The future fighter aircraft will replace the US Air Force’s 5th generation F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft with many superior features in combat.

Has passed the prototype stage

The Pentagon assesses that the competition process of contractors to participate in the production of 6th generation fighter aircraft will be very harsh, as this may be the last generation of manned fighter aircraft of the United States. US Air Force.

In a special report of the US Air Force published on May 18, 2023, it was confirmed that in 2022, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall requested to move the NGAD program from the prototype phase to the limited production phase. mechanism to evaluate quality and choose the most perfect product.

Image of the NGAD prototype developed by Lockheed Martin.

“The NGAD platform will play an important role in the US Air Force’s tactical air superiority combat system. It will possess many superior technologies compared to the current F-22 Raptor aircraft model. Basically, NGAD will have strong customization capabilities and advanced combat support functions to survive and complete missions in complex combat environments,” Mr. Frank Kendall said and emphasized, The US Air Force once had a strong advantage in the field of military aviation, but this advantage is gradually disappearing because of the development of competitors.

Because NGAD is still in prototype form, related information is still very limited. However, from published information, participating in the competition to develop this 6th generation fighter will be famous American aviation manufacturers, including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Boeing. .

The 6th generation fighter model developed by Northrop Grumman has the advantage of integrating high-energy beam weapons to expand combat capabilities against threats of hypersonic weapons.

Open up the future of human-machine combined airspace

The US Air Force expects that the 6th generation fighter will be a unified platform, open design with a cost of several hundred million USD per aircraft. The new generation fighter has broad-spectrum stealth capabilities against many radar wavelengths; integrating advanced electronic systems, virtual assistants and weapons using many new physical principles. Along with that, NGAD has also significantly expanded its range and useful take-off payload. It can serve as a nuclear component in a combined human-machine combat air combat formation.

In fact, NGAD is expected to fill the shortcomings of the 5th generation fighter aircraft with the role of gaining air superiority and operating well in complex combat environments. NGAD’s role is compared to the “midfielder” position in football when it can undertake many different tasks with the support of specialized combat drones (UACV) such as: aerial position, air defense suppression, electronic reconnaissance…

Thus, in dangerous missions, NGAD will act as an airborne command center to coordinate the activities of UAVs within the control range, minimizing damage caused by fighter and defense aircraft. not caused by the enemy.

Mr. Frank Kendall said that the US Air Force will buy about 200 new NGAD aircraft and about 1,000 UACV units to form special human-machine squadrons in the future. This combat group can be expanded with the participation of fifth generation F-35A Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. In the future, the NGAD and UACV air groups will be part of a unified control system with B-21 Raider long-range stealth bombers to provide comprehensive defense and defense capabilities in the sky.

NGAD prototype introduced by Boeing.

Evaluating information about America’s new 6th generation fighter aircraft, many military experts believe that the US Air Force is avoiding the same mistake as the F-35 development program. Instead of relying entirely on military contractors, the US Air Force will purchase relevant core technologies to proactively customize and upgrade in the future. The technologies that make up NGAD will be developed by many contractors, with the main owner being the US Air Force. In particular, thanks to possessing core technologies, the US Air Force and Navy can optimize the cost of manufacturing and operating new fighter aircraft when they use many similar components and technology platforms.

With the published information, the US Air Force plans to begin equipping NGAD by the end of this decade. The new 6th generation fighter is expected to continue to maintain the US Army’s air superiority, similar to when the F-22 Raptor appeared in the early 2000s.

TUAN SON (according to vpk.name, The Drive…)