US Air Force Launches Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter Selection Process
The United States Air Force launched its selection process for its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter on May 18, releasing a classified solicitation to industry for an engineering and manufacturing development contract.
The solicitation is the official start of the selection process for the Air Force’s replacement for the F-22 Raptor, establishing the requirements expected of what will likely be the world’s first “sixth-generation” fighter aircraft. In the announcement, the Air Force stated that it intends to award a contract by 2024.
“The NGAD Platform is a vital element of the Air Dominance family of systems which represents a generational leap in technology over the F-22, which it will replace,” said Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall in a statement announcing the solicitation. “NGAD will include attributes such as enhanced lethality and the ability to survive, persist, interoperate, and adapt in the air domain, all within highly contested operational environments. No one does this better than the U.S. Air Force, but we will lose that edge if we don’t move forward now.”
The Air Force says that its acquisition strategy for NGAD will “invigorate and broaden” the defense industrial base to facilitate the rapid development of innovative technologies for the program. Towards that, NGAD will use open architecture standards to maximize future competition for upgrades throughout its lifespan, with the Air Force believing that the move will “drastically reduce” maintenance and sustainment costs.
Kendall announced in June 2022 that the Air Force had entered the engineering and manufacturing development phase, but subsequently clarified that the program remained a competition. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman are the likely frontrunners for the competition, with the three contractors awarded contracts in August 2022 for the prototyping phase of the Air Force’s Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program, which aims to develop the NGAD’s engine.
The NGAD Platform will be the heart of a “system of systems”, including the likely products of the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program developing unmanned companion aircraft that will fly alongside the manned NGAD fighter. According to the Air Force, the source selection for NGAD is not connected to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.