The next generation of combat aircraft will have to rely on new support aircraft

In recent years, the race has been launched between the major aeronautical powers to develop a new generation fighter. Whether it is the NGAD of the US Air Force, the NGAD F/A-XX of the US Navy, the Franco-Spanish-German FCAS, the Italian-British-Japanese FCAS, or the still secret Chinese program , these 6th generation devices will bring new capabilities creating a clean break with previous generations, much more than those supposed to define the dubious 5th generation. Through their capabilities for cooperative engagement, drone control, and performance unparalleled with current aircraft, these fighters will allow air forces to retain sufficient action and maneuver capabilities for decades to come. exercise of air power, including in non-permissive environments saturated with anti-aircraft systems, also new generation.

However, as the war in Ukraine demonstrated, air power can only be fully exercised if combat aircraft, no matter how efficient, can rely on a fleet of support aircraft offering many critical services. , such as advanced air warning (the famous Awacs), electronic intelligence or even the essential tanker aircraft. It is also likely that the difficulties encountered by the Russian air forces in Ukraine, despite a fighter fleet much superior in quantity and quality to that of their adversary, is partly due to the low number of support implemented, Russia only having about ten operational Beriev A-50 awacs, and about fifteen Il-78 tanker planes, while few fighters and even fewer pilots are actually qualified for the delicate in-flight refueling procedure.

The vulnerability of these supporting devices, against long-range air-to-air missiles like the Russian R37M or the Chinese PL-15, but also to long-range surface-to-air systems such as the Russian S-400 and the Chinese HHQ-9, is a major concern of the US Air Force which, with 550 tanker aircraft, 40 Awacs and 170 electronic intelligence aircraft, has more than 75% of the aircraft of this type on the planet. Answers have been made, such as the integration of electronic warfare suite and decoy launchers into these devices, and others are in development, such as the SHIELD program which plans to equip these heavy, imposing and therefore not very maneuverable devices with a laser hard-kill system to destroy the missiles that would engage them. However, if these systems allow and will allow to increase the survivability of the aircraft, they do not allow them, however, to carry out discreet actions, nor to approach the line of engagement, two major handicaps for the conduct of operations. military in the future. For this, and to take full advantage of the capabilities offered by 6th generation fighters, a new generation of support aircraft must therefore be designed. In any case, this is what the US Air Force wants to prepare for..

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