Okay, my intent is to get down to about four. But I don't need to make that decision today. The F, built to dominate Soviet warplanes in air-to-air dogfights, has never shot down an enemy plane in combat. Instead, the plane made its combat debut over Syria in Raptors have also deployed to the Middle East to deter Iran. Decades ago, the Air Force envisioned a fleet of Raptors, but the fleet was capped at just jets. Since then U. At one point, Lockheed proposed building new Fs with more modern electronics used in the F stealth fighter.
Ultimately, the Air Force chose to buy updated F fighter jets from Boeing. When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience.
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However, the likelihood remains that NGAD will comprise a system of systems, including unmanned combat aerial vehicles and advanced munition elements which cooperate with the core piloted fighter to deliver next generation air dominance effects. A piloted aircraft with advanced broadband stealth features, fighter-type performance and next generation datalink and sensor technologies is unlikely to be cheap despite the use of modern digital design and testing tools.
Furthermore, since stealth aircraft must carry all fuel and weapons internally, an F replacement with a combat radius more suitable for the Indo-Pacific theatre would have to be significantly larger than the Raptor to carry enough fuel. This would further increase both procurement and operating costs. Nevertheless, the fact that the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force feels confident enough to publicly talk about replacing rather than augmenting his premier Air Dominance asset with NGAD is a huge vote of confidence from someone who has all the clearances and responsibilities needed to evaluate NGAD clearly in its current form.
The US Air Force has tried repeatedly to retire the iconic ground attack and close air support jets, to free up funding for fighter fleets more relevant to the high intensity mission sets implied by a renewed focus on Russia and China as primary force drivers.
However, Congressional opposition has not only prevented the AC from being retired, but has forced the US Air Force to invest in extensive structural renewal efforts to allow them to fly for many years to come.
If the service does try to retire the hugely symbolic and still unchallenged king of air dominance after only a short service life, it would not be surprising if similar Congressional opposition allowed the F to live on. The views expressed in this Commentary are the author's, and do not represent those of RUSI or any other institution.
Topics Air Power. In a war game the Air Force held last year, which simulated a Chinese invasion of Taiwan set in the mids, the service relied on NGAD to penetrate into areas populated by Chinese threats. It has a relatively short-range — only 1, nautical miles with two external fuel tanks — and its weapons magazine is small and lacks depth and range. Even its survivability will eventually be at stake as adversary nations field more capable air defense systems and its stealth advantage degrades, he said.
However, the F is newer, more flexible and easier to maintain, with a longer service life ahead of it than what the F can offer, and new weapons incoming as part of its Block 4 upgrade program.
Yes, you can could conceivably put that into the F Hinote said that the service is still studying whether it can modify its FEs to an EX configuration or whether it will buy new planes from Boeing. Eventually, the Air Force will also seek a replacement for its F fleet.
Brown has previously said the Air Force will consider buying a clean-sheet design or new production Fs instead of purchasing additional Fs to replace the F But I need to do is start shaping the thought process. Valerie Insinna is Defense News' air warfare reporter. By Valerie Insinna.
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