By Tim Heffer
FAIRFORD, England (Reuters) – The United States will closely examine its plans for the Next Generation Air Dominance platform – a future family of fighter jets and drones – before deciding whether to go ahead, U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said on Saturday.
The cost of replacing the F-22 in the future has come under scrutiny after it exceeded $300 million per aircraft, three times the cost of the F-35. But Kendall also highlighted evolving threats, an apparent reference to China’s rapid arming.
He added that the idea of using drones or cooperative combat aircraft would remain part of the proposed initiatives.
“Before we make the commitment we’re about to make, we want to make sure we have the right design concept,” Kendall said at the Royal International Airshow in Britain, the world’s largest military air show.
“NGAD was conceived before a number of things: before the threat became so severe, before CCAs were introduced into the equation and before we had some of the affordability issues that we currently have,” Kendall told reporters.
“So we will take a closer look at NGAD before moving forward, but the family of systems that includes a manned platform, joint control systems, weapons systems, communications systems… is still very much the concept we are going for.”
The Air Force faces huge costs to renew its ground-based nuclear deterrent and upgrade the B-21 bomber.
“Before we commit to the 2026 budget, we want to make sure we’re on the right track,” Kendall told reporters.
Analysts attending the air show said the depth of the review suggests the air force wants to renew its view on whether the new Northern Air Defense System still copes well with threats posed by China as its timeline slides into the 2030s.
“The NGAD program is a whole series of programs under the umbrella of capabilities that the Air Force wants to better deter China and fight and win if necessary,” said Vajoo Mouradian, editor of the Defense and Space Report.
“The Chinese are changing the way they fight. So the question for a budget-constrained Air Force is whether tens of billions of dollars are the right investment, or whether there are better ways to achieve some of these same goals.”
Boeing (NYSE:) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:) is competing extensively to win the core fighter portion of the project.
The rethink has drawn attention in Europe, where the UK’s manned-unmanned GCAP project, in partnership with Japan and Italy, could face scrutiny in an upcoming UK defence review, and France, Germany and Spain are also working on FCAS/SCAF.
The GCAP partners are expected to provide an update at the opening of the Farnborough International Airshow on Monday.