On Wednesday (April 27), the U.S. House Armed Services Committee held a "Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Requirements" hearing, which U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall was invited to attend.
U.S. Secretary of the Air Force Kendall
At the hearing, Kendall specifically referred to the U.S. Air Force's Next Generation Air Superiority Fighter Program (NGAD). While details about the development of the next-generation air-superiority fighter remain one of the air force's top secrets, Kendall doesn't mind revealing the cost of developing the fighter to the outside world.
Kendall said: "This will be the most expensive fighter jet in U.S. history, and a single one could cost hundreds of millions of dollars."
At present, the most expensive fighter is the U.S. Air Force F-22, which costs about $135 million per aircraft, while the F-35 series, also a fifth-generation stealth fighter, costs an average of about $90 million per unit of the three models. While Kendall did not specify the specific price of the next-generation Air Superiority fighter, he also said it would be more than twice the cost of the F-35 unit.
Schematic of the U.S. Air Force's next-generation air superiority fighter
Because the weapons and equipment are too advanced, the US military often needs to spend huge sums of money to maintain it. Take the F-35 fighter, for example, which the United States will need to invest about $1.25 trillion in maintenance costs throughout its lifetime. Given the problem, Kendall bluntly said: Despite the current high unit cost estimates for the next generation of air-superiority fighters, the Air Force will find ways to reduce manufacturing and maintenance costs.
For how to reduce costs? Kendall mentioned two approaches: first, to use modular design as much as possible on the aircraft; second, to create a competitive environment around the R&D program.
F-22 fighter
It is worth mentioning that in the USAF's plan, the next generation of air-superiority fighters is not a stand-alone one, but needs to be equipped with unmanned wingmans with strong automation capabilities - this can not only improve the combat effectiveness of the next generation of air-superiority fighters, but also further improve the strike range.
As for the unit price of automating unmanned wingman? Kendall's hope is "not to exceed half the cost of the next generation of air superiority fighter units." However, considering that the unit cost of the next generation of air-superiority fighters will be hundreds of millions of dollars, the cost of automated unmanned wingmanships may be comparable to that of the F-35.
The U.S. Air Force is placing increasing emphasis on unmanned wingmanships
While the Air Force is tight-lipped about the specifics of the next-generation air superiority fighter at this stage, Kendall also said the air force hopes that such aircraft can be deployed in the early 2030s. Until then, the F-22 was still the main ace of the U.S. Air Force.