Posted on 09/23/2024 7:49:58 AM PDT by Fish Speaker
AFA 2024 — As the US Air Force reassesses its plans for a sixth-generation fighter jet, its top civilian said the service wants to get the price per plane down to F-35 levels, about a third of what it originally projected it would pay.
The problem, analysts and defense industry officials told Breaking Defense, is that it may not be realistic or even possible without a complete reimagining of how fighters and drones will fight together in the future.
While the Air Force has yet to set a final unit cost target for a manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the F-35 represents the “upper bounds” of what the service wants to pay per aircraft, adding that the F-15EX is “roughly” in the same price category.
“I’d like to go lower, though,” he told reporters this week at the Air and Space Force Association’s air space and cyber conference. “Once you start integrating CCAs [Combat Collaborative Aircraft] and transferring some mission equipment and capabilities functions to the CCAs, then you can talk about a different concept, potentially, for the crewed fighter that’s controlling them. So there’s a real range in there.”
For those in industry, Kendall’s comments represent a major break from the Air Force’s original vision for a manned NGAD fighter.
“That’s not going to happen,” one defense industry official told Breaking Defense, adding that there are “distinct differences” in design parameters, materials and fleet sizes that drive higher costs for a sixth-generation fighter versus older, more prolific jets like the F-35 and F-15.
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...
Sure, just give the contract to Boeing.
You can buy thousands of drones for the cost of one fighter.
Trump negotiated a price of $80 million a shipset once full rate production was finally established, which was not that far from the price of a new F-16.
If the new 6th gen fighter is a single engine it should come in around 95 million.
Why?
Because we have already made all of the hard and expensive R&D investments in the key technology building blocks in the F-35 program. .
Much like Kipling, some short stories are too good to be forgotten.
F-22
That was a cool book - and all too true.
“As the US Air Force reassesses its plans for a sixth-generation fighter jet, its top civilian said the service wants to get the price per plane down to F-35 levels, about a third of what it originally projected it would pay”
Hey, no problemo ... Just take all the money slated to continue to make all of America woke and viola, problem solved.
I do not think they are even trying to produce the best product anymore. They are this greedy and corrupt.
Anduril is going to produce hundreds of AI-piloted mini-jets for a fraction of the cost.
Those “retired generals” are expecting a big payday when they move over to the “private sector.”
Only if it is pilotless. No more McCains.
From mid-82 through 83, I worked at what was then known as the Air Defense Board. One thing I recall are the pictures of previous CO's at the Board. Upon retirement, the previous 6 "Presidents of the Board" landed jobs at Raytheon.
They'd all come out to "monitor" current testing activities, it was more like a HS reunion.
I enjoyed my time there, in the first job where I had implied power from day one. I was assigned as the Operations Officer by the current President. He was my Battalion Commander my last two years in Germany, I was primarily his S-4. It didn't take long for me to prove my competence to the personnel working there.
More importantly, I met my future bride when she started working in my section.
Drone warfare is the next level of combat, it's amazing to me that the Pentagon hasn't figured that out yet.
Bkmk
Maybe Elon can deliver a radical plane for less money, just like he did with the Falcon 9 booster/Dragon capsule combo for NASA. As long as it’s not an electric plane lol
Have the Russians build it. It will be reliable and cheap.
“Cheap, for sure. Reliable? Reliably unreliable.”
Like the Space Shuttle? Good point.
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