The Air Force’s Fiscal 2015 budget request includes $15.7 million to start work on a sixth generation fighter to succeed the F-22, according to budget documents. Air Force Undersecretary Eric Fanning told reporters in Washington, D.C., Tuesday that maintaining USAF’s technological edge was a “guiding principle” in building the budget, and there was recognition that “to develop these types of platforms requires long leads.” Even as the Air Force is producing the fifth-gen F-35, he said, “We need to be investing in the research and science and technology necessary to be looking at sixth generation.”
Air Force Wants to Kill E-7 Wedgetail Buy
June 26, 2025
The Air Force plans to cancel its program to purchase a fleet of E-7 Wedgetail airborne target-tracking jets as part of the fiscal 2026 budget, a senior defense official confirmed June 26.