The US Air Force should deploy the apex predator of the skies
Story by David Axe • 19h
In a surprise move this spring, the US Air Force backed away from its plan to build the world’s first sixth-generation fighter under the Next Generation Air Dominance program. Service leaders cited the shocking high cost – several hundred million dollars apiece – of the high-tech jets.
NGAD isn’t necessarily dead. USAF leaders may yet find a way to save NGAD – perhaps by simplifying its complex and pricey engine.
But if the Air Force can’t find a way to pay for the new jet while also paying for all its other priorities – new stealth bombers, more Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters and hundreds of next-generation nuclear ballistic missiles – the answer to its future fighter problem is staring it in the face.
The Air Force is already buying new F-15EX Eagle II fighters from Boeing, albeit in small numbers. The two-person, twin-engine F-15EX is the latest version of the classic F-15 Eagle, which first flew in 1972 and was the apex predator of the skies in its day. It probably has a lot of the same attributes as the NGAD, minus the latter’s radar-evading stealth. On the other hand, the F-15EX is something the NGAD can never be – affordable. A single F-15EX sets back American taxpayers $100 million. That’s perhaps a third of what an NGAD might cost.
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