The future is here: Sixth-gen air dominance
How RTX is equipping the military airspace – for today’s fleet and tomorrow’s fight.
In military aviation, a new age is dawning.
Across RTX, engineers work with other experts – including former pilots and aircrew – to deliver the technologies that will define the next generation of air dominance. Here, they explain what those technologies will do, and why they matter.
“Increasingly, we are seeing more congested airspace in global conflicts, with a growing presence of autonomous platforms designed to overwhelm defensive forces and create confusion.”
Juan de Bedout, chief technology officer, RTX
Enabling new platforms and technology
“Those prior generations of engines were designed around one point in the sky. So you would find what is the hardest point that this engine needs to do? And you would design around that. What we can do now is we can say, well, I want to design for cruise, and I want to design for takeoff, and I want to design for that maneuver. So it’s a different generation, and we think that we’re going to be able to get another 10 to 20% fuel economy improvement while developing the same amount of thrust.”
In his words
“A future fighter pilot really wants to be eyes-out looking at the environment and the ability to simultaneously process what’s going on outside that three-dimensional image – of where the weather is, where the threats are – to be able to instantaneously process that in a way that’s just intuitive to the human brain. … We think in terms of full color, and you can process more information more quickly when you get that information presented to you in a way that feels more natural. … The Zero-G technology is really going to enhance that decision-making.”
In his words
“Learning to trust a machine can be really hard, right? And so one of the challenges that we’re facing head on right now, with this notion of autonomy, is how do I make my autonomous agents trustworthy to the people that actually have to use them in battle? This is about enhancing explainability and predictability and just understanding that the machine is going to function the way you need it to in a really complex and dynamic environment. And that’s what we’re focused on when we talk about crewed-uncrewed teaming, or collaborative mission autonomy – it’s getting them equipment, getting those autonomous systems to be a valued member of a human-machine team.”
In his words
“Today, our weapons demonstrate exceptional precision and capability. We will continue to advance the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomy across our systems. [What’s more… ] we are enhancing our effectors by leveraging things like multi-mode sensors, comms systems, data links and GPS for example. This really allows the missile to increase its ability to discern a threat and utilize the full network and guidance and command systems – from space to air to sea and to ground.”
In his words
“While our systems have performed well in countering these aggressions, we also see the need for new capabilities to give our warfighters an edge in the next generation of military aviation. This requires rapid development cycles, advanced technologies, and, crucially, the ability to execute at scale.”
Juan de Bedout, chief technology officer, RTX
Future technology, emerging today
“The EPACS (Enhanced Power and Cooling System) is the value of bringing together power and controls the way that it’s currently constituted. We have environmental control systems, we have engine systems, we have electric power systems, and now we have the capability to provide end-to-end emergency power and cooling for any platform.”
In his words
[On the Zero-G helmet’s integration with onboard sensors]: “It gives you the ability to look around the aircraft 360 degrees – complete spherical situation awareness. You’re going to see below the aircraft. You can look above, you can look behind you, into the glare shield or into the where the circuit breaker panel is and you’re going to see behind the aircraft, so that complete situational awareness is unbelievable, and that's what we can do with Zero-G.”
In his words
“It’s almost like an airborne router that stitches together forces that otherwise would have been isolated. And that’s the kind of connective role that CCAs are going to own in the future.
They’re autonomous. They’re resilient. They’re able to shift roles in real time depending on where the gaps are. And I think that's something to be really excited about.”
In his words
“PhantomStrike® radar with a gallium nitride array … you now have the opportunity to take that technology and capability and put it in the platform that your customer has or needs, whether that’s a light fighter, whether it’s your front-line fighter, whether it’s an unmanned vehicle that you’re using to extend your range.
That tailorable size and that small, what we call SWaP, size weight and power, gives you flexibility to give the customer capability for the platform they already have.”
In his words
“That’s going to be key: Innovation at scale, backed by more than a century of engineering expertise and the most battle-proven systems in the world. It’s why our customers are turning to us now and it’s what makes us the right partner for the future fight.”
Juan de Bedout, chief technology officer, RTX
Keeping the current fleet fighting
“We have the ability to take this technology and put it into fourth-generation and fifth-generation propulsion systems that are out there today ... to give our customer and the warfighter more capability in the existing systems by taking 1, 2, 3 – 10 of these technologies and incorporating it into an upgrade plan, as they continue to upgrade the capability of the platform.”
In his words
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“As we look to redefine warfare, we’re asking what does that operating environment look like and how does an air dominance enable that space?
Essentially, how do we get more out of the current framework? And what we found is that there’s so much more that we can still do and push the envelope with the technology of the 5th generation platform. The new extended range capability of the AMRAAM® missile allows us to go even further beyond line of sight … and have a confidence level that the kinematics of that missile can reach a target further than maybe even previously thought – or expected.”
In his words
“Attention to detail is life. You can’t afford to miss a step, because if you miss a step potentially somebody dies. The team understands that.
The culture that is built at this place is solely focused on the end result, which is when the warfighter pulls the handles, they get out and they walk away. That’s what we’re focused on.”
In his words
“As the threats become more advanced and the number of adversary aircraft available for training becomes more limited, the need to train at a higher level utilizing virtual and constructive threats, combined with live threats, increases significantly.
CCAs can operate and act as next-generation threats to provide real advanced training for the aircrew and subsequently minimize the cost of training against crewed adversary aircraft.”
In his words