WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force plans to take its most important step yet in making a futuristic fighter aircraft when it awards a contract in 2024 for the Next Generation Air Dominance platform.
The service sent a classified solicitation to industry for NGAD’s engineering and manufacturing development contract in May, officially kicking off the method to pick out the corporate that can construct its next advanced fighter system.
NGAD can be a sixth-generation aircraft that may replace the F-22 Raptor, and the service desires to have it in production by the top of the last decade.
The Air Force wants NGAD to be a so-called “family of systems” that has a crewed aircraft component and other elements, including drone wingmen — also referred to as collaborative combat aircraft — increased sensor capabilities, and advanced abilities to attach with satellites, other aircraft and more.
The Air Force said in May that NGAD will use open-architecture standards to benefit from competition throughout its life cycle while cutting down on maintenance and sustainment costs. However the Air Force has been mum on most of the highly classified program’s other technical details, citing security reasons.
With Northrop Grumman’s decision in 2023 to bow out of the competition for the NGAD contract, the longer term will likely hold a head-to-head match between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
Northrop announced in July it doesn’t plan to bid on the Air Force’s version of NGAD as a primary contractor. Nevertheless, Northrop CEO Kathy Warden said in that month’s earnings call that the corporate should bid on the Navy’s separate version of NGAD, dubbed F/A-XX.
The Air Force also plans in 2024 to dramatically increase spending on the propulsion system that can someday power NGAD. This method, dubbed Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion, or NGAP, will incorporate multiple design elements from Pentagon-funded research into an adaptive engine that at one point was considered for the F-35 jet.
Those elements could include using composite materials that may withstand high temperatures for turbines and other components, in addition to an adaptive element that may allow the engine to rapidly shift to the configuration providing one of the best thrust and efficiency for any given situation.
The Air Force requested $595 million for NGAP in its fiscal 2024 budget, a $375 million increase over the previous 12 months’s funding.
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.