200 NGAD Fighters, 1,000 Advanced Drones In USAF's Future Plans
200 next-gen 'fighters' paired with 300 F-35s and 1,000 advanced drones will underpin the USAF's future tactical air combat strategy.
www.thedrive.com
www.thedrive.com
DARPA moves General Atomics’ ‘LongShot’ drone pitch to phase 2 - Breaking Defense
DARPA envisions a plane launching a drone, which in turn can launch its own weapons.
This is quite a surprising revelation. And they are still in maintained storage.
www.sandboxx.us
F-117 Stealth Fighter? The truth about air-to-air combat in the Nighthawk - Sandboxx
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, often referred to as the "stealth fighter," was the world's first operational stealth aircraft, born out of a program so secretive that the plane itself was flying combat missions for seven entire years before it was formally unveiled to the public. Because of the...
www.sandboxx.us
They are also going to retire A-10s in the next 5-6 years. So looks like in future they will consist of:
1. NGAD(F-22 replacement)
2. F-35
3. F-16
4. F-15EX
Just 4 types.
1. NGAD(F-22 replacement)
2. F-35
3. F-16
4. F-15EX
Just 4 types.
Pentagon chooses Australian firm to build hypersonic test aircraft
The aircraft, which will support efforts to increase the cadence of hypersonic flight testing, is scheduled to fly for the first time in early 2024.
www.c4isrnet.com
This Is What USAF's Future E-7 Radar Jet Is Actually Capable Of
The E-7A Wedgetail is now set to replace the Air Force's aging E-3 Sentry AWACS and we got a very in-depth look at its capabilities.
www.thedrive.com
F-16s arebeing replaced with F-35s. F-18E/Fs (SHs) will remain until F/A-XX/NGAD. So:
1. NGAD / F-22
2. F-35
3. F-18SH / F/A-XX
4. F-15EX
Northrop Grumman to Produce MESA for The U.S. Air Force E-7
BALTIMORE – March 20, 2023 – Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will enter into production of the Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) sensor for the U.S. Air Force E-7...
The Weekly Debrief: Will The B-21 Reach First Flight Faster Than Stealth Peers? No. | Aviation Week Network
U.S. Air Force officials have not backed off predictions of a first flight coming later this year, but certain conditions and a note of doubt have creeped in.
aviationweek.com
Report Advocates for Air Force to Buy at Least 20 B-21s Per Year
Report Advocates for Air Force to Buy at Least 20 B-21s Per Year
5. SR-72?
Go big: Air Force should double B-21 Raider buy, think tank says - Breaking Defense
A new report by the Mitchell Institute argues that the Air Force should procure 225 or more of the next-gen stealth bombers to effectively deter adversaries and shore up more cost-effective long-range strike capabilities.
Understanding the B-21 Raider: America’s Deterrence Bomber - Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies
oday’s U.S. bomber force falls short of having the penetrating strike capacity needed to meet the objectives of the 2022 National Defense Strategy. Thirty years of successive inventory cuts and a failure to modernize the fleet have left the U.S. bomber force as primarily a stand-off force that...
mitchellaerospacepower.org
Here is a direct link to the Mitchell Institute report.
understanding the B-21
The Air Force Is Rebuilding Its Pacific Plans Around the B-21
A “daily flyer” bomber that’s also an intel-and-communications hub will make the entire service less vulnerable in a potential war with China, officials say.
www.defenseone.com
DARPA Developing X-Plane for Special Operators
DARPA Developing X-Plane for Special Operators
(opex360, mar.29) The US Air Force is considering abandoning the AGM-183A hypersonic weapon after an unsuccessful [mixed results] test
Developed by Lockheed-Martin, the AGM-183A hypersonic weapon [or ARRW for Air Launched Rapid Response Weapon] consists of a propellant that, when launched by a B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber, should enable a manoeuvring glider known as a TBG [for Tactical Boost Glide] to reach a speed of over Mach 5.
However, the AGM-183A failed several times in its early testing, either because the launch sequence from a B-52H Stratofortress strategic bomber had to be aborted or because the booster failed to ignite. This gave it bad press in Congress, to the point where Congress threatened to halt its development. However, the programme was put back on track... to the point of ending 2022 on a high note, with the successful testing of an 'operational' version of this hypersonic weapon.
However, on 13 March, a new test of an operational AGM-183A produced mixed results. Firstly, the US Air Force assured that "several" of the objectives had been achieved. This means that not all of them were achieved. Did they want to minimise the consequences, knowing that another failure would be fatal to the programme?
However, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall admitted that the last AGM-183A test had "not been a success" because "we didn't get the data we needed". And while he did not rule out further testing - the US Air Force still has two examples to launch - he said the priority would now be on the HACM [Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile], a programme to develop a hypersonic cruise missile.
"We are more committed to the HACM at the moment than to the ARRW," Mr Kendall told a parliamentary hearing. Especially since the programme has been "successful" and the missile that comes out of it will be "compatible" with more US Air Force aircraft. "It will give us more combat capability overall," Mr Kendall argued.
Launched by DARPA [the Pentagon's innovation agency] and the Air Force Resarche Laboratory [AFRL], the HACM is based on a hypervelocity missile powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet. It is the continuation of the "HAWC" project [for Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept], for which the Lockheed-Martin/Aerojet Rocketdyne and Raytheon/Northrop Grumman tandems each proposed a solution. The latter was selected by the Pentagon.
As for the AGM-183A, its future will depend on the analysis of its last test... and the results of the launch of the two examples owned by the US Air Force. A decision will be taken in 2025. But in the meantime, budget documents suggest that its fate is all but sealed, as the funds allocated to its development have been practically divided by three in 2023 [$115 million compared to $308 million for the previous year]... while those for the HACM have increased again, to $423 million. Moreover, the Pentagon intends to spend 1.5 billion dollars on it between 2025 and 2028. /deepl
Navy Carrier-Based Drones Will Be Able To Be Controlled By The Air Force
The future carrier air wings will be 60% unmanned and there is now "unbelievable cooperation" with the Air Force on making that happen.
www.thedrive.com
US Air Force asks for 72 fighters in 2024, and it might happen again
Top Air Force leaders have said for years that it needs to buy at least 72 new fighters each year to both modernize its fighter fleet and lower its age.
www.defensenews.com
