On Saturday, July 20th, at the world’s largest military aviation exhibition held in the UK, US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall announced that careful scrutiny will be conducted before advancing their Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. This program includes future generations of fighter jets and drone series.
NGAD is a highly classified program of the US Air Force aimed at enhancing lethality and ensuring air superiority for the US military. The sixth-generation fighter jet with adaptive engines will be the cornerstone of this family. It can switch to the most effective configuration based on changing flight conditions. The program also proposes equipping autonomous drone wingmen (CCA) for cooperative combat, along with other new systems including advanced sensors, weapon systems, and technologies to enhance connectivity with satellites and other aircraft.
According to Airforce Technology, as part of the NGAD program, the US Air Force conducted a full-scale flight demonstration in September 2020.
Reuters reported that the modernized sixth-generation fighter is expected to replace the F-22 Raptor fighter jet in the 2030s. The cost of the replacement model has exceeded $300 million, three times the cost of the F-35. Despite the high cost, Kendall also emphasized the constantly growing threats, which apparently refer to the rapidly expanding threats posed by China.
He stated that the concept of using drones or cooperative combat aircraft (CCA) will remain part of the proposed measures.
“We want to ensure that we have the right design concepts before we make the commitments we are about to make,” Kendall said. The NGAD concept was initiated long before many events unfolded: before the threats became so severe, before introducing cooperative combat aircraft, and before facing some economic sustainability issues.
“Therefore, we will carefully examine it before advancing the NGAD program,” Kendall said. “But the family of systems including manned platforms, cooperative combat aircraft, weapon systems, and communication are still the concepts we are pursuing.”
Reuters cited analysts participating in the air show, saying that the depth of this review indicates that the Air Force hopes to reassess whether NGAD is still adequate to counter the threats posed by China.
Vago Muradian, editor of Defense & Aerospace Report, stated that NGAD is a comprehensive plan for the capabilities the Air Force desires, with the aim of better deterring China and achieving victory in combat when necessary.
US Air Force Secretary Kendall clarified during an interview with Defense News on June 28 that the US Air Force is not giving up on the plan to build advanced next-generation fighter jets, but rather needs to redesign to control costs and better integrate unmanned drone wingmen in the project.
He mentioned that the next-generation air dominance fighter platform after modifications might use more complex and smaller engines to reduce costs as much as possible. The concept of the NGAD system family remains highly active.
Kendall mentioned that in addition to seeking cost-reduction methods, the Air Force also aims to ensure that NGAD makes full use of cooperative combat aircraft when redesigned. He pointed out that the concept of cooperative combat aircraft emerged after the Air Force began developing NGAD.
“To have something optimized to work with CCAs is another consideration as we look at NGAD,” he said.
US Air Force senior officials have repeatedly emphasized that in order to win in war, it is necessary to build a network that surpasses the capabilities of the fifth-generation fighter F-35.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin are widely seen as competitors for the core fighter portion of the NGAD project.
Former US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James stated on the Defense News website on June 26, “The only thing we can be sure of is that China is ruthlessly moving forward with its NGAD equivalent projects, and it seems to show no signs of slowing down due to budget issues. Moreover, China continues to take aggressive actions in the South China Sea and has intensified military exercises simulating blockades and potential invasions of Taiwan.”
James emphasized that the NGAD program cannot be delayed any longer; otherwise, the US may suffer losses in future conflicts.