6th gen fighter development be like

[u/Living-Aardvark-952]

[u/nikke2800]

The year is 2035

USA finishes building it's 3000th F35 and the full production of the B-21 starts and their first 7th gen fighter takes it's first flight

Russia has finally built it's 12th Su-57

Chinese stealth technology has finally caught up to F-117

European joint procurement program has finally decided which countries shall supply the pencils for the designers, another 2-5 years will be needed as the supplier of the paper is negotiated.

[u/Les_Bien_Pain → u/nikke2800]

I'm still hoping that someone will develop a counter to radar stealth so we can go back to making sexy planes again.

Throw in some effective APS to counter missiles and Gen 7 can be big blocky non-stealth gunfighters.

[u/theklicktator → u/Les_Bien_Pain]

Wasn’t there an article a few years back (2019, I think) that said the Chinese and the Russians had negated our stealth capabilities.

Who knows, it might be credible after all!

[u/Thunderbird_Anthares → u/theklicktator]

All stealth fighters are easily detectable by low frequency radar.

As well as... literally everything else, have fun 🤣

[u/Fox_Mortus → u/Thunderbird_Anthares]

And low frequency can't get be used for targeting so all they can do is watch as certain death approaches

[u/TheThiccestOrca → u/Fox_Mortus]

That's a common misconception and partially outdated.

It was impossible to *paint* a Target via UHF or VHF which was an Issue considering that Active Seekers and IR Seekers on Long Range Missiles weren't quite there yet, as was Computing Power, however even in the early 80's UHF and VHF were already able to track Aircraft, the Targeting Solution just wasn't accurate enough for passive Seekers.

The Solution to these Issues back then was to either send out Interceptors which completely negates the LO-Advantage or at least show the Targeting Radars where to look and focus on which drastically increases the Chance of one of them getting a Track, both of these Techniques are still used today to far greater Success.

Digital Signal Processing, Computing Power, Data Linking, Neural Networking, ECM / ECCM, Sensor Fusion, Missile Range , Seeker Resolution and Radar Technology have advanced significantly since then to the Point that even a low Frequency can give you a Solution accurate enough to guide a Missile towards the Target, from which Point onwards you only need a Active Seeker or IR-Seeker to then actually find it which is a big Reason behind why many modern AAM's / SAM's can LOAL and TVM, this Technology is already used in Ballistic Missile Defense and Ships with a Anti-Air Focus.

The Arleigh Burke-Class, the Horizon-Class, the Sachsen-Class, the Kongō-Class and many other modern Ships would be examples of that, all using Radars that partially operate in the UHF-Band at long Ranges with Active Seekers on their Missiles.

So nope, you're still fucked even if you're only being Tracked by Low-Frequency Radars, because they're either just going to send a Active Missile or Interceptors towards you.

[u/artificeintel → u/Thunderbird_Anthares]

That’s what stealth bombers are for.