The most likely scenario here is that a highly modular design will offer ‘two fighters out of one.’ This can be made possible by using different wings and a common center fuselage, possibly with the ability to insert a plug to extend its size, for example. It seems unlikely that the Air Force would opt for a ‘low-end’ version of NGAD with reduced sensors and/or stealth, but that’s a possibility, too. Designed using modern techniques with an absolute focus on modularity could impact this issue positively, though, and the aircraft’s subsystems would likely be identical, reducing risk and increasing commonality. Although it would be hoped that the two designs would share a high degree of commonality, experience with the F-35 shows this is not always the case. Furthermore, having two distinct versions of NGAD would have considerable logistical and sustainment implications, good and bad. If the ‘European’ NGAD was notably smaller, that could make it cheaper to buy and operate, but that would also entail two distinct production versions, with potentially different support infrastructure and a knock-on effect on concepts of deployment and operation. The pros and cons of this approach are interesting to contemplate. The NGAD will have to do better than this.Īs for retired General Holmes, he reportedly brought up the idea that the Air Force might consider fielding two distinct versions of the NGAD fighter component, one optimized for long-range/heavy-payload missions of the kind that would likely be required in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as one with shorter range sufficient for the European theater of operations.
#New fighter jet games plus
Using internal carriage to reduce its radar signature, the F-22 typically carries six AIM-120 AMRAAMs, or two AMRAAMs and two 1,000-pound GBU-32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), or two AMRAAMs and eight Small Diameter Bombs (SDB), plus a pair of short-range Sidewinder missiles in its side bays. While this sounds like a reference to expanded internal weapons carriage perhaps aided by using smaller munitions, there has also been much talk in the past about using loyal wingman drones to expand the number of weapons available to the NGAD’s pilot. So it’s not surprising the NGAD is supposed to offer substantially longer range than the F-22.Īt the same time, Brown confirmed that he wants the NGAD fighter component to carry an increased weapons load compared to the F-22. Fighting against a peer adversary like China with existing fighter aircraft would make their supporting tanker aircraft especially vulnerable, an issue the USAF is acknowledging itself and one we explored in-depth years ago. For its part, the F-35 stealth fighter, too, suffers from a widely reported lack of range for these kinds of conflicts, although it has longer range than many of its counterparts. The Raptor is currently hamstrung by its combat radius, limiting its potential value in a conflict against China, or other contingencies in the Indo-Pacific region. However, and as The War Zone has explored in the past, the Air Force wants its F-22 successor to offer specific advantages over the current jet, in particular, longer range. The ability to fight its way into contested airspace through an anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) umbrella is also something that will be required of the NGAD, so it makes sense that the aircraft would be able to engage targets both in the air and on the ground, where suppressing and destroying advanced surface-to-air missiles would be of particular importance. Indeed, so far, the Raptor has only ever used its weapons in combat during strikes on ground targets in the Middle East. That sounds, in fact, not unlike the F-22’s current mission spectrum which, although biased toward high-end air superiority, also includes attacking ground targets with precision-guided munitions. However, the Air Force boss also wants the fighter to have some “multirole” functions, specifically, the ability to attack targets on the ground, “to ensure, one, that it can survive, but also to provide options for our air component commanders and for the Joint Force.” This fits in with its broad brief to ultimately replace the Air Force’s relatively small fleet of F-22A Raptor stealth fighters, which are now being slated for retirement in the coming decade. General Brown described the NGAD, or at least, the central fighter component within what’s expected to be a ‘system of systems,’ as an aircraft with a primary air dominance mission.
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