The US Air Force is quickening the development pace of its unusually secretive Next-Generation Air Dominance Program. That displays an overall goal: to fundamentally change air superiority and lethality by system-on-system capability. This is a radical departure from tradition, to break away from singular platform-centric thinking and toward a family of systems fully connected via a network.
The NGAD comes as an ultimate development of the sixth-generation fighter that will replace the F-22 Raptor in 2030. Next-generation fighters will be escorted by manned aircraft, loyal wingman-style UAVs, and advanced command, control, and communication systems. The USAF reports flying a full-scale flight demonstrator for the NGAD program in September 2020, marking the advancement of the project.
The USAF plans to buy an initial total of 200 NGAD fighters and 1,000 CCAs. CCAs will fly in conjunction with manned fighters, increasing the mission capabilities with sensor technologies, electronic warfare packages, and additional munitions. It can be seen as buying affordable mass in combat, with every NGAD fighter presumably being paired with two CCAs.
Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of RTX, has made significant progress regarding the NGAD program by closing out the critical design review for the next-generation adaptive propulsion solution in February 2024. Now, it will focus on ground testing of the NGAP prototype, also known as XA103, with further trials planned for the late 2020s.
The NGAD program traces its heritage to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Air Dominance Initiative study, which was completed in 2014. Multi-domain solutions delivered through agile acquisition processes were emphasized as necessary by the USAF’s Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan published in May 2016. That plan has since evolved into the NGAD program, which added advanced weapons, electronic warfare systems, and sensors to provide mission success in highly contested battlespaces.
USAF Secretary Frank Kendall announced an end to the NGAD program’s research and development phase in June 2022, clearing a path into engineering, manufacturing, and design. The Department of the Air Force issued a solicitation to industry in May 2023 for the engineering and manufacturing development contract for the NGAD combat jet platform, with an award planned for 2024.
It will be powered by new, advanced engines developed as part of the NGAP program. An August 2022 press release announced that Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman had been awarded ten-year contracts, each worth $975 million, for technology maturation and risk reduction activities. The contract phase includes all work, including but not limited to, design, analysis, prototype engine testing, and integration of weapon systems.
The NGAD fighter aircraft is designed to conduct counter-air missions for the performance of air-to-air strikes and attacks against ground targets to attain air superiority for the joint force. Counter-air missions are conducted either to gain an advantage over the enemy air force or to prevent it from gaining an advantage. The aircraft will enhance the survivability, adaptability, persistence, and interoperability of air domain operations.
The NGAD program has become significant in the area of digital engineering. It hastens development and production while lowering costs. Variable cycle engines have been funded by the USAF to supply more electrical power while cooling is improved. The acquisition strategy for NGAD has been planned to expand the industrial base, which would field innovative war-fighting capability to the forces at a faster pace.
With the significant cost to procure the next-generation manned aircraft, the USAF wants more affordable CCAs to complement them. The unmanned aircraft will either fly solo or alongside a crewed NGAD fighter to deliver the needed mass at an affordable cost in combat.
The NGAD program is expected to run $16 billion over the next five years out to 2028 for research, development, testing, and evaluation. The USAF asked for $2.3 billion for the program in the budget request for fiscal year 2024; this includes money to continue developing the fighter aircraft and the NGAP power plant.
In an exclusive interview, Secretary Frank Kendall explained the importance of the NGAD program by stating that the Air Force is dug into building a next-generation crewed fighter platform. He admitted that the program is highly expensive but said that the force needs to win the conflicts of the future. “It is crystal clear to us that to get into the early to mid-[20]30s with a force that can win, we have to get to a sixth-gen fighter, and that’s NGAD,” Kendall said.
While keeping up the scrutiny and refinement of the NGAD platform design, the USAF keeps focused on joining forces with combat aircraft that are collaborative and optimizing the propulsion system to drop costs. The NGAD program provides a critical leap ahead toward continued air superiority and the USAF’s supremacy in future conflicts.