Sixth Generation Fighter Jets

choi

Warplanes | Flying Supercomputers; Future fighter jets will be bigger, stealthier. The Economist, May 27, 2025, at page 68.

Note:
(a) "It [F-47] is designed to be the successor to the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. * * * On 21 March 2025, US President Donald Trump announced that the program would move ahead, that its centerpiece aircraft would be called the F-47, and that the engineering and manufacturing development contract, worth more than $20 billion, would be awarded to Boeing.[5][20]   Air Force officials said the number '47' was chosen because 'it honors the legacy of the P-47, whose contributions to air superiority during World War II remain historic. Additionally, the number pays tribute to the founding year of the Air Force, while also recognizing the 47th President's pivotal support for the development of the world's first sixth-generation fighter.'[7][21][22]": en.wikipedia.org for "Boeing F-47."
• F047 was revived only two months ago, so I doubt its outer appearance is known even to the insiders.
(i) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_P-47_Thunderbolt
• P-47 had a single propeller at its nose, but the prefix "P-" does not signify propeller, but "pursuit instead. See
Army Air Forces Aircraft: A Definitive Moment. Washington, DC: Air Force Historical Support Division, Air Force Historical Research Agency, US Air Force, undated
https://www.afhistory.af.mil/FAQ ... -definitive-moment/
("When originally developed, designations for planes were used much the same as they are today with few exceptions. For example F is the designator for a modern day fighter aircraft but in World War II, F meant a photographic plane used for reconnaissance. During World War II these designators were used: A for attack. B for Bombardment, C for Cargo, L for Liaison, P for Pursuit and T for Training. This letter indicated the function of the plane. The following number indicated sequence within a type as in P-51. If there was a letter after the number it indicated an improved model type such as B-17E")
(ii) "The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense.[15] It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal Corps, the USAF was established by transfer of personnel from the Army Air Forces with the enactment of the National Security Act of 1947."  en.wikipedia.org for "United States Air Force."

(b) The article carries a photo of Tempest and an illustration.

(c)
(i) BAE Systems Tempest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Tempest
(photo)
(ii) Chengdu J-36  歼-36: "近期，作为权威视听媒体的央视CCTV-14少儿频道，极其罕见地播出了时长3分41″的视频，节目的名称为《歼-36空战规则的粉碎机》"  (I cannot find out when )early this year), and surely the images of J-36 in the TV program iwas "模糊歼36.")
(iii) table: Manufacturer 1996-2011, Introduction 2005: en.wikipedia.org for "Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-22_Raptor

(d) The article states: "One shift they all predict is more, and better, surface-to-air missile systems [to shoot down planes], a lesson reinforced by the strong performance of air defences in Ukraine."
(e) "'Pouring all the money that defence can spare...into a programme that, in the best case, will not deliver a fully operational capability before 2040 feels to me like the concentrating all Air Ministry resources on Avro Vulcan development in 1936,' he says, citing a plane that did not appear until a decade after the war was over, 'rather than Hurricanes, Spitfires, Blenheims, Whitleys and Wellingtons.' "
(i)
(A) Needlessly to say, all fighters mentioned in the last clause were propeller-driven.
(B) turbojet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbojet
("On 27 August 1939 the Heinkel He 178, powered by von Ohain's design, became the world's first aircraft to fly using the thrust from a turbojet engine. It was flown by test pilot * * * The first two operational turbojet aircraft, the Messerschmitt Me 262 and then the Gloster Meteor, entered service in 1944, towards the end of World War II, the Me 262 in April and the Gloster Meteor in July. Only about 15 Meteor saw WW2 action")

The turboprop came later, after WWII.
(ii) Avro Vulcan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan
(table: Manufacturer        Avro [named after founder AV Roe; based in Manchester, England], Manufactured   1956–1965, Introduction  1956)
was turbojet.
(iii) English dictionary:
* spitfire (n)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spitfire
(iv) Blenheim
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blenheim
(may refer to "Bristol Blenheim, a World War II-era light bomber used primarily by the Royal Air Force")