Sixth-generation fighter at F-35 costs? ‘That’s not going to happen,’ industry predicts.

By Free Republic | Created at 2024-09-23 15:19:29 | Updated at 2024-09-30 13:21:27 6 days ago

Sixth-generation fighter at F-35 costs? ‘That’s not going to happen,’ industry predicts.
Breaking Defense ^ | September 20, 2024 at 1:08 PM | Valerie Insinna

Posted on 09/23/2024 7:49:58 AM PDT by Fish Speaker

AFA 2024 — As the US Air Force reassesses its plans for a sixth-generation fighter jet, its top civilian said the service wants to get the price per plane down to F-35 levels, about a third of what it originally projected it would pay.

The problem, analysts and defense industry officials told Breaking Defense, is that it may not be realistic or even possible without a complete reimagining of how fighters and drones will fight together in the future.

While the Air Force has yet to set a final unit cost target for a manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said the F-35 represents the “upper bounds” of what the service wants to pay per aircraft, adding that the F-15EX is “roughly” in the same price category.

“I’d like to go lower, though,” he told reporters this week at the Air and Space Force Association’s air space and cyber conference. “Once you start integrating CCAs [Combat Collaborative Aircraft] and transferring some mission equipment and capabilities functions to the CCAs, then you can talk about a different concept, potentially, for the crewed fighter that’s controlling them. So there’s a real range in there.”

For those in industry, Kendall’s comments represent a major break from the Air Force’s original vision for a manned NGAD fighter.

“That’s not going to happen,” one defense industry official told Breaking Defense, adding that there are “distinct differences” in design parameters, materials and fleet sizes that drive higher costs for a sixth-generation fighter versus older, more prolific jets like the F-35 and F-15.

(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...

TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: f15ex; f35; ngad

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This is another example of how the industrial complex has captured the military and is trying to dictate how much the US government will pay for what it wants.

1 posted on 09/23/2024 7:49:58 AM PDT by Fish Speaker

To: Fish Speaker

Sure, just give the contract to Boeing.

2 posted on 09/23/2024 7:52:32 AM PDT by P8riot (You will never know Jesus Christ as a reality in your life until you know Him as a necessity.)

To: Fish Speaker

You can buy thousands of drones for the cost of one fighter.

3 posted on 09/23/2024 7:57:12 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)

To: Fish Speaker

The price Lockheed was trying to hit us for the F-35A was about 110 million a copy.

Trump negotiated a price of $80 million a shipset once full rate production was finally established, which was not that far from the price of a new F-16.

If the new 6th gen fighter is a single engine it should come in around 95 million.

Why?

Because we have already made all of the hard and expensive R&D investments in the key technology building blocks in the F-35 program. .

4 posted on 09/23/2024 8:04:52 AM PDT by rdcbn1

To: rdcbn1

5 posted on 09/23/2024 8:14:24 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)

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