April 18, 2026: After the Cold War ended some countries continued to develop fifth generation aircraft, the following included:

F-22 Raptor 2005 - Advanced stealth air superiority fighter with supercruise capability.

Eurofighter Typhoon 2003 - Multirole fighter designed for air-to-air and air-to-ground missions.

F-35 Lightning II 2015 - Stealth multirole fighter with advanced avionics and sensor fusion.

Sukhoi Su-57 2019 - Russian stealth fighter with super maneuverability and advanced avionics.

Chengdu J-20 2016 - Chinese stealth fighter designed for air dominance and precision strikes.

Dassault Rafale 2001 - French multirole fighter capable of conducting a wide range of missions.

The latest American warplanes, the F-22 and F-35, are often called 5th generation fighters. This leaves many wondering what the other generations were. The first generation of jet fighters were developed during and right after World War II, German Me-262, British Meteor, U.S. F-80, and Russian MiG-15. These aircraft were, even by the standards of the time, difficult to fly and unreliable, especially the engines. The 2nd generation 1950s included more reliable, but still dangerous to operate, aircraft like the F-104 and MiG-21. The 3rd generation 1960s included F-4 and MiG-23. The 4th generation 1970s included F-16 and MiG-29. Each generation has been about twice as expensive on average, in constant dollars as the previous one. But each generation is also about twice as safe to fly and cheaper to operate. Naturally, each generation was more than twice as effective as the previous one. The Russians developed and put into service the Su-57. Russia is developing a 6th generation warplane which will be unmanned and largely robotic.

The F-16 thus follows the path of previous best selling fighters. During The Cold War 1947-91 Russia built over 10,000 MiG-21s, and the U.S over 5,000 F-4s, but since 1991 warplane manufacturing has plummeted about 90 percent. However, the F-16 has been popular enough to keep the production lines going strong until now. The U.S. still has about 1,200 F-16s in service, about half with reserve units. F-16s built so far went to 27 countries. America has hundreds in storage, available for sale on the used warplane market. The end of the Cold War led to a sharp cut in U.S. Air Force fighter squadrons. Moreover, the new F-35 will be replacing all U.S. F-16s in the next decade. So, the U.S. has plenty of little-used F-16s sitting around, and many allies in need of low cost jet fighters.

Sixth generation aircraft in development include the American F-47, the Chinese J-36 and J-50.

The F-47 specifications are unknown. No data has been released on how much it weighs, what weapons it carries, max altitude or much else besides a top speed of Mach 2 and a range of 1,900 kilometers. The air force plans to buy up to 200 aircraft that will enter service before 2029. The F-47 will cost three times as much as the F-35.

China also has sixth generation aircraft. The J-36 is a tailless three engine fighter

The J-50 is smaller and, like the J-36, still in development

China has also developed carrier based aircraft and is seeking to adapt the J-36 for use on aircraft carriers.