development of the sixth-generation fighter - J-40 has also been successfully tested, this is a new aerodynamic layout aircraft, instantly attracted global attention.
After all, the emergence of the sixth-generation fighter will not only further enhance the combat effectiveness of our army, but also lead the trend of future aircraft development.
歼-40 horizontal sky rise.
With the continuous enhancement of the mainland's military strength, a variety of self-developed weapons have been unveiled to the world one after another, and the performance of these equipment has become more and more amazing.
On May 29, a new aerodynamic layout aircraft successfully flew and spread on the Internet, causing an exclamation and heated discussion.
Many people have speculated about what model this aircraft is, and some experts said that the emergence of this aircraft means that the development of mainland fighters has entered a new stage, which may be a new sixth-generation fighter.
However, the biggest feature of this fighter is that it adopts the design scheme of "trailing edge docking layout", although this design scheme has appeared in the 50s of the last century, but because it involves very complex aerodynamic effects, it has not been able to be put into practical use.
Now, with their own efforts and wisdom, scientists on the mainland have finally found a new way of aerodynamic layout, which can not only solve the problem of aerodynamic effects, but also realize the combination of unmanned aircraft and manned fighters.
This kind of unmanned aircraft is the so-called "loyal wingman", which can replace manned pilots to perform some dangerous tasks, such as electronic reconnaissance, ground attack, etc.
Manned pilots, on the other hand, can hide and use their "loyal wingmen" to accomplish safer combat missions.
This combination will become very common in future battles.
Will the United States follow suit?
Since the advent of the J-20 fighter, the mainland's military equipment has always attracted the attention of the world, especially in stealth technology, the mainland has made certain breakthroughs.
With the gradual maturity and commissioning of the J-20 and J-31 fighters, the mainland is finally no longer a passive party in the international military arena.
On the contrary, in some respects it has even begun to pose a certain threat to the US military.
So when the J-40 fighter appeared in front of everyone, many people speculated whether the United States would follow suit.
As a matter of fact, before the mainland successfully tested this new fighter, the United States had already begun to develop its own sixth-generation fighter.
In June 2016, the U.S. Air Force officially announced the launch of the sixth-generation fighter development project, and the assembly of the first prototype was completed in October 2019.
The prototype was named the "Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter", or NGAD for short.
According to the official information released by the US military, the NGAD fighter adopts very advanced design ideas and technical means, and has greatly improved both in stealth performance and comprehensive combat capability.
So theoretically, the NGAD fighter should have reached the standards of the sixth generation.
And according to the official information revealed by the US Air Force, the NGAD fighter has successfully carried out several test flights and achieved very good results.
Both in terms of stealth performance and supersonic cruising capabilities, the expected goals have been achieved.
It can be said that the United States has taken the lead in the world in the development of sixth-generation fighters.
So when the mainland also successfully tested a brand-new sixth-generation fighter, many people wondered whether the United States would follow suit.
If the United States does not follow suit, then it will probably lag behind the mainland in terms of future air superiority.
But in fact, the United States has not given up on independent research and development of sixth-generation fighters.
And shortly after the successful test flight of the J-40 fighter, the United States announced a bomber called the B-21 "Raider".
This bomber is officially praised as the "sixth-generation bomber" by the US military, and it can be said that it has replaced the F-22 and F-35 as the latest generation of stealth fighters of the US military.
Judging by the relevant data of the B-21 bomber, the expected goals were achieved in terms of stealth performance, range and combat radius.
Moreover, it also uses a lot of advanced technological means, such as ultra-high-speed cruise capability, multi-mission combat capability, etc.
It can be said that the B-21 bomber has reached the standards of the sixth generation, both in terms of performance and technology.
So from this point of view, both the mainland and the United States have achieved very good results in the development of sixth-generation fighters.
What are the characteristics of the trailing edge butt layout?
So what are the characteristics of this new fighter called J-40?
In terms of appearance, it has a very special design for the trailing edge butt layout.
That is, an unmanned sub-aircraft is embedded on each side of the main engine.
This design, although it looks very peculiar, has a lot of advantages.
First of all, it can greatly increase the survivability and combat effectiveness of the aircraft.
Because unmanned sub-aircraft can undertake some dangerous tasks, such as electronic reconnaissance, ground attack, etc.
The manned host can hide and use the sub-aircraft to complete safer combat missions.
Secondly, this design can also greatly improve the combat performance of the aircraft.
Because the handset can take on some of the workload, and has a smaller size and better agility.
So with a handset, the host can focus more on other important tasks.
In addition, the trailing edge docking layout can also improve the flexibility and adaptability of the aircraft during formation operations.
Because the handset can join or exit the formation at any time as needed.
In this way, resources can be rationally allocated according to specific conditions and various combat missions can be accomplished more effectively.
From the above analysis, it can be seen that although the trailing edge docking layout is more complex in design, it has better stealth performance and higher combat effectiveness.
The author thinks
Both the mainland and the United States have achieved very remarkable results in the development of sixth-generation fighters.
And with the continuous progress and development of science and technology, we also have reason to believe that the sixth generation of warfare will become more advanced and powerful in the future.