The jet fighter of the future could fire lasers, evade radars and heat-detecting sensors, and slip software viruses into enemy computer networks. All this while flying farther and more often, and using less gas. At least that’s what Air Force chief scientist Mark Maybury envisions for the planned successor to today’s F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.

The new fighter, called “F-X” by the Air Force, could enter service sometime after 2030 and be heavily influenced by an increasingly popular aerospace design trend called the “More-Electric Aircraft,” Maybury said in a July presentation. In essence, the More-Electric Aircraft initiative aims to produce badass flying versions of today’s hybrid-electric Prius cars.

But don’t get too excited. There are good reasons to be skeptical of Maybury’s electric-fighter idea. For one, a hybrid-electric dogfighter could cost a fortune to design and build. And the Air Force has completely botched the current batch of jet fighters — why would anyone believe it can successfully develop the next one? Of all the military branches, only the Navy has proved in recent years that it can balance ambitions and the discipline to actually produce new fighters in large numbers.

Still, the More-Electric Aircraft take on the F-X — let’s just call it the “More-Electric Fighter” — looks great, in theory.

The key to the electric fighter’s sweet skills would be a new power system loosely modeled on the internal workings of hybrid cars, plus a super-efficient “combined-cycle” engine equally suited for slow and fast flight. The power system and engine promise “savings in the $B’s with improved warfighting,” Maybury claimed. (That B, by the way, stands for “billions.”)

The new power system Maybury envisions is built around internal capacitors storing up power drawn from the main engine, just like in a hybrid car. With smart computerized management, the capacitors could release power to particular sensors, energy weapons and mechanical systems, as required. (Shameless plug: This confluence of civilian and military hybrid tech is one subject of my forthcoming book From A to B: How Logistics Fuels American Power and Prosperity.)

That would allow the new jet to mount lethal lasers, radar-frying microwave beams and high-powered radars capable of slipping malicious code into enemy networks — capabilities that, not coincidentally, are also slated for the Air Force’s next-gen bomber.

Flexible power distribution would allow the More-Electric Fighter to ditch today’s bulky, slow-reacting hydraulic flight-control system. It would instead use purely electric actuators, which should be faster-reacting, more efficient and more reliable, allowing a higher sortie rate.

Plus, the new plane’s electrical system would use energy from the engine that otherwise gets absorbed in the fuel tanks or spewed out the back, making the fighter a juicy target for infrared sensors. In short, the electric jet could be more heat-stealthy and possess the same radar stealth as the F-22 and F-35.

And, it would fly more efficiently than any current plane, thanks to the combined-cycle engine. Designers optimize today’s jet engines for either fuel efficiency or speed, but not for both. The idea behind the combined-cycle motor is that, using new shapes and materials, it can be both gas-miserly and speedy. That could bring airliner-level efficiency, range and cash savings to the normally thirsty, pricey business of aerial combat.

If your eyes are rolling as you read this, we understand. This is not the first time the Air Force has promised to introduce radical new technology along with big cost savings, instead of viewing the two as necessarily separate goals. That’s how we got the F-35, a heavier, more complex fighter than the jets it will replace, but which was also supposed to be cheaper. Spoiler: It isn’t.

Equally, it’s not clear the Air Force can successfully manage any new fighter development. Leaving aside the issue of catastrophically escalating costs, the most recent jets don’t actually work at the moment.

If there’s a silver lining for Maybury’s electric fighter, it’s this: The total absence of cash, credibility and confidence to back a high-profile, formal program means the early work on the More-Electric Fighter is being done quietly, on the cheap, by the Air Force Research Laboratories — in essence, Maybury’s nerd corps.

“We are out of money, so we have to think,” admitted Gen. Philip Breedlove, the Air Force vice chief of staff.

Thinking sure beats throwing buckets of cash at some over-hyped dream. Maybe with some solid research and aggressive experimentation, the Air Force can winnow the electric fighter notion down to something it can actually build, and at reasonable cost.

After it’s got today’s stealth jets working again, of course.

Photo: Flickr/flickrsquared; photoshopped by Lena Groeger

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