The F-47 Will Quarterback a Swarm of Collaborative Combat Aircraft From Standoff Distance Using AI-Enabled Command and Control
The yet-to-be-fully-seen F-47 will operate an unprecedented number of drones from the cockpit, enabling aerial command and control in a way never before seen. While a manned host platform such as the F-47 remains at a standoff distance, its drones can test enemy air defenses, blanket areas with surveillance, or even launch attacks when directed by a human.
To accomplish the manned-unmanned teaming well beyond what the F-35 and F-22 will do, the F-47 will need to leverage unparalleled AI-enabled computing, sensing, and command and control; the faster and more securely an integrated on-board computer system can gather, organize, and analyze incoming data from otherwise incompatible transport layers and sensors, the more lethal it will be.
Shown is a graphical artist rendering of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform. The rendering highlights the Air Force’s sixth generation fighter, the F-47. The NGAD Platform will bring lethal, next-generation technologies to ensure air superiority for the Joint Force in any conflict. (U.S. Air Force graphic)
F-47 Drones & Attack
Operating drone groups from the sky will give the F-47 a tactical advantage over rival aircraft in several respects, particularly in dogfighting and air-to-air combat. Getting ahead of or inside of an enemy’s decision-making process or “OODA” Loop, as famously described by Boyd, will enable the F-47 to see first, verify first, shoot first, and kill first, meaning advanced analytics can perform target acquisition, verification, and sensor-to-shooter pairing through fire control, faster than an adversary.
This airborne AI can perform time-sensitive analytics at the point of collection and further expedite high-speed decision-making in combat.
It is the same breakthrough computing and command-and-control that will enable the F-47 to control the flight path and payload of multiple drones from the cockpit.
A manned F-47 can operate at a safe standoff distance while forward drones and Combat Collaborative Aircraft are positioned to penetrate contested areas. As unmanned systems, CCAs can test, jam, or attack enemy air defenses and serve as multi-domain aerial sensor nodes positioned to form a combat cloud or an air-sea-land-space combat network.
Therefore, the F-47 is capable of operating multiple drones simultaneously, performing a range of otherwise incompatible or disaggregated missions, such as intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), reconnaissance of enemy air capacity, multi-domain information sharing at the combat edge, or attacking a verified target as directed by a human decision-maker.
The concept of the F-47 “quarterbacking” an integrated air attack mission makes great tactical sense, particularly if fortified by AI-enabled sensing and computing at the tactical edge.
F-22 Raptor. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
This allows for much faster, more optimal sensor-to-shooter pairing, threat identification, and airwar engagement success.
Developers have likely been seeking an optimal balance between full, broadband stealth, pure speed, and aerial agility, fortified by what may be paradigm-changing breakthroughs in fighter jet vectoring, thermal management, thrust, and radar-signature-reducing properties.
A simple assessment of the fuselage indicates a potential breakthrough of paradigm-changing proportions, as the configuration suggests the F-47 has achieved a bomber-like blended wing body with a smooth, rounded horizontal surface.
Stealth Supremacy
The absence of vertical structures suggests that weapons developers and cutting-edge innovators have found a way to combine bomber-like stealth with fighter-jet-like speed and agility. There are no protruding structures or sharp angles or edges off of which an electromagnetic “ping” might bounce off to generate a return rendering, so ground radar is naturally more challenged to develop a shape, size, speed, or flight-path of the F-47.
Stealth performance is also bolstered by special rubber-like coatings and radar-absorbent composite materials that absorb rather than reflect electromagnetic pings from enemy radar. The concept, as explained in the case of a B-2 bomber, is to create a circumstance in which the stealth aircraft appears to enemy radar as a small “bird.”
An Air Force F-22 Raptor executes a supersonic fly by over the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. John C. Stennis is participating in Northern Edge 2009, a joint exercise focusing on detecting and tracking units at sea, in the air and on land.
The F-47 is publicly stated to be capable of Mach 2 speeds and to have nearly double the range of an F-35 or F-22. This range improvement is particularly relevant for areas such as the Pacific, where an F-35 might be challenged to sustain long-range missions and dwell time. An F-35C has a range of roughly 1,300 nautical miles, so there are many missions where it might need to rely on aerial refueling to perform attacks.
Future of Dogfighting
While the F-47 is almost certainly being built with a mind to establishing F-22-like air supremacy by leveraging advanced dogfighting, thrust-vector technology, and an exemplary thrust-to-weight ratio, the irony is that new generations of sensing technology may begin to make dogfighting somewhat obsolete.
While there will always be a need to prevail in the “close-in-fight” when it comes to air combat, high-fidelity long-range targeting, highly sensitive and powerful AESA radar, new generations of targeting sensors, and AI-enabled computing may translate into a solution wherein fighter jets can prevail without needing to operate within striking range of an adversary aircraft.
These variables are changing as well, given that air-to-air weapons such as the PLA’s PL-15 and the US Air Force-Navy AIM-260 are now providing much greater air-to-air attack range.
However, the possibility of a range-detection disparity may ultimately prove to be a more decisive variable regarding who prevails in air-to-air combat. This is certainly the case with the F-35, as US Air Force Red Flag wargames have shown that the F-35 can “see” and “destroy” 4th-generation aircraft at ranges from which it cannot itself be detected.
The F-47 will need both unparalleled long-range, high-resolution sensing and air-to-air and air-to-ground precision weapons hardened against jamming and able to “outrange” enemy weapons.
Heat Signature
The F-47 is almost certain to be on the pioneering edge of thermal management, meaning an internally buried engine, coupled with exhaust emission controls, cooling technologies, and IR suppressors or heat-reducing technologies are all likely to factor prominently.
NGAD F-47 Fighter. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The idea is to ensure that the aircraft itself operates at roughly the same temperature as the surrounding atmosphere, to prevent IR sensors and heat-seeking weapons guidance systems from detecting an actionable “heat” signature from the aircraft.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Master’s Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
JOSEY WALES
April 5, 2026 at 12:12 pm
THEY ARE NOT EVEN IN PRODUCTION YET AND KNOWING THE WAY THINGS ARE IN THE DEFENCE INDUSTRY I’LL BE DEAD AND BURIED BEFORE THE FIRST ONE IS EVEN GIVEN TO THE AIR FORCE FOR EVAL.