The Air 
Force is “not backing away” from the challenge posed by the Russian T-50 and Chinese J-20 fifth generation fighters, Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz told the Daily Report. “We have extensive [research and development] underway” in technology areas applicable to a sixth generation fighter, he said during an interview in his Pentagon office. These activities include work in the areas of propulsion, sensors, materials, manufacturing, datalinks, apertures, and high-resolution radar, he explained. And “while they’re not specific to a mission yet, [these technologies] certainly will lead to such an effort, if we chose to move out on one,” Schwartz said. The Air Force has more than “$2 billion in R&D” for these activities, he noted. Plus, the Air Force is investing substantial funds in making the F-22 “all that we can make it be,” he emphasized. That initiative is a multi-billion-dollar effort, he said, and one of USAF’s “half a dozen or so largest programs.” The money is in the service’s Fiscal 2012 budget request and “we’re committed to that,” said Schwartz.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
