MosNews,
The more talk there is about fifth-generation fighters, the more often the question arises: what exactly is a fifth-generation fighter? A special report from Lenta.ru traces back to the roots of this highly sought after aircraft.
The fourth generation of jet-propelled fighters came out in the late 70s, but towards the start of the 80s waned a bit. After lagging behind for 10 years, the re-equipping of the air forces of leading world countries is picking up. The U.S. is the pace setter in the arms race as it was the first country to commission state-of-the-art fighter jets, leaving other leading aircraft producers behind. The more talk there is about fifth-generation fighters, the more often the question arises: what exactly is a fifth-generation fighter? What kind of identifying characteristics must an aircraft possess in order to be considered to be among aircraft of a new type? In general, how do technological features assign an aircraft to one generation or another?
The first generation, developed in the mid to late 40s, lasted a relatively short period of time. As opposed to the prop planes from the end of World War II, the first jet-propelled aircraft differed by means of their engines, with speeds of more than 150-200km per hour and
