A Super Hornet fighter jet on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the southern Red Sea. — Bloomberg
THE US Air Force’s ambitious next-generation fighter jet programme, envisioned as a revolutionary leap in technology, could become less ambitious as budget pressure, competing priorities and changing goals compel a rethink, defence officials and industry executives say.
Initially conceived as a “family of systems” centred around a sixth-generation fighter jet, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme is meant to replace the F-22 Raptor and give the United States the most powerful weaponry in the sky well into the mid-21st century.
