The world’s most advanced fighter jet will enter production, as will the first sixth-generation stealth aircraft

*Paromita Das
Fighter jets are considered the most lethal asset any country can have during a war. As history has shown, having a superior fighter jet can quickly change the course of a war.

That is why countries producing fighter jets work hard to develop the most advanced fighter jets that are not only lethal but also act as stealth machines as needed. Currently, the fifth-generation fighter jet program is regarded as the best in the world. There are only a few fifth-generation fighter jets in the world, two from the United States and one each from China and Russia.
According to The National Interest, the United States has already taken a step toward producing the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet. The United States Air Force (USAF) launched the Next Generation Air Dominance programme (NGAD) to create the world’s first sixth-generation stealth fighter.

According to the report, NGAD has begun the engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) stage of the world’s most advanced fighter jet, as the program has progressed beyond the prototype stage. During a speech to the Heritage Foundation, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stated, “We have now begun on the EMD programme to do the development aircraft that we will take into production.”
Kendall explained that the US Air Force essentially had an X-plane programme, which was designed to reduce risk in some of the key technologies that we would require for a production program. Previously, the Air Force performed “a quick demonstration, and then we have to start an EMD or development programme and wait several years because we did not start the development function.”

The NGAD aircraft will be extremely stealthy and capable of flying without a pilot, with the option of manned flight as well. In doing so, the Air Force set new records. We are ready to go and build next-generation aircraft in a way that has never been done before, said Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force.
According to him, the Air Force has already built and flown a full-scale flight demonstrator in the real world. The plane is still years away from full production, but it has caused ripples in the global defense industry.