Low observability. That’s the fancy term for stealth, and it's basically the holy grail of 5th gen fighter jets. But here is the thing: a lot of people think stealth makes a plane invisible. It doesn't.
Stealth is just a delay tactic. It’s about shrinking a massive metal bird into the size of a marble on a radar screen so you can get close enough to shoot before the other guy even knows you’re there. If you’re flying an F-35 Lightning II, you aren't invisible to physics; you're just a very difficult math problem for an adversary's computer to solve in time.
What defines 5th gen fighter jets anyway?
The definition is honestly kinda messy. Back in the day, the US Air Force and Lockheed Martin basically sat down and decided what "5th Gen" meant so they could market the F-22 Raptor. It wasn't just about going fast or turning hard. It was about "sensor fusion."
In an old F-15, the pilot is a busy person. They’re looking at a radar screen, a separate warning receiver, and maybe a targeting pod, then trying to stitch all that info together in their head while pulling 7 Gs. In modern 5th gen fighter jets, the plane does the thinking. The computer takes data from the radar, the infrared sensors, and even other planes miles away, then hands the pilot one single, easy-to-read map.
The "Big Three" and the rest of the pack
Right now, the world is obsessed with three specific airframes: the F-35, the F-22, and China’s J-20. Russia has the Su-57 Felon, but honestly? They’ve only built a handful of them. It’s more of a prototype that they’re trying to convince the world is a production-ready beast.
The F-22 Raptor is still the king of the hill for air-to-air combat. It has "supercruise," which means it can fly faster than the speed of sound without using afterburners. That’s a huge deal because afterburners are basically giant "HERE I AM" signs for infrared sensors. The F-35, on the other hand, is a flying supercomputer. It’s not as fast as the Raptor, but its software is lightyears ahead.
Then you’ve got the Chengdu J-20 "Mighty Dragon." For a long time, Western analysts laughed it off as a cheap copy. They aren't laughing anymore. The J-20 is big, it’s fast, and it carries a massive amount of fuel and long-range missiles. It’s designed specifically to take out the "eyes and ears" of the US fleet—the tankers and AWACS planes that stay behind the front lines.
The stealth problem nobody wants to talk about
We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars on stealth. But there is a massive catch. Stealth works best against high-frequency radars (X-band), which are the ones used to actually guide a missile to a target.
Low-frequency radars? They can see 5th gen fighter jets just fine.
Think of it like this. If you throw a handful of sand at a chain-link fence, most of it goes through. That’s X-band radar hitting a stealth plane. But if you throw a basketball at that same fence, it bounces back every time. Low-frequency radar waves are like those basketballs. They are too big to be "fooled" by the clever angles of an F-117 or an F-35.
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Anti-stealth technology is catching up fast. Passive Coherent Location (PCL) is a tech that doesn't even emit its own radar waves. Instead, it listens for the "shadows" planes cast in existing signals like FM radio or cell phone towers. You can’t hide from that by painting your plane with fancy RAM (Radar Absorbent Material).
Maintenance is a total nightmare
If you think your car's oil change is expensive, don't look at the bill for an F-22. These planes are divas. The "skin" of a stealth jet is incredibly fragile. A single scratch or a loose screw can ruin the radar cross-section (RCS) and make the plane light up like a Christmas tree.
Technicians spend hours applying special tape and "gloop" to every seam of the aircraft. In the early days of the F-35, the coating would literally peel off if the pilot flew at supersonic speeds for too long. They’ve mostly fixed that now, but the "Mission Capable" rates for these jets are often surprisingly low compared to old-school "4th Gen" workhorses like the F-16.
Why the Su-57 might not actually be 5th Gen
The Sukhoi Su-57 is a beautiful aircraft. It’s incredibly maneuverable. But many Western experts, like Justin Bronk from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), have pointed out that its build quality looks... rough.
If you look at close-up photos of the Su-57, you see exposed rivets and uneven panels. On a stealth plane, that’s a disaster. Every one of those rivets is a "corner reflector" that sends radar waves bouncing right back to the enemy. Russia claims it’s a 5th gen fighter, but it might just be a very stealthy 4th gen jet with some fancy gadgets.
The internal weapons bay dilemma
To stay stealthy, you can’t hang missiles under your wings. That would be like wearing a ghillie suit and then carrying a giant neon sign. Everything has to go inside internal weapons bays.
This limits how much "punch" a plane has. An F-15EX can carry nearly 20 missiles. An F-35? It usually carries four to six internally. In a massive air war, you run out of ammo fast. This is why the future of 5th gen fighter jets is actually "Loyal Wingmen."
The idea is that one manned F-35 will fly with three or four cheap, unmanned drones. The pilot stays hidden and manages the battle, while the drones carry the extra missiles and do the dangerous work. It’s basically Pokémon but with supersonic jets and AIM-120D missiles.
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What actually matters in 2026: Electronic Warfare
We are moving past the era where the "best" plane is the one that turns the tightest. Now, it’s all about the electromagnetic spectrum.
If you can jam the enemy’s radar, it doesn't matter if your plane is stealthy or not. 5th gen jets use AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radars that are basically magic. They can track dozens of targets while simultaneously jamming enemy comms and even "whispering" data to friendly units so the enemy doesn't even know a transmission happened.
The F-35's AN/APG-81 radar is a prime example. It’s not just a sensor; it’s a weapon. It can focus energy so tightly that it can theoretically fry the electronics of an incoming missile or a nearby drone.
Actionable insights for following the industry
If you're trying to keep up with where air power is heading, stop looking at top speeds. Mach 2.0 sounds cool, but pilots rarely use it because it burns fuel at an insane rate. Instead, look for these specific developments:
- Next-Gen Engines: Keep an eye on the Adaptive Engine Transition Program (AETP). These engines can switch between "high-thrust" mode for combat and "high-efficiency" mode for cruising. This will give 5th gen jets much longer range, which is the biggest weakness of the F-35 right now.
- Open Architecture: The biggest win for a modern jet is the ability to update software without rebuilding the whole plane. If a country can't push "app updates" to their jets, those jets will be obsolete in three years.
- The 6th Gen Shadow: The US is already working on the NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance). This will likely replace the F-22. If you see funding shifting away from F-35 upgrades and toward "Collaborative Combat Aircraft" (CCA), that’s a sign that the 5th gen era is already peaking.
Navigating the world of high-end defense tech requires skepticism. Every country claims their jet is the best. But usually, the winner isn't the one with the coolest shape; it's the one with the best software and the most reliable supply chain for spare parts.
Keep your eyes on the "Loyal Wingman" tests happening at Edwards Air Force Base. That's where the real future of the 5th gen is being written—not in the cockpit, but in the server racks behind the pilot.