Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the military service predicts its next manned fighter platform and associated systems to be ready by the end of the decade, The Drive reported Wednesday.
Kendall, a three-time Wash100 Award winner, told an audience at a recent Heritage Foundation event that engineering and manufacturing development efforts are underway for the Next Generation Air Dominance project.
He envisioned a capability to facilitate an “operational formation” of a piloted combat aircraft and up to five uncrewed aerial vehicles that are controlled by a human.
The report cited Boeing (NYSE: BA), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) as possible candidates to build the NGAD program’s manned segment.
Kendall noted that the service kicked off the project in 2015 with an X-plane prototyping effort.
Defense News reported the Air Force’s $1.7 billion budget request for the highly classified program includes $133 million to fund research, development, test and evaluation work in fiscal 2023.
Kendall is scheduled to deliver the keynote address to the Potomac Officers Club’s 2022 Air Force Summit on July 26. Visit the POC Events page to learn more about the upcoming in-person event.
