Leaders seem to be hedging, with senior service leaders indicating concern over NGAD’s costs and raising questions about the future of U.S. air dominance.
NGAD
Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, head of Air Combat Command, wants to keep the 32 F-22 Block 20 Raptors the Air Force has been trying to divest, saying that even without upgrades, they’d be valuable in a fight.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin didn't offer certain support for the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter at a June 13 Air & Space Forces Association event, saying the future air superiority platform is merely one choice among many the service will ...
WORLD: Modernization: Goal of 100 B-21s; 100 CCAs by 2030; and Anduril and General Atomics win CCA contracts.
NATO Allied Air Command is making moves now for its member nations’ air forces to be able to service each others’ fighters, fly them with each others’ weapons, and integrate more closely together than they have in decades, a top official said April 24—ahead of an influx ...
The Air Force wants to spend $1.3 billion to finish designing two competitive engines to power the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, budget documents show. They say the designs are well along, and the timing of the request indicates production could begin by 2028.
Three F-16 fighters landed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on April 1. Soon enough, they'll be modified and flying again to test autonomous technologies key to Collaborative Combat Aircraft and other key programs, the Air Force said April 2.
WORLD: Budget: Air Force Gets More; Space Force Gets Cut; Shrinking Aircraft Inventory.
William LaPlante said there’s been “significant improvement” in the program over the last decade, and program leaders can now “focus on the future of the F-35, instead of the past.”
The Air Force is budgeting $28.6 billion over the next five years to develop its next frontline fighter and an armada of autonomous escorts to go with it, according to just-released budget documents. Activities planned for 2025 include building and flying prototypes.
The Mitchell Institute conducted a wargame and associated studies to assess how a family of uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft could increase the lethality, survivability, and capacity of the Air Force’s air superiority forces for operations in highly contested environments.
The CCA is envisioned as an uncrewed, relatively low-observable aircraft that can escort or coordinate with crewed aircraft, performing missions such as electronic warfare, defense suppression, as a communications node or as a flying extra magazine of weapons.