Many are asking what the US Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier-capable F/A-XX fighter aircraft will look like and its operational requirements.
The Navy is generally thought to be behind the schedule of the US Air Force’s (USAF) analogue, the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) 6th-generation fighter program.
The Air Force has reportedly already conducted test flights of pre-production prototypes, and the Navy’s program is still in the design phase.
In previous discussions, the USAF had stated that NGAD and the Navy F/A-XX programs had common elements in their design and would be sharing technological developments, as well as test and evaluation data.
However, in an interview given by Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, Director of the Air Warfare Division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy has officially said that development of F/A-XX will proceed in isolation of the USAF effort.
F/A-XX Is In a Wargame…
Earlier this month, some clues about the F/A-XX operational requirements emerged from US Marine Corps University outside of Washington, DC. The university was providing the venue for what is called Wargame Day.
The event is a four-day-long series of computer simulation exercises using what is described as a Digital Course of Action Tool (DIGICAT).
The USMC’s Operational Wargame System (OWS) is a sophisticated methodology used by the US military to model scenarios for future warfare. The system simulates potential real-world military conflicts and then inserts existing or future-planned technological innovations into the simulation to gauge their impact on possible outcomes.
The Corps and F/A-XX
This year’s exercise brought with it a new twist: a greater emphasis on the future air combat posture for the Corps.
In the process, programming parameters included algorithms that replaced the current F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft fleet with digital models of the US Navy’s next-generation F/A-XX fighter.
The Navy and Marine Corps integrating the F/A-XX into this exercise is the most unambiguous indication yet that the F/A-XX will eventually perform missions currently assigned to the F/A-18E/F, the EA-18G electronic attack aircraft, and The F-35C.
Reporting on the exercise shows that the performance requirements for the digital model of what was simulated as the F/A-XX were repeatedly run through test scenarios that have, in the past, always been missions assigned solely to the F/A-18E/F.
The Super Hornet aircraft is based on a design that – using Old Testament-like genealogy – is more than 50 years old. The practical limitations of that configuration in future combat have been more pronounced with time.
The purpose of including the next-generation aircraft in these exercises when it is still not much more than a conceptual design is to determine how effectively it will operate in concert with unmanned systems, off-board sensors, and other combat platforms.
Technologies and Potential Suppliers
Technological advancements that will be significant features of F/A-XX are the most developed and modern applications of stealth technology.
The aircraft is expected to be operating in heavily contested environments. It will also be part of a very sophisticated kill chain – making survivability paramount. Its loss in combat would have a geometrically-expanding negative impact on any operation it is engaged in.
The reductions in radar cross section (RCS) are thus required to dictate an aircraft that will – like the B-21 – be devoid of any radar-reflecting vertical control surfaces.
Most of the computer-generated “artist’s deceptions” of the F/A-XX, as a long-time colleague in the defense sector likes to refer to them, are of tailless designs that conform to this requirement.
Next in line will be the range and endurance time on station of the aircraft (not strong suits of the F/A-18E/F), which dictates that the aircraft’s propulsion system will be challenging for the design team.
That would seem to mean that, like NGAD, the F/A-XX would be powered by an adaptive-cycle engine similar to the concept under development today by both GE and Pratt & Whitney.
The Navy had at once time been interested in cooperation with the USAF on these new propulsion technologies as part of the Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion program, but according to the same interview with Admiral Donnelly, the two services have decided to pursue different paths as well for this part of their aircrafts’ design.
F/A-XX Fighter for US Navy. Navy graphic mockup.
Donnelly confirmed the decision to look at an alternative propulsions solution – as well as the near-total separation of the two programs from each other – stating, “We’re looking at more of a derivative-type engine solution. That’s just one example where we probably are different in many ways from the Air Force. In totality, they are two unique programs from an acquisition point of view and also going forward, so we’re relatively independent of each other at this point.”
The program is currently in a source selection phase, with proposals from three companies now in consideration. The fact that there are three OEMs involved in the bidding has been confirmed by both Donnelly and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Lisa Franchett.
The three OEMs at this point are not identified, but the logical assumption is that it is the same trio of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman also bidding on the NGAD effort. If the services are true to form, the awards for prime on these two programs will be given to two different contractors. The only question is which of the three will become the “odd man out.”
F/A-XX. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is now an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design. Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.
