The following is the Nov. 4, 2024, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, U.S. Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter.
From the report
Background
U.S. Air Force officials say they have paused a contract award for the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter as they rethink the aircraft’s requirements. NGAD is an advanced fighter jet intended to replace the stealthy F-22 Raptor. According to the Air Force, NGAD is also a “family of systems,” enabling air superiority, defined as the ability to operate without threat of attack, even in highly contested environments. The NGAD family or system of systems includes the NGAD fighter program, as well as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program to develop variants of uncrewed, semiautonomous aircraft that could fly as “loyal wingmen” with the NGAD fighter or other fighter aircraft. (See CRS In Focus IF12740, U.S. Air Force Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA).) The Biden Administration has requested $2.75 billion for research and development for an Air Force NGAD platform and $557 million for CCA in FY2025. Congress may decide to accept, reject, or modify this request.
F-22 Raptor
- Two F-22 Raptors from the 94th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates, fly in formation after refueling from a 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron KC-10 Extender over Southwest Asia, Sept. 12, 2018. US Air Force Photo
The Air Force’s current air dominance fighter, the F-22 Raptor, entered service in 2005. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin designed the F-22 with a suite of advanced technologies featuring stealth, supercruise, maneuverability, and integrated avionics. The combination of new technology and advanced sensors allowed the F-22 to identify, track, shoot, and kill a threat before being detected. In 2009, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates truncated the planned purchase of F-22s from 750 to 187 aircraft.
Since then, China’s long-range air defense systems and electronic warfare systems have grown more sophisticated. On September 16, 2024, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said he no longer refers to China as a “future” threat: “China is a threat today.” Some analysts note that in a fight against China, where islands off its coast are separated by hundreds of miles, the F-22 may be constrained by its 460-nautical mile range and 2,000-pound payload capacity. For greater range, the F-22 relies on U.S. aerial refueling tankers such as the KC-46 and KC-135, which may be vulnerable to attack. For at least a decade, the Air Force has studied F-22 replacements that could confront such a threat.
The Path to NGAD
In 2014, Kendall—then the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics—issued terms of reference for a Defense Science Board (DSB) study that he would sponsor on how to maintain air dominance in 2025-2035. Air dominance, the study’s executive summary said, “implies sufficient force capacity and capability to reign supreme against the defined threat.” Released in 2016, the study found that dominance of an entire battlespace was not affordably achievable in an anti-access, area denial environment. The study’s executive summary said that the United States should pursue a strategy that creates “an integrated and resilient high-capacity battle management command, control, and communications network to address asymmetries in long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.”
In 2016, an Air Force Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan argued for the need for a family of integrated and networked “stand-off” (weapons launched from a distance) and “stand-in” (weapons that penetrate adversary territory and strike close to targets) forces. The plan sought a “Penetrating Counter Air” capability that would “maximize tradeoffs between range, payload, survivability, lethality, affordability, and supportability.” The Air Force launched a 2017 analysis of alternatives to identify requirements.
In 2019, the Air Force completed the analysis and created a Program Executive Office for Advanced Aircraft to speed development of technology for digital engineering, modular open systems architecture, and agile software development. Will Roper, then the Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, envisioned a “digital century series” of producing small batches of easily upgradeable aircraft with shorter service lives than typical fighters. One year later, Roper said the service had flown an NGAD demonstrator. The Air Force sought to mature a U.S. Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter variety of NGAD-related technologies, including CCA, advanced materials, and sensors. The Air Force also has been researching advanced propulsion systems that could power an NGAD platform under a Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) effort. Under NGAP, General Electric is developing a variable-cycle XA102 engine prototype and Pratt & Whitney is designing an XA103 engine prototype to support NGAD.
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