F-47 & Pratt & Whitney Adaptive Engine Video

[Pyroclastic]

There’s a very interesting video from Pratt & Whitney over on their webpage that I highly recommend.  It can be found here:

https://www.rtx.com/news/2026/02/18/fast...the-future

while the video features computer generated imagery, it shows P&W’s “XA103” Adaptive Engine, the S-Duct design for the airframe, and some full motion renderings of an aircraft that could very well be the F-47.  How close this is to the final design is anyone’s guess, but it’s interesting that this rendering features some unique canards and a tailless design.  It will be interesting to see, once we have an official release of a F-47 image, how close this is to the real thing.  Given what we know about the F-47, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is pretty damn close, if not right on the money.  I can’t recall seeing a canard design quite like this one before - it’s almost an exaggerated chine, as opposed to a true canard.  And from the motion in the video, it’s not a moving canard.

here’s a preview of what’s in the video:



and, another screengrab from the video:

[Maxmars]

That's a really pretty rendering...

Thanks for sharing it! 

[Zaphod58]

F-47 not -46

[Pyroclastic]

F-47 not -46

D’oh!  I’ll be scheduling a doc appointment immediately, since I’ve apparently had a stroke…

[Pyroclastic]

Something else I found interesting… ventral fins?




that’s not something typically seen on any stealth airframes, that I can recall… I’ve always understood that they might have a negative impact on RCS.  But, then again, that’s been the prevalent thinking on canards, as well…

[MONAD Ops]

Those are some pretty birds

[Maxmars]

The whole 'control surfaces' concept seems to defy the norm.

Unless I'm terribly mistaken.

But concept and renderings are not the actual bird....

[Mantiss2021]

OK, I'll just say it;

To me, it looks like a flying cuttlefish.

Not that that is a bad thing.  Both the cuttlefish and this aircraft are optimized for efficient movement through a fluid environment.

I appreciate the apparent "bio-mimicry".

[Pyroclastic]

OK, I'll just say it;

To me, it looks like a flying cuttlefish.

Not that that is a bad thing.  Both the cuttlefish and this aircraft are optimized for efficient movement through a fluid environment.

I appreciate the apparent "bio-mimicry".

That’s a good catch and is not without precedent - the B-2 famously mimics the profile of a Peregrine Falcon…

[Avicula]

Having issues with the “quote” function - This is a reply specifically to Pyroclastic regarding the ventral fins shown in the images above. 

Regarding their effect on the airplane’s RCS, I expect they couldn’t be any worse than the bloody huge tail fins they slapped on the F-22… Obviously size isn’t everything when it comes to VLO aircraft, but it seems to me that it would be less challenging to address the return from what is shown than the more traditional tails we see on most of the 5th Gen stuff thats out there. I would also assume that whatever return they might have would have been accounted and made up for via other means. For all we know, the entire outer skin could be made of something that eats up EM energy so well that the echo is a non-issue?