The Boeing plane has a mission computer that can run third-party software and apps, allowing for easy updates. Air Force officials have gushed about the T-7A, which beat out two other planes, the Lockheed Martin T-50 and Leonardo T-100, that were already being used by foreign air forces. The Chicago-based aerospace giant already knows a lot about digital engineering, having partnered with Sweden’s Saab to design and build their T-7A training jet in less than a year, near-lightspeed by U.S. Here’s the case for why each of the following companies could have built the new NGAD fighter. The plane's engine, Callan wrote, was built by either GE or Raytheon Technologies' Pratt & Whitney. "Textron’s Scorpion program had recently proven that in one year’s time, it could take a new clean sheet design to flight, but we doubt it’s been able to elevate this skill to combat aircraft." "The obvious candidates for the NGAD prototype are Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, though General Atomics might be a possible designer-but that’s a long-shot," Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, wrote in a Tuesday note to clients.
He instead said that he disclosed the plane’s existence, in part, to encourage companies to invest more in digital engineering. Roper wouldn’t say whether the NGAD and AII projects are linked, but they sound quite similar. Pentagon: We’re Buying Boeing F-15s to Keep 2 Fighter Makers in BusinessĪmerica's Last Fighter Jet Makers Scramble to Keep Production Alive Now It’s Dropping Out.Īmerica's Fighter Jet Makers Are Thriving, Thanks to Trump and Putin Northrop Scratch-Built a Jet to Bid on an Air Force Contract. Revealed: US Air Force Has Secretly Built and Flown a New Fighter Jet “The intent is to develop prototypes for the next generation of air-dominance platforms - X-plane programs, if you will," Kendall said.ĭubbed the Aerospace Innovation Initiative, the project aimed to “develop the technologies and address the risks associated with the air dominance platforms that will follow the F-35, as well as other advanced aeronautical challenges.” In January 2015, Frank Kendall, then defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, told the House Armed Services Committee about a DARPA-led project that was developing new planes and engine technology for the Air Force and Navy. So let’s look at some clues, starting with a likely predecessor to the Next Generation Air Dominance project that produced the new demonstrator.
Will Roper, the head of Air Force acquisition, declined to say much about the new plane, other than it has actually flown, that some of the plane’s systems have been flight-tested, and that it was designed and built using digital engineering. Air Force fighter-jet demonstrator revealed this week is: who built it? Among the big questions surrounding the secret U.S.
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