The US Air Force intends to learn from its own mistakes in the development of the sixth generation fighter. It will be created as part of the Next Generation Air Dominance program and will replace the F-22 Raptor, the world’s first fifth-generation fighter.
What is known
The US Air Force wants to avoid the mistakes made in other programs. For example, when creating the fifth generation fighter F-35 Lighting II. In particular, the service wants to have access to all the data that the contractor will have. This was stated by Secretary of the US Air Force Frank Kendall (Frank Kendall).
The F-35 project was launched over 20 years ago. The service then adopted a procurement philosophy called Total System Performance. This means that the contractor has a monopoly on the aircraft for the entire life cycle.
Also, the US Air Force wants to avoid problems associated with concurrency. We are talking about a situation where purchases occur at the stage of aircraft development. The service wants the contractor to complete work on the fighter first, and only then can they move on to the issue of procurement.
According to Frank Kendall, the US government should have much more control over the NGAD than the F-35. The authorities will ensure that the main contractor and subcontractors use the modular open system. This will allow in the future to attract new suppliers for the modernization of individual aircraft systems.
Brigadier General Dale White will lead the new project. He is Executive Director of the Air Force Fighter and Advanced Aircraft Program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
USAF last week opened multibillion-dollar competition for the full-scale production of the sixth generation fighter. The service accepts applications from companies and plans to sign a contract as early as next year.
Earlier we wrotethat the US Air Force will choose only one company to design the fighter. This is due to the high cost (several hundred million dollars). The service simply cannot afford to choose several contractors.
Source: Defense News
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