Russia unveils plans for sixth-generation fighter jet Expected to debut in 2050

A sixth-generation combat aircraft may appear in Russia by 2050.

Views are now being exchanged with the military regarding its concept, the scientific director of the State Research Institute of Aviation Systems (GosNIIAS), Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Evgeny Fedosov writes, according to TASS.

“We are currently thinking about the concept of a sixth-generation aircraft, conducting exploratory research, and exchanging opinions with military experts. Such an aircraft should appear somewhere by 2050, but already now we need to understand what armed conflicts of the future will be like,” he writes.

Touching on the topic of designing future aircraft, Fedosov suggested that “to go further according to the logic of complexity is a vicious practice.” He also pointed out that combat aircraft are becoming more complex from generation to generation and, as a result, becoming heavier. “And the larger and heavier the aircraft, the more expensive it is,” the academician concluded.