By Stephen Losey

作者：斯蒂芬·洛西

Jul 20, 2024

2024年7月20日

 

The first prototype B-21 Raider stealth bomber conducts a flight test at Edwards Air Force Base in California on Jan. 17. Northrop Grumman, which builds the B-21, has touted it as the world's first sixth-generation aircraft — and more could be on the way as the Air Force works on its Next Generation Air Dominance program. (Air Force)

1月17日，第一架B-21“突袭者”隐形轰炸机原型在加利福尼亚州爱德华兹空军基地进行飞行试验。制造B-21的诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司将其吹捧为世界上第一架第六代飞机，随着空军致力于其下一代空中优势计划，可能还会有更多飞机问世。（美国空军）

 

The next generation of fighter aircraft could bring greater speed, range and ability to penetrate deep into enemy airspace — and it might even feature a revolutionary new type of engine, experts and retired U.S. Air Force officer say.

专家和退休的美国空军军官表示，下一代战斗机可以带来更高的速度、航程和深入敌方领空的能力，甚至可能配备革命性的新型发动机。

 

The aviation world has seen five generations of fighters, ranging from the subsonic F-86 Sabre after World War II to the current, stealthy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Now, militaries around the world are working on jets they believe will represent technological leaps significant enough to qualify as sixth-generation aircraft.

航空界已经出现了五代喷气式战斗机，从第二次世界大战后的第一代亚音速F-86佩刀到目前的第五代隐形F-35联合攻击战斗机。现在，世界各地的军队都在研究喷气式飞机，他们认为这将代表着技术飞跃，有资格成为第六代飞机。

 

And while the precise definition of a sixth-generation aircraft isn’t set in stone yet, experts agree on some common attributes, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Clint Hinote told Defense News.

退役空军中将克林特·希诺特告诉《国防新闻》，虽然第六代飞机的确切定义尚未确定，但专家们对一些共同属性达成一致。

 

The Air Force’s effort to build a sixth-gen fighter family of systems is known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, and experts say the platform will be asked to do a lot of things.

空军制造第六代战斗机系列系统的努力被称为下一代空中优势，或NGAD，专家表示，该平台将被要求做很多事情。

 

“You want it to be fast, you want it to fly high,” said Hinote, who was the Air Force’s former deputy chief of staff for strategy, integration and requirements. “You want it to fly a long way. You want it to be as stealthy as possible — not only in radar frequency … [but also] in the infrared spectrum as well.”

“你希望它飞得快，飞得高，”希诺特说，他曾是空军负责战略、整合和需求的副参谋长。“你希望它能飞得很远。你希望它尽可能隐形——不仅在雷达频率上……（而且）在红外光谱上。”

 

Hinote and Heather Penney, a retired F-16 pilot and senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said speed, stealth and range will be among the most crucial elements of a sixth-generation fighter — particularly if it is needed to cross long distances in the Pacific and enter Chinese-controlled airspace.

希诺特和希瑟·彭尼，一位退休的F-16飞行员、米切尔航空航天研究所高级驻地研究员，表示速度、隐形和航程将是第六代战斗机最关键的要素之一，特别是如果需要在太平洋进行长距离飞行并进入中国控制的空域。

 

“Range and the ability to penetrate will be absolutely critical for sixth-generation aircraft, especially given that we’re looking at the Pacific theater and China as our primary pacing threat,” Penney said.

彭尼说：“对于第六代飞机来说，航程和穿透能力将是绝对关键的，特别是考虑到我们将太平洋战区和中国视为我们的主要威胁。”

 

Fifth-generation aircraft such as the F-22 and F-35 were conceived at a time when the United States military still had a Europe and NATO-focused mindset, Hinote said.

希诺特说，F-22和F-35等第五代飞机是在美国军方仍以欧洲和北约为中心的时候构想出来的。

 

“The [F-35] requirements were basically developed right after the Cold War,” Hinote said. “It’s a short-range fighter. That makes total sense in NATO, where you’ve got hundreds of runways everywhere to operate off of. It makes no sense in the Pacific, where the situation is much different [and] you only have a few runways to operate off of.”

“[F-35]的要求基本上是在冷战后发展起来的。”“这是一架短程战斗机。这在北约是完全有意义的，在那里你到处都有数百条跑道可以使用。在太平洋没有意义，那里的情况大不相同，你只有几条跑道可以使用。”

 

It needs to be able to communicate without giving its position away, Hinote said, and it must be able to carry larger payloads than fifth-generation aircraft carry today.

希诺特说，它需要能够在不透露自己位置的情况下进行通信，而且它必须能够携带比当今第五代飞机更大的有效载荷。

 

“That allows you to get to a position in the battlespace and the airspace where you can enforce your will through the use of force, if necessary, the concept of air superiority,” Hinote said.

希诺特说：“它允许你到达战场和空域的一个位置，在那里你可以在必要时，通过使用武力，即空中优势的概念来执行你的意志。”

 

A B-21 Raider conducts flight testing, which includes ground testing, taxiing, and flying operations, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. (Courtesy photo)

一架B-21“突袭者”在加利福尼亚州爱德华兹空军基地进行飞行测试，包括地面测试、滑行和飞行操作。（友情照片）

 

And the ability to maintain a plane without damaging its stealth coating will be crucial, Penney said.

彭尼说，在不损坏隐形涂层的情况下维护飞机的能力至关重要。

 

Early versions of stealth technology on aircraft such as the F-117A Nighthawk and B-2 Spirit bomber were delicate and difficult to maintain, she said.

她说，F-117A‘夜鹰“和B-2”幽灵“轰炸机等飞机上的早期隐形技术很精致，难以维护。

 

Stealth has made considerable leaps forward over the years to be more practical and reliable, Penney said, and a sixth-gen fighter’s stealth capabilities also need to take another step forward to be maintainable and provide better performance.

彭尼说，多年来，隐形技术已经取得了长足的进步，变得更加实用和可靠，第六代战斗机的隐形能力也需要再向前迈进一步，以保持可维护性并提供更好的性能。

 

Hinote and Penney said the next generation of aircraft must both take in large amounts of detailed data and fuse it in a way that sorts out the battlespace.

希诺特和彭尼表示，下一代飞机必须接收大量详细数据，并以一种整理战场空间的方式将其融合。

 

A sixth-gen aircraft “should be able to not only have those advanced sensors, not just forward looking, but side and aft, looking across [multiple] phenomena” such as radar, infrared and other frequencies, Penney said.

彭尼说，第六代飞机“不仅应该能够拥有这些先进的传感器，不仅可以向前看，还可以左右看，可以看到雷达、红外和其他频率等多种现象”。

 

And the Air Force wants NGAD to team up with AI-operated drone wingmen known as collaborative combat aircraft, or CCA, as part of the “family of systems” concept. CCAs could carry out strike missions, jam enemy radars, conduct recon, or even serve as decoys.

空军希望NGAD与人工智能操作的无人机僚机合作，称为协作战斗机，或CCA，作为“系统家族”概念的一部分。CCA可以执行打击任务，干扰敌方雷达，进行侦察，甚至充当诱饵。

 

The Air Force has so far planned for NGAD to have a new type of propulsion system known as an adaptive engine, which can shift to different, more efficient configurations depending on the flying situation. Pratt & Whitney and General Electric Aerospace are each developing their own adaptive engines as part of the Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion program.

到目前为止，空军已经计划为NGAD配备一种新型的动力系统，称为自适应发动机，可以根据飞行情况转换为不同的、更高效的配置。普惠公司和通用电气航空航天公司都在开发自己的自适应发动机，作为下一代自适应动力计划的一部分。

 

An adaptive engine, however, would be very expensive, Hinote said. And with serious budget crunches prompting the Air Force to reconsider its plans and designs for NGAD, the service is considering whether to scale down its engine to bring NGAD’s price down.

然而，希诺特说，自适应发动机将非常昂贵。由于严重的预算紧缩促使空军重新考虑其NGAD的计划和设计，该服务正在考虑是否缩小其发动机规模以降低NGAD的价格。

 

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a June interview with Defense News that making NGAD’s engine smaller and less complex is an option being considered.

空军部长弗兰克·肯德尔在6月接受《国防新闻》采访时表示，正在考虑将NGAD的发动机做得更小、更简单。

 

But better dogfighting ability would likely not be on the wish list for sixth-generation fighters, Hinote said. He does not expect those aircraft to have advancements in slow-speed maneuverability or an emphasis on cannons that would allow fighters to go toe-to-toe in relatively close quarters.

但希诺特说，第六代战斗机的愿望清单上可能没有更好的格斗能力。他预计这些飞机不会在低速机动性方面取得进步，也不会强调机炮，使战斗机能够在相对近的距离内进行正面交锋。

 

“The F-22 can get a high [angle of attack] in ways we’ve never seen,” Hinote said. “The Sukhoi Su-57, same thing. I don’t think it’s relevant for enforcing air superiority in the Pacific.”

希诺特说：“F-22可以以我们从未见过的方式获得高[攻角]”，“苏霍伊苏-57也是一样。我认为这与在太平洋地区加强空中优势无关。”

 

The Defense Department does not keep a hard-and-fast taxonomy of aircraft generations. But in 2017, a spokesman at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia took a crack at it.

美国防部没有对飞机世代进行严格而快速的分类。但在2017年，弗吉尼亚州兰利-尤斯蒂斯联合基地的一位发言人对此进行了抨击。

 

In his column, Jeffrey Hood of the 633rd Air Base Wing’s public affairs office said the first generation of fighter jets that emerged following World War II took advantage of novel jet technology and swept wings, as opposed to the perpendicular wings that were previously standard. But those fighters, such as the F-86 Sabre, were limited to sub-sonic speeds and machine guns.

第633空军基地联队公共事务办公室的杰弗里·胡德在专栏中表示，二战后出现的第一代战斗机利用了新颖的喷气技术和后掠翼，而不是以前标准的垂直机翼。但这些战斗机，如F-86佩刀，仅限于亚音速和机枪。

 

All that changed after Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1947. This opened the door to a second generation of jets, such as the F-104 Starfighter, that could break Mach 1 and even Mach 2, and carry on-board radar and air-to-air missiles, Hood wrote.

1947年查克·耶格尔打破音障后，一切都发生了变化。胡德写道，这为第二代喷气式飞机打开了大门，如F-104“星式”战斗机，它可以突破1马赫甚至2马赫，并携带机载雷达和空对空导弹。

 

The third generation — which included the Vietnam-era F-4 Phantom — incorporated advanced radars and better guided missiles that could engage enemies beyond visual range. After that came the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and F-18 Hornet — fourth-generation fighters that can maneuver at high G-forces, use digital data links to share information, track multiple targets, and strike surface targets using lasers or GPS guidance.

第三代，包括越南时代的F-4“幻影”，采用了先进的雷达和更好的制导导弹，可以在视距之外与敌人交战。之后是F-14“雄猫”、F-15“鹰”、F-16“战隼”和F-18“大黄蜂”——第四代战斗机，可以在高过载下机动，使用数字数据链共享信息，跟踪多个目标，并使用激光或GPS制导打击水面目标。

 

In a 2016 study published by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, now-retired Gen. Jeff Harrigian said fifth-generation fighters such as the F-22 and F-35 include stealth, improved self-defense, sensing, and jamming abilities, integrated avionics, and more.

在米切尔航空航天研究所2016年发表的一项研究中，现已退役的杰夫·哈里吉安将军表示，F-22和F-35等第五代战斗机包括隐形、改进的自卫、传感和干扰能力、集成航空电子设备等。

 

And depending on one’s perspective, the first sixth-generation aircraft could already be flying.

根据人们的观点，第一架第六代飞机可能已经在飞行了。

 

Northrop Grumman has touted its B-21 Raider bomber as the first sixth-gen aircraft. In an interview with Defense News before the B-21′s 2022 rollout, a Northrop official said the bomber’s cutting edge stealth, use of open systems architecture, and use of advanced networking and data sharing technologies to connect sensors to shooters across multiple domains make it “the first of the sixth-gen systems.”

诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司吹嘘其B-21突袭机轰炸机是第一架第六代飞机。在B-21于2022年推出之前接受《国防新闻》采访时，诺斯罗普公司的一名官员表示，该轰炸机的尖端隐形技术、开放系统架构的使用，以及使用先进的网络和数据共享技术将传感器连接到多个领域的射手，使其成为“第六代系统中的第一代”。

 

Those abilities are probably enough for the B-21 to qualify as a sixth-generation aircraft, Penney said, though she said its high levels of classification make it hard for outside observers to gauge whether it lives up to the hype.

彭尼说，这些能力可能足以使B-21成为第六代飞机，尽管她说，B-21的高度分类使外部观察者很难判断它是否符合宣传。

 

Hinote looks at Northrop’s claims with a bit more skepticism and thinks it’s more of a marketing angle, but notes these generational definitions are largely matters of opinion.

希诺特对诺斯罗普的说法持怀疑态度，认为这更多的是一个营销角度，但他指出，这些划代定义在很大程度上是意见问题。

 

“If they want to call it sixth-generation, sure,” Hinote said. “I don’t necessarily believe that the stealth characteristics and the open architecture of the B-21 automatically makes it a generational change in what we’ve got. It’s an incremental step, it’s a good step, I’m glad that we’re doing it, but it’s probably not so big that it’s truly generational.”

“如果他们想称之为第六代，当然”希诺特说，“我不一定相信B-21的隐形特性和开放式架构会自动使它成为我们所拥有的一代的变化。这是一个渐进的步骤，是一个很好的步骤，我很高兴我们正在这样做，但它可能没有那么大，以至于它真的是一代。”

 

About Stephen Losey

关于斯蒂芬·洛西

 

Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.

斯蒂芬·洛西是《国防新闻》的空战记者。他之前曾在《空军时报》和Military.com上报道过领导力和人事问题，以及五角大楼、特种作战和空战。他曾前往中东报道美国空军的行动。