The 6th generation fighter jet of the US military will use intelligent sensors
New long-range, high-speed, and self guided weapons, combined with new stealth properties or sensors that enable artificial intelligence, can help the 6th generation platform in the United States surpass them within a few decades. Due to the fact that the US Air Force not only needs to quickly track the new 6th generation platform, but also actually control it, we may encounter a huge but still somewhat unknown technological breakthrough.
Of course, for safety reasons, the technical details of the sixth generation flight platform under development have not been made public, but the facts that have emerged now seem to indicate that enough technological breakthroughs have occurred to trigger decisions to 'build and fly' a new stealth fighter platform.
For many years, developers have been immersed in exploring, prototyping, and innovating concepts related to 6th generation fighter jet technology, focusing on building more stealth airframes, new applications of artificial intelligence, and miniaturizationRemote sensorsAutonomous targeting technology and unmanned aircraft.
Does the fact that the sixth generation aircraft has already flown indicate that some of the most important elements of long-term transformation technology actually exist?
This issue will naturally continue to attract widespread attention from the Pentagon and defense industry innovators, who are committed to developing breakthrough systems for sixth generation aircraft in areas such as weapon development, computer processing, propulsion, fuel efficiency, and stealth configurations.
Thor Intelligence and Space is one of the industry developers collaborating with the military to explore the possibility of integrating new features into the 6th generation platform.
We provide processors for fourth and fifth generation fighter jets, so we have a unique advantage in understanding the requirements of sixth generation aircraft, "Tomek Rys, Director of Communications and Airspace Management Systems at Raytheon Intelligence and Space, said at the Raytheon Sixth Generation Aircraft Focused Webinar.
Raytheon Intelligence&Space engineers use digital engineering to understand how small changes in next-generation aircraft systems will affect costs, schedules, and performance in the coming years.
The concept being researched by Raytheon is described as a "multifunctional hardware" platform, aimed at integrating various functions into a single operating system to reduce size, weight, and power consumption, and improve information processing exponentially.
Jason Clark, Senior Mission Systems Director at Raytheon, stated during an event:I truly believe that we are entering an era of integrating multifunctional hardware concepts. What do I mean? Nowadays, there are airplanes, radars, radios, or systems needed. As we enter the next generation of tactical platforms, we will enter the world of multifunctional RF... Therefore, the concepts of multifunctional technology and software defined technology will support the constantly evolving mission requirements.
Performing more operational functions by a single system can not only reduce hardware footprint, but also greatly accelerate information processing speed. Thor Corporation is currently dedicated to developing a new generation of onboard computer processing technology, aiming to transform aircraft intoFlight data center, an onboard computer cluster composed of high-performance reinforced processorsTo effectively place data centers in the air. These systems will utilize artificial intelligence to convert data into information in real-time. The ultimate result of all of this will be faster decision-making. By integrating, organizing, and analyzing data through new applications of computer processing technology, Raytheon is currently conducting internal research and development to form the foundation for a wide range of next-generation stealth technologies, including new radar evasion configurations, coating materials, and advanced thermal feature reduction.
Interestingly, multifunctional hardware may mean some new thingsHigh speed intelligent sensorIt can be applied to various stealth configurations by weaving it into the body. The lack of external antennas, pods, or some structured array will remove more radar detectable structures from the fuselage.An article from the International Institute of Aerospace Engineering at Jaina University states that intelligent sensors and antenna arrays with adaptive characteristics will be embedded into the structure of aircraft. ("Sensor Technology and Futurism of Fighter Aircraft", Jain University).
Meanwhile, while the massive increase in sensor range, data sharing, and remote connectivity will continue to bring unprecedented advantages to warfare operations, challenges also arise as battles become more networked. The paper from the Joint Air Force Capability Center refers to this phenomenon as creating an "embedded ISR" cluster, warning of security risks and their so-called "hyperconnectivity".
The new one has a longer rangesensorCombined with weapons and emerging iterations of artificial intelligence, it is expected to make warfare more decentralized rather than linear force based combat. This phenomenon driven by new technologies highlights the dependence of war on sensors and information networks.
Of course, all of these require the extensive 'embedded ISR' discussed in this article. Network dependency warfare may be more effective in improving targets and reducing the time it takes for long-range sensors to reach shooters, but it brings significant demands for organizing and optimizing massive but crucial information flows.
Not everyone in the network needs to see and hear everything. There needs to be a hierarchical structure and a backup architecture for downgrading network operations, "the paper states.
This is where artificial intelligence comes in, as information can be organized, customized, and therefore appropriately simplified in the best way possible to prevent overload or some kind of information "chaos".
These types of challenges, which require aggregating, analyzing, and organizing large amounts of ISR data, are precisely the problems that artificial intelligence and high-speed processing can solve. By using advanced algorithms and real-time analysis, computing power can immediately identify and propagate critical moments or combat related projects, thereby determining priorities and greatly accelerating human decision-making cycles.
The AI based combat decision-making achieved through accelerated real-time analysis allows human decision-makers to utilize data pools that were previously inaccessible. Algorithms can integrate new information, immediately compare it with large amounts of stored data, and draw wise conclusions without human intervention. The ultimate value lies not in the absolute quantity of information, but in the speed at which information is organized, analyzed, and transmitted to human decision-makers.
The next generation of multifunctional systems will generate orders of magnitude more data than previous systems. The multifunctional systems on the platform will be combined with onboard data from various resources, such as spacecraft satellites and wingmen, which can be piloted or selectively piloted, creating a very dense data environment, "Clark added.
The iteration of artificial intelligence and human-machine interfaces, commonly referred to as reducing cognitive burden, can perform time-consuming or impossible information analysis tasks, while humans serve as the ultimate decision-makers in command and control roles.
Although artificial intelligence is rapidly developing towards the ability to recognize and organize seemingly subjective information, there are many decision-making and problem-solving abilities that are considered unique to human cognition.
Source: Military of Strong Countries