A sixth-generation fighter is a jet-powered fighter aircraft more advanced than the fifth-generation jet fighters currently in service and development. Key characteristics include advanced stealth technology, increased range, beyond-visual-range weapons, and potentially manned-unmanned teaming.

, various national and multinational programs are in progress, with the first sixth-generation fighters expected to enter service in the 2030s. China is the first nation to publicly fly prototypes of sixth-generation fighter aircraft. China has test-flown two sixth-generation aircraft prototypes, tentatively named the Chengdu J-36 and Shenyang J-50, in 2024.

In 2025, the United States Air Force picked the Boeing F-47 design for its Next Generation Air Dominance program, started in 2014 to replace the F-22 Raptor. The United States Navy is pursuing the F/A-XX program to replace its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets.

In 2022, the Italy-Japan-UK Global Combat Air Programme was launched to replace their Eurofighter Typhoon and Mitsubishi F-2 fleets.

Characteristics

Sixth-generation fighter concepts generally share some assumptions. One is that the fifth-generation capability for air-to-air combat, battlefield survivability in the anticipated anti-access/area denial environment and ground support/attack will need to be enhanced and adapted to the future threat environment. Another is that sixth-gen planes will do less close-in dogfighting, but beyond-visual-range (BVR) air-to-air missiles will remain important. Others include the need to handle ground support, cyber warfare and even space warfare missions; and the need to be able to direct or fight with more numerous fleets of satellite drones and ground sensors in a high-traffic networked environment, allowing for greater insights through data-informed decision-making.Baker 2018.

These and other assumptions suggest these design characteristics: Designed using digital engineering (aka model-based design). Advanced digital capabilities including high-capacity networking, artificial intelligence, data fusion, cyber warfare, data-to-decision and battlefield command, control and communications (C3) capabilities. Designed to control loyal wingman drones. Use of gallium nitride in power transistors. Optionally manned, with the same airframe capable of conducting piloted, remote controlled or onboard-AI controlled missions. Enhanced human-systems integration, with virtual cockpits presented via helmet-mounted displays which allow the pilot 360-degree vision with AI-enhanced battlefield awareness, and replacing conventional instrument panels. Advanced stealth airframes and avionics. Advanced variable-cycle engines able to cruise economically but still deliver high thrust when required. Increased-range stand-off and beyond-visual-range weapons. Potential use of directed-energy weapons such as a laser close-in weapon system (CIWS). China has already announced plans to equip its Chengdu J-36 fighters with laser weapons. Software architecture with separation of flight critical operations from other functionality.

The feasibility of some of these characteristics remains uncertain. Development time and cost are likely to prove major factors in laying out practical roadmaps. Specific requirements are anticipated by some observers to crystallize around 2025.

History of countries with active programs China

After successfully developing the 5th-generation J-20 stealth fighter, China began working on the development of next-generation aircraft. In January 2019, Wang Haifeng, chief designer of the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) announced that China had begun pre-research on sixth-generation aircraft, predicting that aircraft from the programme would enter service by 2035.

In 2018, Chengdu Aerospace Corporation reportedly submitted eight proposals for the sixth-generation fighter design, and four designs were tested in low-altitude wind tunnels. In the same year, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) also reportedly developed prototypes for the next-generation aircraft.

In October 2021, a fighter aircraft with a tailless design was spotted in Chengdu Aircraft Corporation facilities.

In September 2022, United States Air Force (USAF) General Mark D. Kelly, head of the Air Combat Command (ACC) said China was on track for its sixth-generation fighter program, and that it looked at sixth-generation technology in the same way USAF did in terms of using a ‘system of systems’ approach while offering “exponential” improvements in stealth, processing power, and sensing. He added that China saw that the technology allowed for iteration based on open mission systems and that the country's ability to master the advanced levels of stealth required for sixth-generation platforms was part of that iterative approach.

In February 2023, Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) shared its six-generation fighter aircraft concept on social media. The featured concept included diamond-shaped wings and tailless design, which correlated with earlier images released in various AVIC presentations.

In November 2024, AVIC released footage of a mockup of the Baidi B-Type (White Emperor) “integrated space-air fighter”. Some commentaries believed the mock-up indicated six-generation fighter capabilities, while critics stated claims of space operations capability lack evidence and were "dubious". The mock-up was later proved to be a marketing plan for an AVIC-sponsored science fiction novel.

On 26 December 2024, social media photos and videos suggested Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC) has publicly flown a prototype aircraft in Chengdu, Sichuan. The aircraft was spotted flying around an airport owned by CAC and features a trijet tailless flying wing design. Tentatively designated Chengdu J-36 by defense analysts, it was trailed by a Chengdu J-20S twin-seater stealth fighter as the chase plane. The aircraft was believed to have advanced stealth and sensor features, while its capabilities, roles, and design details remained speculative.

Observers believe that CAC chose 26 December to carry out the flight in commemoration of Mao Zedong's birthday on that day. On the same day, further social media posts indicated a second airframe, featuring a cranked arrow configuration with sharply swept wings, was spotted near Shenyang Aircraft Corporation's facilities. Unconfirmed reports suggested the Shenyang fighter made its maiden flight on 20 December 2024.

The Shenyang aircraft prototype seemed to be smaller than the Chengdu one. It was trailed by a Shenyang J-16 strike fighter as the chase plane. The aircraft was tentatively named Shenyang J-50 or Shenyang J-XD by analysts for identification, but further information was limited.

On 5 August 2025, a third tailless stealth aircraft prototype was spotted in China, with a distinct silhouette different from the previous J-36 and J-50. The photo on social media displayed an aircraft with pointed nose, highly swept wings with cropped tips, and W-shaped trailing edge featuring a central extension in triangular shape. Defense analysts speculated the airframe was an early prototype of China's sixth generation "loyal wingman" drone or an crewed aircraft competing with J-36 and J-50. South China Morning Post reported that the aircraft design is a carrier-based fighter, and its design can be traced to a research paper published by the Northwestern Polytechnical University.

Italy, Japan, UK

In 2010, the Japanese government revealed the concept sixth-generation jet fighter, the i3 FIGHTER. i3 is short for informed, intelligent and instantaneous.

In July 2014, Jane's Information Group reported that a House of Commons Defence Select Committee had published a report about the UK's "post-2030 combat aviation force structure". The report highlighted a possibility of the UK committing to a next generation fighter program to potentially replace the Eurofighter Typhoon post-2030; the Eurofighter Typhoon has since had its intended service life extended to around 2040. On 22 March 2016, Japan conducted the first flight of the Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin testbed aircraft for this project.

In July 2018, Gavin Williamson, then Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom, unveiled the United Kingdom's Combat Air Strategy and announced the development of a sixth-generation fighter concept named the Tempest for the Royal Air Force at the 2018 Farnborough Airshow.

In 2019, Sweden and Italy joined the Tempest project. During the same year, India and Japan were also invited to join the project. On 1 April 2020, the Japanese F-X program was announced. In 2022, after a year of ever closer collaboration with the Tempest project and a retreat from an industrial partnership with Lockheed Martin, Japan merged its F-X project with the BAE Tempest fighter development to form the three nation Global Combat Air Programme while opting to pursue separate drone development. Two weeks after the agreement was signed between the UK, Italy & Japan; Sweden signed a bi-lateral defence trade agreement with Japan allowing them to continue on as an observer in the programme and the option to participate as a development partner in the future if desired.

United States

Timeline

The United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Navy (USN) are expected to field their first sixth-generation fighters in the 2030s. The USAF's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program aims to develop the F-47, a sixth-generation air superiority fighter to succeed the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. Since 2008, the USN's similar program of the same name has been working toward an F/A-XX fighter to complement the smaller Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II and replace the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

In 2010, the USAF sought initial responses for a Next Generation Tactical Aircraft (Next Gen TACAIR), which would become the F-X program.Baker 2018, pp.127-8.

In April 2013, DARPA began looking at a plan to merge the USAF and USN concepts, develop prototype X-planes under the "Air Dominance Initiative", and lay the groundwork for a single plane with Navy and Air Force variants.New Budget Will Feature 6th Gen Fighter – Defensenews.com, 28 January 2015 But that same year, the RAND Corporation recommended that the services avoid a joint fighter effort, noting that in previous complex joint projects, design compromises had raised costs far more than normal single-service programs.

In 2014, a broader approach to offensive technologies was proposed, with USAF aircraft anticipated to operate alongside ground-based and non-kinetic anti-aircraft solutions, and with a greater weapon load than current fighters. In 2016, the USAF consolidated this change of course for its Air Superiority 2030 plan, to pursue "a network of integrated systems disaggregated across multiple platforms" rather than focusing on the sixth-generation fighter. The Air Force and Navy requirements had already been merged the year before and were now formally integrated, with the joint focus to be on AI systems and a common airframe.Baker 2018, p.128.

Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have all announced sixth-generation aircraft development projects.Northrop Developing 6th Gen Fighter Plans , Defense news, 22 January 2015 On 14 September 2020, the U.S. Air Force confirmed that it has designed, built and flown at least one prototype of its next-generation fighter.

In November 2022, Northrop Grumman claimed that its B-21 Raider would be "the world's first sixth-generation aircraft."

The winner of the NGAD program was revealed to be the Boeing F-47 on 21 March 2025.

Concepts and technologies