Kendall Explain about the Current Status of Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) or Sixth Generation Fighter Program

 

Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall discussed the current plans for the aircraft components of (NGAD) Program during a talk hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association on June 24, 2022. 

We don't know what the (NGAD) Program demonstrator that Roper revealed two years ago looks like, but it is said to be a very successful design. With long-range, large payload, and very high survivability likely being key attributes, a large, tailless, very low observable (stealthy) aircraft is most plausible. It could very well be similar or even the same as something spotted in satellite imagery of Area 51 earlier this year.

"No, I can't," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown told Defense One's Marcus Weisgerber when he subsequently asked if he could say what it was that was seen in the satellite image of Area 51. 

By Kendall's description, the manned portion of  (NGAD) Program has already progressed through many phases of what looks like a more typical development process, tracing its roots all the way back to a contract to develop "X-planes – demonstrators" that was awarded in 2014. “So we basically had an X-plane program, which was designed to reduce the risk in some of the key technologies that we would need for a production program," Kendall said.

There has been talk in the past about the manned platform that comes out of (NGAD) Program maybe even ending up being produced in two configurations one more suited for Europe and one better configured for the Pacific.

Kendall has said, new sixth-generation unmanned stealth fighter or Next Generation Air Dominance program, to follow a more traditional and potentially protracted development schedule due to the highly complex nature of the design.

next-generation tactical air combat capabilities that are specially honed to fight deep in contested territory. This 'family of systems' initiative includes new weapons, sensors, networking, and battle management capabilities.

“It’s not a simple design,” he continued. It is a “long, hard job to build” a plane that offers “a whole generation of better capability" over existing advanced stealth fighters like the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

What Kendall is talking about here are core potential advantages in terms of cost and operational flexibility that advanced unmanned platforms, especially ones that can operate with high degrees of autonomy as part of a swarm, present over manned ones. A modular underlying design only that can be more readily reconfigured for different roles, as well as upgraded and otherwise improved upon as time goes on, only offers additional benefits.

“I think we can get to a meaningful level of initial capability," the Secretary added. "Then we’ll build on that.

However, "I think it’s going to be a very powerful concept,” he added. “You have an interesting virtue with that kind of formation in that you’re willing to put at high risk some elements of the formation because you don’t have people in them... That opens up a suite of tactics that, today, would be unthinkable."

“I’m not doing this as an experiment. I’m doing it as a real program," the Secretary declared. I’m all about putting meaningful capability in the hands of warfighters as quickly I can.”