ready to manufacture and we have the
manufacturing skills to do it, and what
could we produce in ve years or 10 years
instead of 30 years?’
Boeing, Northrop and Lockheed
Martin have all started releasing artist’s
impressions of conceptual sixth-gen’
ghters, none of which are based on
previous aircraft. Rob Weiss, head of
Lockheed Martin’s ‘Skunk Works’ advanced
projects division, recently told reporters
that the company has looked at NGAD
for many years and predictably concludes
that increasing the number of fth-gen’
ghters represents the best solution for
the US military right now. He adds that
upgraded F-22s and F-35s will be the
best way for the US to stay ahead in the
global air dominance race and that the
sixth-gen’ ghter is probably much further
out, but that it needs to be something
‘very di erent’, making use of advanced
propulsion and sensors, and probably
not in service for another 30 or 40 years,
with the programme not even getting
launched for another decade or so.
As something of a visionary when it
comes to ghter requirements, Col ChrisNiemi o ers an opinion on the future.
‘I believe the USAF needs to address
the capacity problem in our ghter
eets. The average age of our ghters is
approaching 30 years old, nearly three
times historical norms. We need to nd
a way to recapitalise more e ectively – if
we don’t nd ways to buy more airplanes,
the USAF’s ghter eet will get much
smaller through attrition, regardless
whether we want it to or not. The F-35
will be a big part of addressing that
problem, but I’m also encouraged by
other initiatives like the Light Attack
experiment.’
Looking to the future and a possible
Raptor successor, he adds: ‘The key will
be to resist the temptation to make
overly optimistic assumptions. Every
major weapons system programme to
date has over-promised on capability,
timeline, and cost, and that’s a signi cant
driver behind the problems we’re
experiencing today with an ageing
ghter eet. We need to do better by
more realistically planning our e orts
to recapitalise and eld new weapons
systems.’The Raptor’s all-aspect low observability
means it can operate in contested areas
and strike as and when required. Of
particular note is the F-22’s ability to deal
with ‘double-digit SAMs’ — parlance for
the latest generation of Russian-designed
surface-to-air missiles.
Despite the advent of the F-35, the
USAF is already looking to the future and
the sixth-generation Penetrating Counter
Air, or Next Generation Air Dominance
(NGAD) project. Lt Gen James Holmes, the
boss of Air Combat Command, previously
dismissed any talk of directly restarting
production of the F-22 Raptor to meet
future ghter requirements. Although
some have argued that a Raptor with
F-35 avionics injected might be a suitable,
more cost-e ective, solution.
‘Because we want to do it faster
and don’t want to do another 20-year
development programme for a whole
host of reasons, we’ll try and go with
technologies that are at a high readiness
level now’, Gen Holmes said. Many view
the F-22 as just about as good as a ghter
design can get, with a few compromises.
Arguably, the thrust vectoring was above
and beyond what was needed as it brings
weight penalties, engineering challenges
and probably a few stealthy trade-o s.
The Raptor pilots still don’t have a helmet-
mounted sight, and like the F-35, the
rear-hemisphere visibility for the pilot
is limited.
Holmes added: ‘[Fighters] cost too
much, they take too long, they make you
drive for technology that’s so far into the
future that it’s really hard to achieve and
by the time you spend 30 years achieving
it, it may not be exactly what you want.
We’re trying to move to a world where
we go forward with new airplanes that
take advantage of technology that’sRight inset: The
F119 engines
are universally
praised for
being extremely
reliable and
robust. Here,
maintainers
prepare to swap
out an engine.
USAF/A1C Crystal
A. Jenkins
Below: 1st FW
F-22As on the
End of Runway
(EOR) last chance
check area at
Nellis AFB.
Jamie Hunter9894-98 Latest test C.indd 98 28/09/2017 15:38