Chance wanted that in the midst of controversy over the ability of the United States to disable your F-35 At a distance one of the most important and expected ads arises by the military industry. Washington lifted the curtain and show what I had been developing for a while From the hand of Boeing, the F-47 for replace Raptor He made an appearance with a word above the rest: furtive. However, ailerons betray much more of the combat plane.
The canards and the revealing signal. Yesterday we talk about the Presentation of F-47the plane chosen as a axis of the program Next Generation Air Dominance (Ngad) of the United States Air Force. The announcement has generated An intense debate Due to a surprising detail in its official renders: inclusion of Canards (Front spoils). This trait, more common in fourth generation fighters such as The rafale either The flucollides with Previous expectations of a design almost exclusively focused on stealth, scope, load and speed, leaving aside maneuverability as a priority.
His presence suggests that Boeing has taken a turn to a more agile design, possibly for different tactical purposes, or even betting on a complete reinterpretation of operational needs of the ngad. This element, although apparently lower, opens multiple questions about the decisions hidden behind the project and the strategic priorities that the USAF is adopting against the future of air combat.
Vs. vs. spoilers. To understand the intense debate, it should be clarified that the canards grant greater maneuverability and stability, especially in aircraft with Wings in Delta and without rear stabilizers, but they have traditionally been avoided in poacted fighters due front radar signalcritic for survival in hostile environments. In other words: this inclusion of control surfaces seem to conflict with those public objectives of Vray Low Observability (VLO) or Multibanda, a standard that seeks invisibility to multiple types of radar, not just fire control.
Referents. Impossible not to remember aircraft Like the B-21 Raiderdesigned with this principle as axis, unlike platforms that, such as The Chinese J-20have been criticized for incorporating canards and compromise their stealth. What does all this mean? As they pointed out The War Zone analyststhe F-47 could be betting on new technological solutions to counteract that effectsuch as advanced composite materials, geometries that deviate radar signals or even morphological structures capable of modifying their shape in flight.
However, it is still uncertain if these measures are enough to conserve a high level of raim against increasingly sophisticated threats.
The B21 Raider
Modular hunting or new tactical vision? Another possibility is that the F-47 has been conceived as A modular platform with different configurations for different operational theaters. Under this prism, initially contemplated in the NGAD program (although it was then said that it was abandoned), it consisted of a short -range variant and greater agility for Europe, and another long range for the Pacific.
The Canards. The appearance of the Canards could point to a rebirth of said strategy, or at least, to a flexibility in stealth requirements in exchange for Other tactical capacitiesas take -off on short tracks, efficiency in agile combat environments or more effective integration with Non -manned aircraft.
Plus: To this is added the possibility that the F-47 has a more compact size and a more traditional design oriented, delegating functions such as surveillance, remote attack or electronic war to allied drones (Collaborative Combat Aircraftor CCA), which would allow, a priori, reduce costs, simplify the aircraft and increase the number of units produced.
Pragmatism against vulnerabilities. The turn towards a more conventional design, with less autonomy and greater maneuverability, could also respond to a pragmatic reassessment of resources and threats. USAF recognized that its dependence on Tankers represents A crucial weaknessespecially before an adversary like China, capable of blocking aerial replenishment routes. In that context, a long -range hunting would make more strategic sense.
However, opt for a more accessible platform, accompanied by the development of A furtive tank plane (NGAS), it could have been a more or less acceptable commitment: less scope and load in exchange for a more versatile and economically sustainable ecosystem. He NGAD program It was paused in 2023 precisely to evaluate these types of decisions, in a context of budgetary restrictions and emerging technological threats. The choice of F-47, and its promise to be more reliable, furtive and exportable than its predecessors, aims to be the result of that strategic readjustment (and, obvious, to be a “Super Survents“).
Uncertain future. For everything described, the F-47 represents a visual and conceptual breakup regarding what was expected of An NGAD hunt. As we said, instead of the traditional delta design without a large tail and ultrafurtive profile, the renders show a more compact fuselage, wings with a positive dihedral, shovel -shaped nose and those enigmatic Canards.
The result reminds previous experiments such as Bird of Preyhe X-36 or even to Qaher 313 Iranian, that refined concepts of F-22 or of the B-21. Of course, it is soon to draw definitive conclusions, the fact that the F-47 has been described as an aircraft that will occur In large quantitieswhich will be exported to allies and that will have greater autonomy and maintenance as the current fighters, indicates that we are facing a hybrid solution between the aspirational and the pragmatic.
The great unknown lies in how much stealth, scope and capacity has been sacrificed to achieve that balance.
Image | USAF, Northrop Grumman
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