Recently, during a hearing at the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Alvin, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, mentioned for the first time the 80th batch of F-16 fighter jets. This indicates that under the pressure to improve cost-effectiveness, the US military may continue upgrading the F-16 to replace the currently widely equipped F-16C/D models.
While fifth-generation and sixth-generation fighter jets boast excellent performance, their procurement and operating costs are high, and their Mission Capability Rate (MCR) is not very high. MCR is an important indicator to measure the effectiveness of fighter jets. This poses significant pressure for the US Air Force, which needs to cover vast areas and equip a large number of fighter jets. In addition to the ongoing development of unmanned loyal wingman aircraft (CCA), the US military also needs a significant number of relatively lower-end manned fighter jets to carry out low-intensity, low-risk combat missions such as homeland defense and counter-terrorism operations.
The reference to the 80th batch of F-16 jets by the US military brings to mind the F-21. The F-21 was developed by Lockheed Martin as an upgraded version of the F-16V for bidding on the Indian medium multi-role fighter project. The F-21 is touted as the most advanced improved version of the F-16 to date, incorporating some technologies from the F-35 and F-22.
Manned fighter jets have always faced the challenge of high development and operating costs. So, what are the possibilities of replacing light manned fighter jets with unmanned aircraft equipped with artificial intelligence? The General Atomics YFQ-42A prototype, which is a candidate for the loyal wingman CCA program, has recently made its official debut and entered the flight testing phase. Previously, Anduril Industries’ YFQ-44A “Inferno” has already begun testing. The YFQ-42A is General Atomics’ third jet-powered unmanned aircraft, following the technical characteristics of the MQ-20 “Avenger” and XQ-67A.
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