Decisive combat airpower is foundational to U.S. national security, crucial both to deterring war and fighting and winning when necessary. Advanced propulsion is among the crucial underlying technologies that give America a decisive edge in air combat.
Today, that edge is fading. China is rapidly advancing propulsion capabilities as part of its broader efforts to develop a large, cutting-edge combat air force. Its aggressive growth is why modernizing the U.S. Air Force is so important. A new generation of advanced jet engines is needed to deliver the enhanced thrust, range, power, and thermal management required to achieve air superiority in the 21st century. This is a national imperative.
Today’s Air Force is built on our Cold War legacy. Most of today’s frontline airframes date back decades. The Air Force combat fleet is less than half the size of the Reagan-era force, which had more types of aircraft than we see today.
Those changes affect industry as well as the force. Post-Cold War budget cuts and increased focus on ground-centric operations in Afghanistan and Iraq drove a transformative shift in the jet engine industrial base, reducing focus on innovating for the future to one dominated by sustaining existing systems. The development of bleeding edge technologies slowed as procurement of next generation fleets, such as the F-22, declined. Developments that did occur struggled to transition from the lab to the flightline.
Meanwhile, America’s adversaries—especially China—were growing, developing new systems, and focusing on mass production. Iterating on airplane designs, they also advanced their jet engine prowess.
To preserve America’s propulsion advantage, the Department of War and Congress must come together to prioritize investment in a new round of engine innovation and robust production. This includes the Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program, which is platform agnostic and designed to yield propulsion plants with broad applications throughout the next generation of combat aircraft, as well as programs intended for collaborative combat aircraft and other emerging classes of aircraft.
Each seeks to meet performance, mission, and cost requirements unique to its use case. To deliver on their respective objectives, both will need their own sphere of engineering innovation, ranging from cutting edge materials to advanced manufacturing techniques. They must also be built at scale.
As crucial as clean sheet solutions are to our future success, the future of propulsion demands a holistic approach. Enhancing existing technologies is also essential as current systems will remain in service for quite some time. An F-16 from 1979 is vastly different from those found on today’s Air Force ramps; their power plants are markedly more powerful and dependable. The same holds true for the engines in the F-22, F-35, F-15EX, and other aircraft. Incremental improvements must continue.
Traditional engine suppliers like Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, and Rolls-Royce are global assets. Their future success is fundamentally intertwined with America’s national security. Meanwhile, new entrants like Kratos and Hermeus are providing a generational opportunity to advance performance and value, increasing competition to make America stronger. It takes a total team approach to prevail.
However, securing a positive path forward will only work if there is ample and consistent resourcing, stable requirements, and a commitment to rebuild America’s combat airpower inventories at scale. After decades of complacent coasting, the U.S. can no longer rest on its laurels.
China is playing to win. It is time to acknowledge the threat and the imperative to prevail.
Engines are the heart of aircraft, and America needs both high-end solutions like NGAP and lower-cost engine alternatives for a range of manned and unmanned weapons and systems.
This contest is akin to a marathon. Victory demands pacing, with careful, consistent investment each year. That is what our adversaries have been doing—and it shows. America can win this contest; in fact, victory is essential. It is time to invest to ensure our propulsion edge.
