Air Force Putting Software First for Next-Gen Air Dominance

Air Force Putting Software First for Next-Gen Air Dominance

The Air Force already determined that the replacement for the F-22 Raptor will not be a single plane, but a portfolio of next-generation capabilities to face warfare in a contested environment.

Now, Pentagon leaders say to reach air dominance by the end of the decade, the service needs to shift focus from the hardware to developing software.

The Next-Generation Air Dominance program — known as NGAD — centers around building a new sixth-generation fighter aircraft with an unknown number of manned and unmanned systems among its ranks.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall recently announced the fighter — which would be similar to the F-22 or F-15EX — has moved into the development phase.

But the manned fighter may not be the linchpin for air dominance, according to a new report published by the Hudson Institute. Without uncrewed systems and sensors for situational awareness, a manned fighter “would be unlikely to deliver more than an incrementally improved version of today’s fighters,” the report posited.