The F/A-XX was struggling for funding and development has been delayed. The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced a draft defense spending bill that would reverse the Pentagon’s plan to freeze the F/A-XX program.
The large bubble canopy show it is single pilot and provides good visibility. There were those thinking it would be a two passenger sixth generation plane.
The rendering shows solid advanced stealth design. There have been assumptions that there would be no tail.
We can see a top-mounted intake, located on the left-hand side ‘shoulder’ position. The intake has a slightly curved but broadly rectangular profile, with a vertical shelf on its outboard side. It extends from the fuselage spine out almost as far as the wing root. A mirrored intake on the right-hand side would feed the other engine.
We do not know if this is what a final F/A XX will look like. Grumman could just be reusing design elements of the old YF-23.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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