Building a Sixth-Generation Bomber Raptor

THE GLOBAL COMBAT AIR Programme (GCAP)-a project by the U.K., Italy, and Japan to develop a sixth-generation stealth fighter-has been busy at the drawing board reshaping its vision of the future of air warfare. And judging by the new concept model unveiled at this year's Farnborough air show, that future has big triangular wings.

- Sebastien Roblin

This new, wider-clipped delta configuration should enable the aircraft to fly farther and faster while carrying more weapons and fuel. Those benefits, however, come at the cost of maneuverability, which has dropped from both the levels of the original cranked-delta (or "lambda wing") concept that was unveiled in 2018 and the official Japanese concept art for its F-X fighter program (which was subsumed into GCAP).

BAE's program chief, Herman Claesan, made explicit what had before only been implied, saying "...[we] need to go far, we need to carry lots of stuff, and we need to do it in a low observable/stealthy configuration." British aviation journalist Gareth Jennings said that the enlarged model's wingspan was comparable to the U.S.'s retired F-111 Aardvark supersonic regional bomber.

But while the swing-wing F-111 relied on flying at extremely low altitude to penetrate defenses, GCAP will instead leverage stealth and standoff-range missiles. As such, it better resembles the FB-22 "Bomber Raptor"-a proposed long-range fighter-bomber variant of the Air Force's potent (but short-ranged) F-22A Raptor stealth fighter, which also had a very wide delta wing.

To be clear, the latest GCAP concept isn't necessarily finalized. And unlike the FB-22, FCAS will be designed to balance air-to-air and surface-attack missions. After all, while the FB-22 fighter-bomber was proposed to complement the Air Force's air-to-air specialized F-22s, GCAP is expected to be equally competent in both roles.