{"id":45482,"date":"2019-09-16T10:00:56","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/09\/16\/the-us-air-forces-radical-plan-for-a-future-fighter-could-field-a-jet-in-5-years\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:10:11","slug":"the-us-air-forces-radical-plan-for-a-future-fighter-could-field-a-jet-in-5-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2019\/09\/16\/the-us-air-forces-radical-plan-for-a-future-fighter-could-field-a-jet-in-5-years\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Air Force\u2019s radical plan for a future fighter could field a jet in 5 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Air Force is preparing to radically alter <\/a>the acquisition strategy for its next generation of fighter jets, with a new plan that could require industry to design, develop and produce a new fighter in five years or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Oct. 1, the service will officially reshape its next-generation fighter program, known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD<\/a>, Will Roper, the Air Force\u2019s acquisition executive, said during an exclusive interview with Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under a new office headed by a yet-unnamed program manager, the NGAD program will adopt a rapid approach to developing small batches of fighters with multiple companies, much like the Century Series of aircraft built in the 1950s, Roper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBased on what industry thinks they can do and what my team will tell me, we will need to set a cadence of how fast we think we build a new airplane from scratch. Right now, my estimate is five years. I may be wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m hoping we can get faster than that \u2014 I think that will be insufficient in the long term [to meet future threats] \u2014 but five years is so much better than where we are now with normal acquisition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t