{"id":1457640,"date":"2022-04-29T08:15:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1457640"},"modified":"2022-04-29T08:15:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:15:18","slug":"ngad-fighters-price-per-tail-will-be-more-than-double-that-of-the-f-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ngad-fighters-price-per-tail-will-be-more-than-double-that-of-the-f-35\/","title":{"rendered":"NGAD Fighter\u2019s Price Per Tail Will Be More Than Double That of the F-35"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fngad-fighters-price-per-tail-will-be-more-than-double-that-of-the-f-35%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1457640&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<div class=\"share-buttons for-small\">\n<p>          <span class=\"share-label\">Share Article<\/span>\n        <\/div>\n<p>The manned fighter aircraft that will form the centerpiece of the Air Force\u2019s Next Generation Air Dominance program will cost hundreds of millions of dollars per plane, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told members of Congress on April 27\u2014but the service can reduce costs in development and sustainment.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking before the House Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2023 budget request, Kendall specified that the main <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/weapons-platforms\/ngad\/\" title=\"Learn more about the NGAD\" class=\"inline-wp-link\">NGAD<\/a> fighter would cost \u201cmultiple hundreds of millions of dollars \u2026 on an individual basis,\u201d acknowledging that such a price tag \u201cis a number that\u2019s going to get your attention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By comparison, the F-22 cost roughly $135 million per tail, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2011\/12\/f-22-real-cost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">making it the most expensive fighter<\/a> the U.S. Air Force has ever developed. The F-35A, meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/breakingdefense.com\/2022\/03\/f-35-to-get-more-expensive-in-next-deal-program-exec-says\/\">costs around $80 million per jet<\/a>, but that number could rise.<\/p>\n<p>NGAD, according to Kendall\u2019s estimate, will dwarf those costs, at least when it comes to price per plane. But the sixth-generation platform will fulfill a key air dominance role, Kendall noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an expensive airplane; F-22 was an expensive airplane. It was one of my aircraft in one of my earlier positions, but it\u2019s also an incredibly effective aircraft. It\u2019s been dominant in the air for decades now. And we expect NGAD to be the same,\u201d Kendall said.<\/p>\n<p>With such a massive cost per plane, though, work will have to be done in other areas to keep the program\u2019s overall cost down.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat starts in development,\u201d Kendall said, highlighting the need to design the system so that \u201cyou can do upgrades and do maintenance very efficiently.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That need has been highlighted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/sustainment-becoming-most-profitable-part-of-f-35-for-lockheed-martin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sustainment costs and issues for the F-35<\/a>, which have become a massive cost for the program and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gao.gov\/products\/gao-21-439\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">will surpass $1.25 trillion across its service life<\/a>. Kendall, however, sounded optimistic that NGAD could avoid a similar fate, using new practices such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/air-force-creates-new-peo-for-ngad-applying-digital-century-series-idea\/\">modular design<\/a> and common interfaces.<\/p>\n<p>On top of that, the broader NGAD program will include aircraft that are \u201cmuch less expensive, autonomous, uncrewed \u2026 employing a distributed, tailorable mix of sensors, weapons, and other mission equipment,\u201d Kendall has said in the past. These unmanned teammates will be attritable, Kendall told Congress: not expendable, but cheap enough that they can be employed for more risky tasks.<\/p>\n<p>Exactly how cheap these platforms will be remains to be seen\u2014Kendall told lawmakers the Air Force does not yet have a \u201chard estimate\u201d like it does for the manned fighter.<\/p>\n<p>But considering the costs associated with the sixth-generation fighter, as well as the relatively substantial costs of the F-35 and the F-15EX, these unmanned teammates will have to be inexpensive to fulfill the Air Force\u2019s usual \u201chigh-low\u201d mix of fighters, Kendall said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need a more affordable mix for the future,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cAnd the question is, how do we get there? And that\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m introducing the idea of uncrewed combat aircraft that are much less expensive and can be attritable, \u2026 not necessarily expendable\u2014they\u2019re not munitions\u2014but they can be used at a higher rate and help populate our force structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Such a system is still a ways down the road, however. In the meantime, Kendall said, the Air Force remains committed to Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.\u2019s vision of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/csaf-f-22-not-in-usafs-long-term-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201c4+1\u201d fighter fleet<\/a> comprising the F-35, F-15EX, F-16, F-22 until NGAD is fielded, and the A-10.<\/p>\n<h4>Powering NGAD<\/h4>\n<p>In addition to the broader NGAD fighter, Kendall also shed some light on the program still in development that is likely to power the jet\u2014the Advanced Engine Transition Program. Next-generation engines being developed as part of AETP are cutting edge, providing more range, greater acceleration, and increased cooling capability.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Those engines have proven intriguing enough that there has been interest in Congress in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/congress-wants-aetp-engines-to-be-installed-in-all-f-35as-starting-in-2027\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">installing<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/congress-wants-aetp-engines-to-be-installed-in-all-f-35as-starting-in-2027\/\"> them on F-35s before the end of the decade<\/a>, and the 2023 budget request from the Air Force devotes roughly $273 million to AETP. This led to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realcleardefense.com\/articles\/2022\/04\/20\/funding_a_second_f-35_engine_makes_no_sense_827998.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">questions from lawmakers<\/a> concerned that the Air Force was creating a second F-35 engine program.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a second F-35 engine. It\u2019s a completely new and much-improved F-35 engine, potentially,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cIt\u2019s a technology that was in very early stages of development when I first saw it in 2010, that has matured fairly well. It offers the opportunity for, on the order of 20-25 percent cost savings or mission-range improvements. So it\u2019s a substantial improvement and would be a replacement for the current engine, not a second one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, like NGAD, the cost of AETP is likely to be high, Kendall hinted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a [more than] $6 billion development cost associated with getting that engine completely developed and into production,\u201d Kendall said. \u201cSo we\u2019re looking at that. We\u2019re funding the development this year, the next increment, but it\u2019s going to have to compete in our budget for those resources going forward. But it would be a substantial improvement over the current capability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And like NGAD, observers shouldn\u2019t expect AETP to be fielded in the immediate future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re a few years away from having a fully developed engine. There\u2019s a substantial development program ahead of us,\u201d Kendall said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share Article The manned fighter aircraft that will form the centerpiece of the Air Force\u2019s Next Generation Air Dominance program will cost hundreds of millions of dollars per<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"featured_media":1898274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/www.airforcemag.com\/ngad-price-per-tail-will-more-than-double-that-of-f-35\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1898274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}