F-35s Belong in a Museum: Europe Has Some Wild 6th-Generation Fighter Dreams

Michael Peck

Security,

But will they ever leave the drawing board? 

Key Question: Can Europe Even Afford It? 

Ever since the guns fell silent in 1945, Europe has always been in third place in the global arms race.

Nations such as Britain, France and Sweden could devise weapons of clever and innovative design. But when it came to weapons technology, the innovation came from the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia, who were willing to spend vast amounts of treasure on military research and development.

But is a new generation of weapons coming that will put Europe on a par with America and Russia?

At the Paris Air Show back in the summer, a model of the Future Air Combat System drew crowds. A sixth-generation fighter of Franco-German-Spanish parentage (though of largely French descent), it might be Europe’s counterpart to whatever manned jets—or drones—succeed the U.S. fifth-generation U.S. F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters, or Russia’s Su-57.

FCAS is built around futuristic concepts: stealth configuration, long-range missiles and—most importantly—manned-unmanned teaming. Like a stealth queen, the fighter will be attended by a retinue of drones that will do much of the dirty work of fighting, scouting and taking the brunt of enemy fire. The United States is working on the same concept with its Loyal Wingman program and the XQ-58 drone, a mini-F-35 lookalike that will work with manned aircraft like a pack of hunting dogs and their master.

Not to be outdone by its Continental cousins from whom it is separating, Britain is developing its own sixth-generation fighter. The laser-armed Tempest is envisioned entering service around 2035.

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