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The Air Force's fiscal year 2018 budget request proposes a $4.5 billion increase to its Next-Generation Air Dominance program over the next five years -- potentially lending momentum to the service's lengthy effort to develop a follow-on to the F-22.
The Air Force's FY-17 budget request called for about $20 million for NGAD and projected the effort would require only $12.8 million in FY-18 and FY-19. After signaling its intentions this spring to ramp up the effort through a $147 million reprogramming request -- which Congress ultimately denied -- the service in its FY-18 budget requested $295 million for NGAD and $4.5 billion over the future years defense program. The funds, the Air Force says, will support efforts to identify and develop capabilities to help the service field improved air dominance capabilities by the early 2030s -- including technology risk reduction and integration studies.
The Air Force has been laying the groundwork for a new air dominance capability for several years, after Pentagon officials approved a requirement in 2011 for an F-22 follow-on. Last summer, as part of a renewed developmental planning and experimenation effort, the service completed a study that considered the capabilities it would need to maintain air superiority against 2030 threats.
Through that study, the service identified a need for a penetrating counter air (PCA) capability, which aligned with the investment it was making in NGAD. The study called for a PCA analysis of alternatives, which is slated for completion in the third quarter of FY-18, according to budget documents.
The AOA is considering a range of capabilities, combining concepts like an arsenal plane and manned and unmanned teaming. The service has said it is not looking for generational leaps in technology, but rather considering new ways of pairing capabilities that can be fielded rapidly.
"The Next-Generation Air Dominance acquisition strategy is based on [a] top-down, multi-domain capabilities development planning and oversight framework," FY-18 budget documents state. "Cross-functional teams will conduct war games and experiments to quantify the operational value of alternative concepts and technologies to provide solutions to current and future air superiority capability gaps."
In parallel with the AOA, the Air Force is investing in technology risk-reduction and conducting integration studies for those capabilities, FY-18 documents state. The service plans to use the bulk of FY-18 funds to "further expand the scope of concept development and integration assessments and accelerate technology risk reduction activities addressing family of systems concepts."
The service will also begin concept development and risk reduction for an "air dominance air-to-air weapon project." The documents do not detail the project, but indicate it is part of the effort to further refine NGAD concepts and technology.
Following the FY-18 ramp, the NGAD funding profile projects another steep increase in FY-19 to $507.7 million and is slated to more than double in FY-20 to $1.3 billion, according to the FY-18 request. Funding would slightly decrease to $1.2 billion in FY-21 and FY-22. The documents do not list a total cost projection for the effort.
The service expected to reach a materiel development decision for NGAD earlier this year. The budget documents do not indicate whether the service reached that milestone and a spokesman did not respond by press time.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-new...45-billion-plan-next-generation-air-dominance
The Air Force's FY-17 budget request called for about $20 million for NGAD and projected the effort would require only $12.8 million in FY-18 and FY-19. After signaling its intentions this spring to ramp up the effort through a $147 million reprogramming request -- which Congress ultimately denied -- the service in its FY-18 budget requested $295 million for NGAD and $4.5 billion over the future years defense program. The funds, the Air Force says, will support efforts to identify and develop capabilities to help the service field improved air dominance capabilities by the early 2030s -- including technology risk reduction and integration studies.
The Air Force has been laying the groundwork for a new air dominance capability for several years, after Pentagon officials approved a requirement in 2011 for an F-22 follow-on. Last summer, as part of a renewed developmental planning and experimenation effort, the service completed a study that considered the capabilities it would need to maintain air superiority against 2030 threats.
Through that study, the service identified a need for a penetrating counter air (PCA) capability, which aligned with the investment it was making in NGAD. The study called for a PCA analysis of alternatives, which is slated for completion in the third quarter of FY-18, according to budget documents.
The AOA is considering a range of capabilities, combining concepts like an arsenal plane and manned and unmanned teaming. The service has said it is not looking for generational leaps in technology, but rather considering new ways of pairing capabilities that can be fielded rapidly.
"The Next-Generation Air Dominance acquisition strategy is based on [a] top-down, multi-domain capabilities development planning and oversight framework," FY-18 budget documents state. "Cross-functional teams will conduct war games and experiments to quantify the operational value of alternative concepts and technologies to provide solutions to current and future air superiority capability gaps."
In parallel with the AOA, the Air Force is investing in technology risk-reduction and conducting integration studies for those capabilities, FY-18 documents state. The service plans to use the bulk of FY-18 funds to "further expand the scope of concept development and integration assessments and accelerate technology risk reduction activities addressing family of systems concepts."
The service will also begin concept development and risk reduction for an "air dominance air-to-air weapon project." The documents do not detail the project, but indicate it is part of the effort to further refine NGAD concepts and technology.
Following the FY-18 ramp, the NGAD funding profile projects another steep increase in FY-19 to $507.7 million and is slated to more than double in FY-20 to $1.3 billion, according to the FY-18 request. Funding would slightly decrease to $1.2 billion in FY-21 and FY-22. The documents do not list a total cost projection for the effort.
The service expected to reach a materiel development decision for NGAD earlier this year. The budget documents do not indicate whether the service reached that milestone and a spokesman did not respond by press time.
https://insidedefense.com/daily-new...45-billion-plan-next-generation-air-dominance
