Since the end of the Cold War, I feel like the progress in the domain of military aviation has crawled to a snail's pace.
AESA radar, high thrust engines, variable cycle, supersonic VTOL, stealth, advanced composites etc. that are the hallmark of a state-of-the-art or even futuristic aircraft today have all existed in the 80s as advanced prototypes/or bleeding edge production hardware.
I feel like, other than the monstrous increase in computing power, there is little modern technology that could surprise an 80s Skunkworks engineer.
And I suspect the improvements in processing speed translate to actual tangible advantages. My suspicion, that just as with conventional hardware, we have hit diminishing returns.
So my question is, what's the genuinely sci-fi tech that could make it to production in the coming decades?
Detonation engines? Photonic radar? Nuclear propulsion? (Sc)Ramjets on fighter? Plasma stealth? Fluid dynamic/plasma based TVC? Morphing skins?
AESA radar, high thrust engines, variable cycle, supersonic VTOL, stealth, advanced composites etc. that are the hallmark of a state-of-the-art or even futuristic aircraft today have all existed in the 80s as advanced prototypes/or bleeding edge production hardware.
I feel like, other than the monstrous increase in computing power, there is little modern technology that could surprise an 80s Skunkworks engineer.
And I suspect the improvements in processing speed translate to actual tangible advantages. My suspicion, that just as with conventional hardware, we have hit diminishing returns.
So my question is, what's the genuinely sci-fi tech that could make it to production in the coming decades?
Detonation engines? Photonic radar? Nuclear propulsion? (Sc)Ramjets on fighter? Plasma stealth? Fluid dynamic/plasma based TVC? Morphing skins?