There are two programs referred to as Next Generation Air Dominance, one which is administered by the US Air Force, which was published chick out the video in the description. And one more by the US Navy. Both envision the fighter jet of the future not as a singular aircraft, but as a system of systems – a collection of different aircraft performing different tasks as a team.
Lockheed Martin and Boeing were the program’s two main participants and likely carried their proposals over when the Navy began its Next Generation Air Dominance initiative.
The Lockheed Martin Skunk Works design and is likely to have first appeared as a concept drawing of the F/A XX the US Navy’s predecessor to the Sixth-generation fighter.
The US Navy Boeing established the F/A XX program in 2012. Arguably the world’s first initiative to procure a sixth-generation fighter jet splintered into several programs rather than resulting in the purchase of an actual aircraft.
Boeing’s Naval Fighters.
Boeing released a whole host of artwork associated with the Next Generation Air Dominance. While all of these concepts appeared to be similar at first glance, they were also subtly different. Most of these images were carried over from the days of the F/A XX.
During 2008-2010, the company published a number of concept images featuring tailless carrier-borne aircraft. Some of these were not particularly detailed, while others had a fair bit of artistic vision behind them.
It should be noted that while Boeing’s designs were often used by various media channels to illustrate the F/A XX and the Sixth-generation fighter, they also laid the ground for another kind of illustration. These were designs made by independent artists, which were then confused with Boeing’s own designs by laymen and experts alike.
While this is not a unique phenomenon, it is especially common when it comes to the Sixth-generation fighter. For example, many of its depictions, both official and unofficial, were created by famous Argentinian industrial artist, Rodrigo Avella, a man who can be said to have been singlehandedly responsible for how we imagine the Next Generation Air Dominance today.
Avella said in an email to AeroTime that he has never collaborated with any of the companies working on the Next Generation Air Dominance sixth generation fighter, however, it is likely that some of them have bought his art from online stores.
Sometimes (as with the case of his cover of Popular Mechanics) Avella’s pictures were used deliberately and with a proper indication of authorship, but there have been occasions where even the more prominent aviation outlets have attributed these images to various companies such as Boeing.
However, when issuing news and announcements regarding its advanced weapons programs, Boeing continues to almost exclusively use images from the F/A XX era, with very few exceptions.
One such exception appeared in 2016, when Boeing released a new concept image of a sixth-generation jet floating in the sky. Upon closer inspection it appears to be a slightly modified earlier picture, with the color changed and the canards removed. Does it represent the change of vision, or is it just a placeholder quickly pulled together by one of company’s artists? Only Boeing knows the answer.
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