The Navy showed the concept of a fighter-bomber of the future

(US Navy)

The U.S. Navy has revealed the concept of a new generation F/A-XX fighter-bomber that will replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the 2030s. The military expects it to coordinate groups of drones carrying equipment, electronic warfare, or serving as communications hubs.

The F/A-18 was developed in the 1970s and entered service with the US Marine Corps and Navy in the 1980s. This family of fighters includes aircraft of three generations: the first - single and double F/A-18A and F/A-18B, the second - C and D and the third - E/F.

The US Navy intends to retire all obsolete versions of the Super Hornet, i.e. A, B, C, and D, by 2030. They will be replaced by the updated Block III carrier-based fighters, which are being developed by Boeing. Super Hornet Block III features a radio-absorbing coating that makes them invisible to radar stations, and a glider with a resource of ten thousand flight hours instead of six.

The F/A-XX program started at least in 2012. Its main goal was to develop a sixth generation manned stealth fighter. Later, the military included it in a larger project NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance), which involves the creation of a family of systems.

This week, the US Navy released the Naval Aviation Vision 2030-2035 with the new F/A-XX concept and other program details. The fighter-bomber of the new generation has an almost lambda-shaped wing and a forward horizontal tail according to the "canard" scheme.

Its tail is probably V-shaped, although this cannot be said for sure. However, it is noteworthy that in almost all previous conceptual images, the F / A-XX was portrayed as tailless.

The military has specified that the F/A-XX in the 2030s will replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in the 2030s.

The exact characteristics of the aircraft are not indicated, but it is noted that it will have a higher speed and range than the Super Hornet, as well as carry weapons with a longer range. In addition, F/A-XX will play the role of coordinator of various drones that will carry equipment, electronic warfare, serve as communication hubs and other functions.

Source: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21095460/navy-aviation-vision-2030-2035_fnl.pdf