The US military has the highest quality and quantity of airframes of any military on Earth. The F-22 Raptor, for example, was the world’s first fifth-generation fighter – and remains one of the world’s few fifth-generation fighters. The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation workhorse renowned for its interconnectivity and situational awareness-enhancing features. The B-2 Spirit was the world’s first stealth bomber. The F-15 Eagle remains an undefeated dogfighter.And the fourth generation-plus F/A-18 Super Hornet can do a little bit of everything. Air superiority. Ground attack. Suppression of enemy air defense. Land-based operations. Carrier-based operations. Day missions. Night missions.Still, despite the wealth of technologically advanced aircraft in the US military’s inventory, war planners are thinking ahead – to the next conflict, to the next enemy – and urgently preparing platforms equipped to thwart future threats. Accordingly, much of the contemporary US inventory is on the c...
