Next Generation Air Dominance program

The future fighter of the US Air Force NGAD will cost "several hundred million dollars" the unit

Launched in the early 2010s as the last F-22 rolled off the production lines, the Next Generation Air Dominance program aimed to design and produce the replacement for Lockheed Martin's air superiority fighter by 2030. From 2018, under At the instigation of the very dynamic Will Roper, then Director of Acquisitions for the USAF, the program evolved to become the pillar of a new industrial approach to the design and production of combat aircraft, represented by the famous Digital Century Series, which promised to design specialized devices, inexpensive, in short series and with a relatively short operational life, taking the…

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For its leaders, the US Air Force must move quickly or lose to China

September 21, 2021September 21, 2021

If anyone still had doubts, the United States and its armies are actively preparing for a possible confrontation, and only one, against China. And to do so, the US Air Force will not only have to mobilize all its resources, but also quickly evolve, otherwise it may well not be able to give US and allied forces the essential advantage to stand up to the armed forces. from Beijing. At least that's what several of the world's premier air force leaders said, with remarkable synchronicity, at the annual Air Force Association's Air, Space &…

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Former NGAD Program Architect Will Roper Joins Tempest Program

September 14, 2021September 17, 2021

The 3 years during which Doctor Will Roper directed the acquisitions and R&D of the US Air Force, from February 2018 to January 2021, were marked by a dynamism forgotten for several decades by the American forces, both in the very design of the new combat aircraft than in piloting the programs themselves. Architect of the "Digital Century Series" which today oversees USAF programs, including the very promising Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD, which should give birth to the replacement for the F-22 Raptor before 2030, and which could well produce a replacement for the F-16 in the process...

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The US Air Force sharpens its strategy to reduce the number of F-35As it will buy

September 8, 2021September 8, 2021

For nearly 15 years, the US Air Force had only one answer to all questions about its fighter fleet, the F-35A. Decked out with quasi-mystical abilities of stealth and combat power, the aircraft had to meet all the challenges they could face in the next 30 years. But since the first pranks of Will Roper, then Director of Developments and Acquisitions of the US Air Force on this program in 2018, until the most recent declarations of General Brown, Chief of Staff of the USAF, and the General Kelly, who commands the American fighter, the reserves of the first air force in the world...

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The new US Air Force strategy calls for a 15-year lifecycle for its fighters

July 9, 2021July 9, 2021

While directing the acquisitions and developments of the US Air Force under the Trump Administration, Doctor Will Roper personified a dynamic of radical change in the piloting of the USAF's industrial programs, but also in its very design. of the life cycle of combat aircraft. Presented under the name of “Digital Century Series“, this paradigm was based on the intensive use of modeling and numerical tests, on an Agile design approach, and on the use of an open architecture allowing a great flexibility in the modular design of the whole. Several recent programs have implemented this doctrine, referred to as…

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The US Air Force wants to design the NGAD program as a family of fighter jets

June 22, 2021June 22, 2021

Since the beginning of the 70s and the arrival of the first digital systems on board combat aircraft, very few development programs have focused on developing, not one device, but a family of devices linked by the same technological base. , as was the case with the Mirage III family or the F4 Phantom II. At best, some specialized versions appeared, such as the EA18G Growler derived from the F/A 18 F Super Hornet for electronic warfare, or the F15E Strike Eagle derived from the F15C Eagle for assault. The only family of combat aircraft having truly succeeded in winning these 50…

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NATO calls for a rapprochement of the SCAF, Tempest and NGAD programs

June 14, 2021June 20, 2021

No, it is not a question of merging the 3 programs! (this should cut short many comments from people who have only read the title). That being said… On the occasion of a conference organized by The Atlantic Council, an American organization whose aim is to promote the effectiveness of NATO and the transatlantic link, General Tod Wolters, the current Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, or SACEUR, has come out in favor of bringing together the 3 so-called 6th generation combat air system programs currently in development, namely the US Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance or NGAD, the Future Combat Air...

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The US Air Force's future NGAD fighter program will be the antithesis of the F35 (2/2)

May 20thMay 20th

This article follows the article "The future NGAD fighter program of the US Air Force will be the antithesis of the F35 (1/2)" published on May 18, 2021. During his hearing before the American Congress on the sidelines of the preparation of the annual Defense budget for 2022, the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force, General Brown, presented the future format of American fighters for 2030. This is based on "4 aircraft +1 “, namely the F15EX Eagle II, the F16 Viper, the F35A Lighting II and the A10 Thunderbolt 2. The F22, pillar of American air superiority for 15 years, no longer appears in…

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The program of the future NGAD fighter of the US Air Force will be the antithesis of the F35 (1/2)

May 18thMay 18th

For a little over 3 years, the program initially intended to design the air superiority fighter to replace the F22, the Next Generation Air Dominance or NGAD, has been profoundly transformed, breaking with decades of industrial and operational paradigms that have put the versatile and scalable mass-produced aircraft at the heart of Western industrial effort. Indeed, since the end of the 70s, and the advent of so-called 4th generation devices, such as the F15, the F16 or the Mirage 2000, the increasing integration of on-board electronics has made it possible to design devices capable of fulfilling many missions, sometimes simultaneously. The dogma of the specialized device,…

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The US can defeat China, but with weapons that don't exist

April 12thApril 12th

Countering an offensive against Taiwan is today one of, if not the main concern of the American armed forces. Unfortunately, the very many wargames carried out in recent years on this subject are hardly encouraging, the US armies being regularly pushed back and the independent island falling into the hands of Beijing in the majority of cases. Many options and innovations are now being tested in an attempt to meet this challenge, with, for example, smaller, highly mobile and better coordinated units as recommended by the new doctrines of the Marines and the US Army, the call for ships robots and drones for the US Navy, and…

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