defense

What is the Concept of Use for Today's 4th and 5th Generation Fighter Aircraft?

The F-16 is a fighter jet that has been continuously developed since its early days and has won the admiration of all countries, whether they are users or not, with all the capabilities packed into its small body. The F-16 platform, which has always maintained its value thanks to its continuously developed capabilities for its users, and moreover, more and more has always been dreamed of, has continued to be very capable thanks to the smart designs of its manufacturer. In the opinion of one expert, the F-16 aircraft is "like a new and very capable computer that you sit in front of with the excitement of upgrading the model so that you can play games more comfortably at home". It is stated that this situation has been carried to a few higher segments in the F-35 platform.

While aiming to preserve all the praise directed towards it, we do not know whether the F-16 aircraft has reached the end of the most eye-catching new features and hardware upgrades offered under its current airframe structure, but it is clearly stated by experts in this field that it is not suitable to go beyond the 4th and 5th Generation capabilities as the highest level of capability it can reach.

There are a few specific reasons why, despite all the high-end capabilities of the 5th Generation aircraft, there is still a need for the existence of the 4.5th Generation aircraft, which are still under development. First of all, new technologies are always very expensive, but the need to operate in the upper segment does not necessarily necessitate itself in a low-intensity threat environment. In this respect, 4th and 5th Generation aircraft have the capability to fulfill their role in such environments. This should be considered together with the unique munitions of the "Generation X" fighter aircraft.

The perception that "as long as it works for you, unnecessary further investments and costs may even cost you money to make the best use of what you have" is presented on the web pages of manufacturers as a marketing tactic. These are concepts that are measured through integrated cost and efficiency analyses, and the results of which can be judged through simulations. However, in dynamic environments where 5th Generation aircraft are now an environmental threat, preventing this threat with a 5th Generation air platform is inevitable in terms of deterrence and effectiveness.

4,5. One of the most vivid examples of the fact that Generation 5 aircraft are still needed today is the F-15EX fighter jet, which is still being developed and invested in, and which is rarely marketed abroad. In addition to the F-16, EF-2000, Rafale, Saab Gripen, F-18 Super Hornet, and other western fighter platforms, eastern competitors are also in the race for improvements and development. But what is the underlying tactical root cause?

Thanks to the development of superior radar technologies, air missile defense systems have reached the capability to see 500 km and more beyond the country they are located in with "over the horizon" support. Ballistic weapon and launch technologies have reached capabilities that can support these capabilities. In response to this situation, it was calculated that the military air power, which tends to remain weak, could only stay in the game thanks to the critical upper segment features of the 5th Generation fighter aircraft. However, it is inevitable that there will be some "trade offs" that will have to be sacrificed in exchange for the gains achieved through special design parameters, which are well known in engineering. For the 5th Generation aircraft, this situation also manifests itself to a certain extent.

At this point, the concept of use of the 5th Generation fighter aircraft has been developed in accordance with critical design parameters. Environmental threat perceptions and regional superiority comparisons will naturally affect this situation, but the way of performing missions in accordance with the concept will not change much. In this context, we can see that one of the biggest trade offs of remaining low-visibility is the limitation of the amount and capacity to carry weapons inside the hull. However, 5th Generation aircraft, which can also carry external payloads in a lower intensity threat environment, can carry more weapons payloads than lower segment aircraft in a "low stealth" configuration. At this point, although there is no "stealth" capability for 4th and 5th Generation aircraft today, additional new technologies and the ability to carry more modern weapon loads are marketed as an advantage. We see that those who design the most effective use of air power within the evolving conditions and regional threat perceptions in our age, prefer to use a force in a higher segment and in a more destructive and disruptive way, as in the First and Second Gulf Operations.

While Boeing, the manufacturer of the new F-15EX aircraft, boasts of the 12 AIM-120 air-to-air missiles that can be carried on the platform, the developers of the EF-2000 and Rafale aircraft boast of their increased bomber payloads, and the developers of the F-16 and Saab Gripen, such as the F-18 Super Hornet, boast of their mixed weapons payload capacities, they know very well what "increased visibility" on all kinds of radars will cost the end user. Therefore, while some fighter jets are developing special measures such as wingtip and under-fuselage pods to provide additional support for electromagnetic spectrum control, it is also important to take into account only in what situations and how effective they will be.

At this point, the most effective air power utilization concept, which is deemed appropriate in response to the high intensity environmental and regional threat perceptions of the new century: "4th and 5th Generation aircraft should operate alongside 5th Generation aircraft with high sensor capability and low visibility in order to protect them more effectively while fighting with their full power".

The fact that 5th Generation aircraft can provide low visibility advantage not only for themselves but also for the aircraft they operate with is presented in open sources as a marketing tactic of the manufacturers. The manner in which this happens is beyond the scope of this article and is classified.

The ability of 4th and 5th Generation aircraft to operate under a certain "protection shield" with the high weapons capacity they can carry is still a strong force multiplier. This should not mean that 5th Generation aircraft, whose primary mission is long-range strategic attack, are inadequate for other missions, because there will always be other 5th Generation aircraft carrying different types of ammunition in large numbers. The purpose of this concept is to ensure that each generation of aircraft can operate effectively and deterrently as the most powerful force multiplier in its primary role but under the characteristics of the highest segment. Although it is reported in open sources that special exercises are being carried out for this purpose and that the results are satisfactory, the details are not known due to their nature.

Although it is not possible to fully evaluate some of the critical capabilities of the F-16 and F-35 aircraft, which are completely classified in terms of the results of the effectiveness analysis when their parameters are compared in line with the technical data we have, some data are available in open sources. In terms of their technical characteristics, the fact that they are compared in open sources against each other as well as against environmental and regional threats gives us some ideas. Despite this very limited information, even the smallest scraps of information provide us with some ideas about how far such platforms can be detected, and to what extent and at what distances they can be effective against which types of targets. Not only the platform itself, but even the marketing presentations of the weapons it can use can be a good indicator.

Since its release, the DCS (Digital Combat Simulator) gaming platform has become a must-have for military aviation and flight enthusiasts, selling more than 4.5 million copies thanks to its ultra-realistic ultra-high resolution graphics, accurate cockpit design that is indistinguishable from the real thing, and flight simulation software. The most critical feature of this game is that many modern fighter aircraft can be tested with their weapons in different scenarios against thousands of environmental and regional threats, open source parameters can be edited as desired, multiplayer can be played, and many technological infrastructures such as three-dimensional glasses etc. are available. It is known that serious resources were purchased for the high realism and content in this game, and that it was developed with the support of a very strong and crowded team of former pilots, operators, weapon technicians and experts; it is even known that the owner of the company was even arrested for accessing military documents.

Within this 15-year old simulation software, it is also possible to conduct operations and fly missions with 5th Generation aircraft such as the F-35 and F-22. What interests us here is that open source technical documents of such professional combat systems, flight characteristics observed at air shows, images and information obtained at arms fairs, and even a moment of absentmindedly disclosing information in social environments can provide input to simulation systems with a certain amount of benefit and offer certain evaluation opportunities by making many trials within different scenarios.

Technically, it is commented that the most basic combat systems features such as control of the electromagnetic spectrum, low visibility effects, superior radar capabilities, technical capabilities of all types of weapons and aircraft maneuvering effects can sometimes give results close to reality, even when run with open source codes. Since the flight characteristics of the relevant platforms are a very different dimension, it will not be easy to accurately reflect them in the simulator. Pilots state that even in real simulator systems, the flight characteristics of the aircraft are sometimes not accurately defined. Here, the simulation capability used to demonstrate the effectiveness of mission-oriented systems has been evaluated.

In many open source expert comments, without stating whether they are true or false, but without denying the proximity of existing simulations to reality, it is clearly stated that simulation results can also give us some ideas in comparisons of the superiority of 5th Generation aircraft compared to 4th and 5th Generation aircraft, and that it is possible to see them even in the simplest scenario-based trials.

Unfortunately, the costs of the 4.5th Generation fighter jet technology, which is trying to maintain its place in the market share by continuing its production with the benefit of today's upper segment aircraft technology, are much higher than expected.

F-16 Viper	63 Milyon Dolar	Rafale	115 Milyon Dolar
F-18 S.Hornet	66.9 Milyon Dolar	F-15EX	117 Milyon Dolar
Saab Gripen	89 Milyon Dolar	EF-2000	124 Milyon Dolar
J-20	110 Milyon Dolar	F-35	177 Milyon Dolar

While this is a limited illustration of today's most expensive fighter jet market, it is a compelling case for countries to make the most rigorous cost-effectiveness analysis and the most optimal choice in order to deter low- or high-intensity threat environments.

In conclusion, although it is not possible to make the most accurate interpretations and analyses based neither on all open source information nor on a game simulation, the state of the art in the comparison of new superior technical capabilities and corresponding costs requires us to accept some facts. The important point for us is that "the misconception that power can be substituted by utilizing lower segment systems instead of the serious superiorities in the warfare weapon vehicles and equipment required by the age, without fully perceiving the high-intensity threat environment, will have irreversible consequences and risks".

In this context, of course, one F-35 alone may not be sufficient to do the job of four F-16s, neither in terms of weapon capacity nor in terms of effective mission coverage, but it is clearly foreseen that without the technological support provided by the 5th Generation platform in the arm, the survival of the 4.5 Generation aircraft may not be possible in today's dynamic, complex and high-intensity threat environment. In order to cope with such strong regional and environmental threats, it is considered that planning the 4th, 5th and 5th Generation air power within the right composition and with the most effective technological support will be more realistic and sustainable in order to achieve the desired success criteria.