The big knock on missileer planes in the 1960’s was their inability to visually see the battle space and identify the difference between friend and foe. Could we be approaching the era of drone motherships being the centerpiece of six generation aerial task forces? You’re future drones will be able to pipe this same level of information to battle net hubs and it will relay to a regional drone operator. I’m not so certain we’ll need many manned jets at that point.
IMHO the convergence and dissemination of terabytes of data streams is what separates the fifth generation from the fourth. So many sensors are converging it will take further evolutions of stealth to stay effective more than two decades in the future. And with AI developing so fast that may ultimately remove the man from the front line. This helmet is more or less fifth generation equipment that requires evolvement of both man-machine interface and the airframe to function. Without exterior cameras with signifant lenses you have nothing more than a fancy home security system.
I think this is the norm by 2020. Even a lightweight fighter with said system has a situational awareness advantage over heavy fighters not using it. I do believe the F-22 had the seeds to the idea incorporated in its design twenty five years back. It just took this long to mature.
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