USAF Chief of Staff General David Allvin recently personally published a graphic on social media which, for the first time, provides concrete performance data. on the 6th generation fighter aircraft awarded to Boeing on March 21 – the F-47 – on March 21.
Designed for the Indo-Pacific
In a graphical comparison with 4th and 5th generation fighter aircraft, the F-47 is attested a top speed of over Mach 2 and – more decisive than a theoretical range – an operational radius of 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers). Important: This value only applies with internal fuel.
That would be almost twice as far as the F-22A Raptor and around 40 percent more than the current F-15EX Strike Eagle. This brings the radius closer to that of the F-111, which was decommissioned in 1996, although the F-47 is not designed as a bomber but as an air superiority fighter – i.e. with a completely different role.
185 copies – is that enough?
The F-22 was stopped at 193 units in 2009 for cost reasons – over 700 aircraft were originally planned. At that time, the geopolitical conditions were different, far removed from any confrontation with an equal opponent (keyword: near peer).
All the more surprising is the size of the plan that has now become known: The USAF (US Air Force, -> Current news about the US armed forces) is also only planning 185 aircraft for the F-47. However, these are to operate in a system network with up to 1,000 unmanned escort aircraft, including the YFQ-42 from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and the YFQ-44 Fury from Anduril.
Start of operations before 2029?
According to the graphic, the F-47 is expected to enter service between 2025 and 2029. Boeing specified that the first flight of an “initially operationally similar” pre-series of the F-47 should take place before the end of the current US presidency in 2029 – information that was confirmed by the USAF on May 13.
Stealth: Generation comparison with a plus sign
In the illustration, the F-35A is listed with Mach 1.6, a combat radius of 1,075 kilometers and classic “stealth”. The F-22A comes in at Mach 2+, 950 kilometers and “Stealth+”.
The two Wingmen – YFQ-42 and YFQ-44 – are also considered 6th generation air superiority platforms and each have a radius of 1,125 kilometers. Their stealth level is classified as “stealth”.
The F-47, on the other hand, is said to offer “Stealth++” – whatever this upscaled signature reduction may mean in detail. It can be assumed that it is due to further developed materials, structures and AI-supported signature manipulation. Concrete details are still pending.
Safety measures at a new level
The Pentagon’s IT Director, Katie Arrington, recently announced a new security level for the entire F-47 program at the Technet Cyber Conference in Baltimore. This significantly exceeds the previous standards of the F-22 and F-35 – partly due to earlier Chinese espionage successes, in which over 630,000 files or 100 terabytes are said to have been leaked from suppliers.
To avoid similar incidents, the “Zero Trust” principle should apply: Data access only for exactly those users who need it at any given time. This is supplemented by the application of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), a Pentagon certification standard for the ongoing assessment of contractors’ cybersecurity situation.
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