US Navy 6th Gen Fighter - F/A-XX

[Not James Stockdale]

To those discussing the obvious reasons why F/A-XX might benefit from adaptive three stream engines or believe that two F135s is a no brainer… See this post

Keep an open mind.

Check your hyperlink or provide a post number.

 

[Scott Kenny]

I thought it was a version of the f414?

Those are nowhere near powerful enough for a plane that will be at least the size of a Tomcat.

 

[Ainen]

Those are nowhere near powerful enough for a plane that will be at least the size of a Tomcat.

That depends on TWR you want; GCAP consorsium doesn't appear to be bothered.
And iirc there are indications FA-XX won't be especially super size.

 

[Scott Kenny]

That depends on TWR you want;

TWR > 1 at 50% fuel with full air-to-air loadout. Basic fighter standard.

40klbs empty weight, ~8klbs of ordnance, and ~14klbs of fuel means a minimum of 62,000lbs of thrust is required. That's 31-35k per engine.

F-22 standard would be TWR >1 at takeoff with full fuel and air-to-air loadout. minimum 40k per engine.

GCAP consorsium doesn't appear to be bothered.

GCAP consortium isn't bothering right now with the demonstrator. They aren't using EJ200s for the actual GCAP, but something bigger.

And iirc there are indications FA-XX won't be especially super size.

If it cannot carry 4x GBU-31s internally, what's the point of buying FAXX versus more F-35Cs?

 

[Kat Tsun]

That nation also has at least three times the population of the US. Maybe four times.

So I'd expect them to have at least twice the number of aircraft programs, if not three to four times the number of aircraft programs as the US.

China's productivity vis-a-vis America means that their labor hours are buying 6-10x as much aircraft as America, adjusted.

Their people are aggregate worth about a quarter as much as America, maybe a bit more, and their labor productivity per hour is about a sixth. Yet they can still afford more airplanes, because they're making as many planes as America per year, and have two or three times the amount in development. It's mostly because America decided to spend money on financial schemes and real estate speculation rather than heavy industry. This grows the economy very strongly and lets you import a lot of stuff, but good luck making anything, including planes and warships.

Once it starts it's probably impossible to fix too, since the solution is destroying your economy, but I guess it could be argued that happened to Russia and even they bounced back after two decades of consistent leadership and industrial planning.

 

[Ainen]

GCAP consortium isn't bothering right now with the demonstrator. They aren't using EJ200s for the actual GCAP, but something bigger.

They specifically said they aren't aiming for a very high TWR for the eventual fighter, not for the demo.

If it cannot carry 4x GBU-31s internally, what's the point of buying FAXX versus more F-35Cs?

Why are 4 GBU-31s internally so important? The goal is to replace F/A-18E/F; why not 4 blackbeard/jsow?

 

[Scott Kenny]

Why are 4 GBU-31s internally so important? The goal is to replace F/A-18E/F; why not 4 blackbeard/jsow?

Because the GBU-31 size means JSMs also fit.

Though I suspect that the real dimension is now AIM-424s, which should fit into a box 20" square by 14ft long. 4 of them, maybe 6.