What is the future?

LAST EDITED ON 30-Dec-00 AT 10:02 AM (GMT)[p]Getting tired of all these nice IAF vs. PAF topics, chewing on Kosovo etc.. Gents, we never actually talked about some things, which certainly came to your minds at this time of year.

Namely, mags and papers are full of F-22s, JSFs, Rafales, EF2000s and similars. Yet, what will come after them? What kind of aircraft will be developed afterwards?

I’m asking this because I belong to a – probably last – generation which grew up without having a PC in my room. Sometimes it’s simply problematic for us to keep up with the newest technology and imagine what will come next.

It’s equally problematic to keep up with so many rumours about such “exotic” technologies like plasma-jets, pulse-jets, ram-jets, suspended gravity vechilles, airborne lasers… Years ago, I read somewhere, that somebody is working on aircraft skins which should be electronically so manuipulated that they get the colour of their surroundings, thus becoming trully “invisible” (like that alien in Predator movie ;-)).

What kind of weapons will be used, what will be the threats?

Any suggestions, dreams and help are wellcome!
Thanks in advance.
Tom