{"id":61100,"date":"2019-11-18T20:48:15","date_gmt":"2019-11-18T20:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/18\/the-us-air-force-is-in-no-hurry-to-commit-to-a-next-gen-fighter-design\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:18:19","slug":"the-us-air-force-is-in-no-hurry-to-commit-to-a-next-gen-fighter-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2019\/11\/18\/the-us-air-force-is-in-no-hurry-to-commit-to-a-next-gen-fighter-design\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Air Force is in no hurry to commit to a next-gen fighter design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BERLIN \u2014 The U.S. Air Force is taking its time to settle on a next-generation fighter design, awaiting instead lessons learned from the F-35 jet and playing the field with promising technologies, according to a senior service official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Options being kicked around are still in the conceptual stage, as America\u2019s newest fighter, the fifth-generation F-35, is only now \u201ccoming off the line,\u201d according to Lt. Gen. David Nahom, the Air Force\u2019s deputy chief of staff for plans and programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not in a hurry,\u201d Nahom told Defense News on the sidelines of the International Fighter Conference, an air power-themed confab of industry and government officials held in Berlin, Germany. He noted that expected deliveries of the F-35 and the relatively young age of the F-22 fleet enables the service to be picky about moving forward with the envisioned Next Generation Air Dominance weapon<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, the Air Force wants to keep its options open for as long as possible for a weapon whose combat punch will lie not in a single aircraft but rather in the amalgamation of hardware and software, an airborne concerto of data clouds, artificial intelligence, and boundless interconnectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don’t want to get too stuck into a platform,\u201d Nahom said. \u201cIt’s a very different way to approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, the service plans to lay the groundwork for boosting the domain of information and data \u2014 organizing it, analyzing it, sharing it \u2014 as a key element for future aerial warfare. To that end, officials will include a \u201csignificant investment in the digital backbone\u201d in the next budget request, Nahom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Air Force studies its options, service analysts have shied away from the term \u201csixth-generation\u201d aircraft as a successor to the F-35 because it\u2019s unclear what breakthrough technology will be created next. \u201cWhat are the characteristics of sixth-generation? I don\u2019t know,\u201d Nahom said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStealth is important,\u201d he added, referring to one of the advertised features of the F-35. \u201cBut speed is important, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t