While the U.S. Air Force has not disclosed what its leaders are discussing on the future or lack thereof of the manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, DoD acquisition chief William LaPlante is opening the door to its replacement by unmanned, autonomous drones. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has estimated the unit cost of the manned NGAD to be several hundred million dollars and the unit cost of accompanying, unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) to be about one-third that…
