The U.S. Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter may be more complicated to acquire than previously thought. At the beginning of June, the news was good for the Next Generation Air Dominance airplane family of systems or NGAD. The program had entered a new phase of production that would put the NGAD on track to be unveiled in 2030 and begin replacing the F-22.
Now the secretary of the Air Force is putting the brakes on that timeline, and he admits it may not be ready that early.
Air Force Civilian Boss Says Give Us More Time
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall discussed the NGAD program at the Air & Space Forces Association on June 24th. “The NGAD that we’re working on now … is going to take longer,” Kendall said, according to Air Force Magazine. “It’s not a simple design.”
Don’t Forget How Expensive It Will Be
The NGAD is also costly. Kendall told Congress in April that each NGAD fighter could set the Air Force back several hundred million dollars. So far lawmakers are funding the program. Since 2015, Congress has approved around $4.2 billion for the NGAD.
‘System of Systems’ Shows Potential
NGAD will not be a traditional manned fighter, but a “system of systems.” Joseph Trevithick at the War Zone described it as being comprised of “new weapons, sensors, networking, and battle management capabilities.”
Aerial Quarterback Will Lead the Team
The lead airplane could be unmanned too. The plans are for it to be a “quarterback” in the sky and “call plays,” as Kendall described it. This would fall under the “Loyal Wingman” concept of drones flying in formation with the fighter to conduct electronic warfare to jam enemy air defenses or feed target acquisition data back to the main airplane. This “loyal” drone could be the XQ-58A Valkyrie that is in development with the Air Force Research Lab and Kratos Defense.
It’s Going to Be a Slog To Build It
Kendall said this will be a “long, hard job” to build out this concept. The Air Force Secretary was coy when asked about whether the contract has been bid out to one prime contractor or if the NGAD will be a competition among several vendors. Kendall said, “We still have competition,” without being more specific.
Is It Really Hitting Milestones?
Nineteen Forty-Five reported on June 4th that the NGAD had entered a critical engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) phase that was thought to put it on schedule for the 2030 timeline. It’s not clear how much of a departure NGAD development will be from that suspense date.
Technology Demonstrator May Have Already Flown
There is reportedly an NGAD prototype that has flown already, perhaps with a tail-less airframe and able to fly long-range with stealthiness and the ability to handle a large weapons payload.
This Does Not Mean Cancellation
The latest admissions by the Air Force secretary are not a showstopper for the program. Kendall will likely disclose more details in future Congressional testimony. NGAD is a vague project that seems to have different milestones attached to it regularly. This may make oversight for the acquisition piece of the puzzle more difficult.
It is still an exciting, albeit mysterious program. “Sixth-generation” sounds appealing and if executed to fruition will help keep the United States from falling behind Russia and China in the race to be the best in the skies.
Now serving as 1945’s Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood.
