Why there might NEVER be a 7th generation fighter

There's been a great deal of discussion about the forthcoming 6th generation of fighters, believed to be led by the U.S. Air Force's ongoing Next Generation Air Dominance Program... But do these generational designations still make sense?

Let's talk about why we may see this sort of fighter classification die out in the coming years, and why that might just be okay.

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Citations:

[RandomDeforge]

sounds kind of like how Windows 10 was going to be the last windows we'd ever need as it would continue to be upgradable.
Until Windows 11 came about.

[ianshaver]

If calling an aircraft 7th generation will help sell it to Congress, you better believe we will have 7th generation warplanes.

[xodiaq]

Very diplomatic saying the SU-57 has the radar cross section of a “4th generation fighter” and not “the radar cross section of a doublewide” 😂

[Mreye]

7th gen could be a space based fighter. I just think we should build the Galactica, Vipers, and a Raptor. Even without FTL, they'd be bad ass.

[robertneal]

Imagine a future conflict where a patrolling flight of aircraft detect an inbound threat, analyze it, download the info to a network that then uploads an upgrade to the aircraft...all in the same encounter. Crazy!!!

[coyotehater]

According to my sources, the SU-57 doesn’t have a radar cross section, it has a zip code…

[jimsubtle]

I like that you made it very clear that the take away from this video is that the new tech will never be in generational fighter jet evolution, but will be in tech that consists of drones that swarm the area and can adapt and assist, and help as needed on the battlefield.

[texoutlaw]

Now where have we heard “cheaper” before?

[kllgtfn-anxous]

we'll likely never see a 7th gen fighter because after sixth gen fully autonomous drones take over from manned aircraft designs

[texasranger]

The US Army just chose General Dynamics and Rheinmetall as finalists for the 4000 Bradley replacement IFVs.
Could you do a Firepower series video about this program, the two finalists and the other three that dropped out. Or more generally the current state of IFVs (Bradley, CV90, Puma, Lynx) and their most likely future. Maybe even including anti air IFVs like some CV90 variants and SkyRanger.

[cthulholmhastur]

Kickass episode, Alex. Thanks brother.

[granatmof]

Anytime a metric is developed to try to get a handle on something abstract, the post-hoc metric starts to become the intended goal.

A great example not in aerospace, but economics is GDP. it used to be a metric for hitrocial economic performance, but then governments started manipulating their numbers to achieve better GDP for marketing terms.

[ARGONUAT]

Great job providing understanding and clarity to this topic. Your work is all substance with no fluff.

[unclescar]

Perhaps, 7th gen fighters will be able to sortie into space and back

[chuckg]

I have three ideas as to why we wouldn’t have 7th generation fighter jets.
1. They will be replaced by a better propulsion system similar to the jump from propeller aircraft to jet engine aircraft.
2. They will no longer be needed because by the time they would come out, space warfare would be a possibility and spacecraft may be more important than a new fighter jet.
3. The world superpowers building these jets will start a war which will change so much about the world that the next generation will never get a chance to come.

(These are all my personal ideas and I am aware there are many flaws with all of them. I just thought it would be interesting to think about it in other ways.)

[Xenomorphine]

It would be more fair to point out there's a difference in generational designation, depending on whether someone's referring strictly to jet fighters or all fighters in general (my personal preference for a proper historical overview and to take account of inevitable future non-jet propulsion systems).

The latter would be...

1: Biplanes and triplanes of WW1.
2: Monoplanes.
3: Jets.
4: Jets with guided air-to-air missiles and beyond.
5: Stealth with supercruise.

[nerdwatch]

I just had a fun idea of a cool fun video I’d definitely watch if you made Alex. Going through futuristic SYFY movie or shows like Stargate SG-1’s space plane the F-302 Battlestar Galacticas Viper MRK1-7 or even the awesome X-Wing from Star Wars. Of these 3 planes that can operate in both vacuum and atmospheric flight. How close in technology do you think we are from making our first space fighter planes like these amazing ships. Personally I think the F-302 is the one we’re close enough to build to fly in atmosphere but in regards to space flight there’s still 1 major hurdle we haven’t got to yet that I know of. That’s both a pair of engines that can fly both atmosphere and vacuum as well as a powerful enough fuel to make the plane fly!!!

[stephenlayland]

Before there was a concept of fighters by generation, there was the Century "Series". These aircraft were the stuff of the Air Force-led transition from piston to turbojet power. It was an odd assortment including three interceptors, two multi-role fighters, one legendarily tough ground attack bird and a very pretty mockup that may have flown in a wind tunnel.
USAF had to spec a few large personnel transports before they could throw in a kitchen sink.

[johndoh]

The wish list for 6th gen is so comprehensive that anything above that would probably just be an upgrade to a 6th gen fighter.

[frankiebegbie]

A drone tanker (which I bet exists) would mean a forever swarm up there