"phil hunt" wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 14 Dec 2003 21:25:16 GMT, Kevin Brooks
wrote:

Not sure how universaly accepted that is. I thought there was a lot of
hoopla a couple of years back about the JAS-39 being (at least claimed to
be) the "first" fourth generation fighter to enter service, with the
F/A-22,
F-35, Rafael, and Eurofighter being lumped into that category as well?

Gripen, Rafale, and Typhoon should certainly belong to the same
generation, due to their similarities, especially all being
dynamically unstable and relying on the computer to fly the plane.

Yep. The point however being that there appear to be two differing
conventions (very loosely used term in this case) for defining these
generations. One claims that the latest crop of products are fourth
generation, another claims that they (or some of them, like the F/A-22) are
fifth generation. Saab and Lockheed Martin seem to have settled on the four
generation model at present, from what I have read.

Brooks