Recently, the South China Morning Post reported that on May 29, the journal "Advances in Aeronautical Science and Engineering" published a paper on the aerodynamic layout model of the "trailing edge docking layout" of the mother-child fighter jet, and this mysterious concept aircraft was called "J-40" by major news, and claimed to have been "successfully tested".
Deformable J-40
According to media reports, Chinese engineers and scientists are testing a "jet that has never been seen before in the world" with a wing-body fusion design and a swept delta wing with a highly stealthy effect, and what is truly "magical" about its ability to "deform" during flight. It is reported that the wings on both sides of the aircraft can release a drone in the air that also adopts a stealth design, and the released drone was originally part of the wing. After the two UAVs were separated from the manned fighters, the manned fighters trembled due to the changes in the wing area and shape, as well as the changes in the aircraft's center of gravity, but soon returned to a stable flight state, indicating that they can still fly normally after the change of aerodynamic shape, and the flight control system can effectively cope with this situation.
In the early 1950s, there was a similar study in the United States, but the aerodynamic effect was too complex to be practical, and this paper proposed a new aerodynamic layout method, which could solve this problem quite perfectly, according to the paper, also carried out test flights and solved a considerable problem.
First of all, let's take a look at the aerodynamic layout used by this mysterious aircraft, the aerodynamic layout we are more familiar with includes conventional aerodynamic layout, canard aerodynamic layout, three-wing surface layout and tailless aerodynamic layout, etc., while this fighter uses a trailing edge butt layout.
This new layout can not be found on the network basically no specific information, but it can be seen that this is a wing-body fusion design, with a swept delta wing and a large inclination angle vertical tail model, from the design drawing, the fuselage thickness is very thin, the wing sweep angle is about 45 °, the wing body fusion degree is very high, the wing area is very large, the vertical tail camber angle is more than 45 degrees, the engine inlet back design, such a structure can ensure that it has excellent stealth performance.
The biggest role of this layout is that a sub-aircraft can be embedded in the trailing edge of the left and right main wings, and it is reported that this is an unmanned sub-aircraft, the main wing surface is relatively large, and the sweep angle is almost the same as that of the parent aircraft, and it seems that the maximum speed of the two should be quite matched.
Loyal wingman combat
And such a purpose is naturally to achieve the core standard of the sixth-generation fighter - loyal wingman. What is a "loyal wingman" type of combat.
The future of air combat will not be an aerial combat in which fighter jets are used as the main combat weapon. It is a three-dimensional battle in which air, space, ground, and sea participate, and is mainly composed of two major systems, the attack weapon system and the information control system, and these two parts are distributed in the air, space, ground, and sea. Early warning planes and various reconnaissance planes flying at different altitudes in space constitute an air information network, and fighter planes equipped with advanced avionics systems are also part of this information network. A variety of fighter jets, bombers, electronic station aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will make up the air strike weapon system.
The concept of "loyal wingman" is to match the sixth-generation fighter and the unmanned unmanned fighter into a formation, and with the help of the sixth-generation aircraft's role as a combat network node, give full play to the advantages of the unmanned fighter with good maneuverability and sufficient firepower, so as to greatly enhance the lethal killing capability of the two in air combat. This cutting-edge technology, which subverts the traditional combat mode, shows that unmanned fighters can be used as sensors and weapon carrying platforms, effectively enhancing the combat effectiveness and strike effect of expensive sixth-generation fighters.
The "loyal wingman" combat concept defines a new concept of manned aircraft and UAV cooperative operations, subverting the traditional combat mode. In the process of manned/UAV cooperative operations, the manned aircraft decomposes, assigns and manages combat tasks in the role of commanders. Realize the coordination and cooperation between manned/UAV formations in time and space, and UAVs complete reconnaissance and strike tasks under the command of manned aircraft. Used in areas with dense ground anti-aircraft fire and during "decapitation operations", the weapons carried by the UAV are sufficient to complete the strike mission. In addition, UAVs can also take on various subsystem operations, such as electronic countermeasures and act as a small AWACS aircraft for air command.
As early as 2017, the United States used F16 as a platform, Skunk Works and the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) through a two-year study to break through the key technology of converting F16 fighters into unmanned fighters (UCAV), so that it can not only form a formation with a long aircraft completely autonomously in an unmanned state, but also be able to dynamically respond to the changing battlefield environment, automatically respond to performance failures, Unforeseen circumstances such as route deviations and communication disruptions.
China has taken the lead in the United States to master and mass-produce, and China has taken the lead in applying the loyal wingman combat mode to the two-seat version of the J-20.
The loyal wingman mode of sub-mother aircraft combat is a global subversive creation
And what are the advantages of embedding UAVs into manned fighters? The speed and range of most UAVs are not comparable to manned fighters, while manned fighters can use their stealth performance and high maneuverability to carry UAVs to the target location, if the UAV suddenly appears, the air defense system cannot make an effective judgment, then it will be overwhelmed, the air defense system will be disintegrated, and split UAVs will also cause psychological shock, hindering the effective resistance of enemy commanders and soldiers.
As a simple example, the radar saw that there were 5 people on the other side, so it prepared 5 people to fight, who knows, when these 5 people approached, it suddenly became 15 people, the radar had no time to rule and prepare, and the remaining 10 people could go straight to the target, so it became an asymmetric operation, and all of a sudden to see the drone close to the target, it will give the enemy commander and soldiers a great psychological impact.
In China's sixth-generation aircraft, when the parent aircraft and the child aircraft are not separated, the two aircraft are actually part of the main wings on both sides of the parent aircraft. Although the engines of the mother aircraft do not work at this time, they are not useless "dead weight", but can provide lift for the mother aircraft, and the shape of the main wing of the mother aircraft in this state is close to the delta wing configuration. When the mother aircraft is separated from the two sub-aircraft, the shape of the main wing of the mother aircraft changes from a delta wing to a herringbone wing, that is, the combination of a diamond-shaped wing and a swept wing.
Obviously, here in the Chinese research team, we no longer regard the mother and daughter as two independent systems, but organically integrate them at the beginning, and the mother and child can not only be separated, but also "form a complete aircraft that does not destroy the aerodynamic shape of the mother machine" in the unseparated state. It is no exaggeration to say that this is undoubtedly a groundbreaking technological breakthrough and innovation. Recall that a few years ago, Yang Wei, chief engineer of the J-20 stealth fighter, said in an interview that "China's sixth-generation fighter may have the ability to deform", it seems that this is not an empty word.
China has put forward a new standard theory for sixth-generation aircraft
In fact, compared with the research and development of the sixth generation fighter, the real subversive thing is that China has proposed a new standard for sixth-generation fighters, which is not wrong, if China's fifth-generation aircraft is to surpass the United States, then to the sixth-generation aircraft, what China has to do is to dominate the standards of sixth-generation fighters and lead a new trend.
As early as 2020, Chief Engineer Yang Wei proposed the "OODA3.0" theory of a new generation of fighters, and proposed that the new generation of fighters will subvert the future air combat mode and drive a new round of revolution in aviation technology and industry. If China wants to seize this opportunity and dominate the new standard of air warfare in the future, then China will also become the leader of a new round of aviation technology and industrial revolution.
The United States has put forward the "OODA 1.0 theory" and "OODA 2.0" theory, and the American pilot Colonel John Boyd proposed the use of OODA rings to describe the process of air combat in the 60s of the 20th century. The OODA ring theory is universal, John Boyd described the maneuverability of the aircraft through energy maneuverability (EM), proposed the use of basic air combat maneuver (BFM) and other methods to guide pilots to improve combat skills and grasp combat strategies, and deeply influenced the design of the fourth generation fighter.
With the advent of advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, over-the-horizon (BVR) air combat has gradually increased the proportion of in-line line of sight (WVR) air combat, and has become the mainstream form of air combat, and the era of "maneuver is king" OODA (tentatively known as OODA 1.0) is passing. Capabilities in the information field are more important than capabilities in the field of mechanics, and the pilots of the F-35 summed up during the "Red Flag" exercise: "Information is life." In 2017, Todd Schuck of Lo Mar and Eric Brachy of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) proposed the concept of OODA 2.0, imitating the EM theory and proposing the right to information (IP) and information mobility (IM), explaining the huge advantages of the F-35 in simulated confrontation.
To sum up, the OODA ring theory proposed by the United States has dominated the development of fighter jets in the world for 50 years, and has also led the development of air combat mode. The so-called OODA refers to air combat observation (observation), judgment (observation), decision (decision-making), and action (action). Whether it is the intelligent air combat of the new generation of fighters, manned/unmanned fighters, or integrated/distributed combat and other technical standards, they all revolve around OODA. Therefore, Chief Engineer Yang Wei proposed the concept of OODA 3.0 on this basis.
If OODA 1.0 mainly emphasizes the maneuverability of fighters, that is, "maneuverability is king". The most prominent aspect of OODA 2.0 is the informatization level of the fighter, that is, "information is king". Moreover, OODA 3.0's "intelligence is king" emphasizes autonomous decision-making, that is, focusing on the speed at which the opponent cannot continuously observe and understand, so that mission decision-making can be transformed into maneuver and kill, creating a "zero-domain" combat space that can be used.
And now the "South China Morning Post" exposed China's sixth-generation fighter is an extension of this theory, based on the OODA3.0 theory, Chief Engineer Yang Wei talked about some specific technologies of the sixth-generation aircraft in an interview. He said that the sixth-generation aircraft should have some new things: First, it can be deformed according to flight altitude and space; Second, it can break through traditional space to carry out transatmospheric operations and carry out space or suborbital bombing operations; Third, it is based on intelligent skinning, the fuselage can be automatically repaired, and it comes with sensors......
It is foreseeable that the real J-40 will subvert our imagination even more than what is exposed now.
The United States cannot afford to keep up with the sixth-generation aircraft race
The United States could not keep up with the race for sixth-generation aircraft, and its original plan was to be able to deploy sixth-generation fighters by 2030, making them the main combat aircraft. To this end, they even have a detailed timeline and development plan.
In the past, the U.S. has actively promoted the B21 as one of its iconic sixth-generation fighter jets, and has continued to demonstrate the continued progress of its aero-engine technology. These advances were highlighted in order to achieve more notable achievements in the creation of a sixth-generation fighter.
But what is the reality? High R&D investment and the hollowing out of manufacturing have slowed down the progress of the United States in developing sixth-generation aircraft, and the cost of a sixth-generation aircraft may exceed hundreds of millions of dollars, and the total cost of the entire project will be hundreds of billions of dollars. Faced with such huge expenses, the U.S. government and military had to revisit the economic viability of the project.
Why the United States will invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the research and development of sixth-generation fighters is related to the mechanism of the US military-industrial complex, and the bloated system of the US military-industrial complex has led to the high cost of research and development of US equipment, for example, the toilet of the US aircraft carrier costs $400,000 for a wash, and Major General Holt, deputy assistant director of the US Air Force Procurement Department, publicly issued a warning to the Pentagon:
There are problems in the field of defense procurement of the US military, and we do not forget to compare it with China, saying that China's new weapons and equipment are five times faster than the United States, but in the purchasing power assessment, China can get us $20 for about $1. Holt stressed that China's military weapons and equipment research and development speed and equipment replacement efficiency are "five to six times" faster than the United States.
For example, now, the spacecraft manufactured by Boeing has 2 astronauts still stranded in space because of leakage problems, and Loma, the United States hopes that Loma will carry out a large-scale upgrade for the F-35. As a result, Loma fooled the US Air Force, not only did the fighter not be upgraded, but the charge was also charged according to the upgraded price, of course the US Air Force was unwilling, and now there are a lot of F-35s piled up in the warehouse of Loma Company.
The U.S. Air Force has threatened to "deliver part of the NGAD capability" before the end of the 2020s, and by the end of 2022, the NGAD project progress is still in the design stage and has not yet passed the "Phase B" review process, which means that the development of the sixth-generation aircraft in the United States is still in the initial design stage, and in the next 8 years, the possibility of the sixth-generation fighter in the United States from design, production, flight test and mass production is basically very low, and such a process will take at least 15 years.
Against such a backdrop, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General David Olwin, said in public that the US Air Force would not necessarily build a sixth-generation fighter. In an interview with Aviation Week, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall also said that the U.S. Air Force is currently reviewing NGAD's plans due to budget constraints.
Whether it's true or not, whether it's a technical problem or a budget issue, anyway, the attitude of the United States towards the sixth-generation aircraft is really negative. If they really cut the NGAD project, then by 2070, the main model of the US Air Force will probably still be the F-35 fighter.
It can be said that compared with China's step-by-step progress in the development and manufacturing of sixth-generation fighters, the U.S. military has been stagnant in the research and development of sixth-generation aircraft, and China will definitely seize this opportunity, China's goal is to lead the new standard of future air combat and become the leader of a new round of aviation technology and industrial revolution.