USAF Begins Search for Follow-on Combat Aircraft for 2030s

U.S. Air Force Begins Search for Leap-Ahead Fighter (excerpt)

The U.S. Air Combat Command (ACC) will embark on an 18-month analysis of leap-ahead air superiority fighter options next January, as eight nations move forward with development of a dozen different fifth-generation combat jets aimed at narrowing the U.S.’s lead with the Lockheed Martin F-22 and F-35.

After publishing its Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan in May, the air service is now reaching for what is known as Penetrating Counter-Air (PCA), a family of weapons designed to clear the skies of enemy threats 4 years from now. PCA will not be a “sixth-gen” fighter in the traditional sense, but it will be a successor or supplement to the Boeing F-15 Eagle and F-22 Raptor.

PCA does include a new low-observable aircraft powered by an adaptive-cycle engine, armed with an internally carried successor to the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile and AGM-88-series High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile.

Col. Thomas Coglitore, chief of ACC’s ‎air superiority core function and next-generation air dominance working groups, tells Aviation Week that PCA is “the air domain piece of a family of capabilities for the future in the counter-air mission.” From about January 2017 to June 2018, his team will determine the key requirements and present a range of hardware options to senior leaders for entry into an acquisition program.

Coglitore says the current and projected capability gaps are already well-known and the range of technologies available have been identified through initiatives with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, DARPA, the Defense Science Board, Air Force Research Laboratory and various think tanks. (end of excerpt)

Click here for the full story, on the Aviation Week website.

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