The Air Force must make sure it continues to properly fund legacy aircraft programs even as it builds to the F-35’s initial operational capability, said Air Force Reserve Chief Lt. Gen. James Jackson on Monday during AFA’s 2013 Air and Space Conference. “We still have the sustainment of legacy F-16s and A-10s that are basically still in the fleet. We have to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure we have the capacity and capability in those pipelines,” he said. He added, “We can’t accept the risk of losing airmen based on the fact that we didn’t give them the equipment that they need.”
As with previous stealth aircraft unveilings, the Air Force’s imagery of the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter has been doctored to keep adversaries guessing about its true shaping and design philosophy.