Air Force may be further along in developing a next-generation stealth jet fighter than many have speculated

Nov. 5, 2020
While the Navy and Air Force collaborated on F-35 development, such cooperation between the two services is unlikely; each has its own NGAD office.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Congressional Research Service released a report last month on the U.S. Air Force’s Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The National Interest reports. Continue reading original article

The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:

5 Nov. 2020 -- It wasn’t expected that the project would yield actual hardware in the near future as it was unusually fast to design and build a new military aircraft from the ground up.

The NGAD could be more lethal than current jet fighter aircraft, possibly armed not only with the usual long-range air-to-air missiles, but also an air-to-air laser weapon powered by the engine for use against enemy aircraft and missiles.

Details about what the NGAD actually has to offer have remained sparse, but it has been speculated that the future fighter of the Air Force would feature anti-radar stealth. Another possibility could be optical stealth or some other ability to make the aircraft invisible to the human eye.

Related: Lockheed Martin starts building 63 new F-35A combat aircraft and avionics in contracts worth $1.16 billion

Related: Top enabling technologies for the warfighter in the 2020s

Related: The new era of high-power electromagnetic weapons

John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics

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