Other than the tariff war, there is another tussle between the US and China… for the sixth generation fighter aircraft. For this, test flights of experimental fighter aircraft of both the countries have also started.
US President Donald Trump last month approved the construction of a next-generation fighter aircraft called the F-47. He claimed that it would be the world’s “first sixth-generation fighter aircraft”. However, China is running its sixth-generation fighter aircraft program at a much faster pace than the US.
In March, while giving Boeing the responsibility of developing the F-47, Donald Trump said, “At my direction, the US Air Force is moving ahead with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet. The world’s first sixth-generation fighter aircraft, nothing in the world comes close to it, and it will be known as the F-47.”
The world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet was the key word in Trump’s announcement, although he did not explain how the Pentagon plans to achieve it. The US flew a full-scale prototype of the sixth-generation fighter in 2020, which was developed as part of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. However, development work slowed down after this. Now Trump has reiterated this point again. He stressed that an experimental version of the aircraft has been flying for about five years.
China is also ahead in sixth generation fighter aircraft fight
In fact, reports mention that three prototypes, one from each company participating in the Next Generation Air Dominance program, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, have possibly all flown. However, this could not be officially verified due to the confidential nature of the program. America’s main rival, China, has been working on next-generation fighters for several years and has already conducted several test flights of its sixth-generation aircraft prototypes.
