DAYTON, Ohio–As the U.S. Air Force considers its next steps on the manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter in light of a “pause” announced here this week by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, some sentiment on Capitol Hill and the Air Force is to retain the 32 Block 20 Lockheed Martin
[LMT] F-22 fighters as a fallback to deter China and go to war, if needed.
The Air Force has requested congressional approval to divest the Block 20s and has estimated that it would cost $3.3 billion to upgrade those Block 20s to the standard Block 30/35 configuration.
A program to upgrade the remaining 154 F-22 Raptor “air superiority” fighters, including new cryptography, an expanded open architecture, new weapons, an infrared search and track sensor, and a “Project Keystone” effort to install an advanced threat warning receiver, is to cost more than $4.3 billion between fiscal 2023 and 2029.
“The F-22 team is working really hard on executing a modernization roadmap to field advanced sensors, connectivity, weapons and other capabilities that are relevant to the INDOPACOM theater,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Jason Voorheis, the program executive officer for fighters and advanced aircraft, said here during the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s annual conference.
“The Raptor team recently conducted six flight test efforts to demo and assess advanced sensors on the F-22 required to complete an ongoing rapid prototyping MTA for the program,” he said. “That will lead to a decision on the rapid fielding MTA in the near future.”
MTA refers to Middle Tier of Acquisition, which is also a reference to rapid prototyping.
“The F-22 is our bridge to fielding NGAD, which will represent, in terms of NGAD family of systems [including the unmanned Collaborative Combat Aircraft], another generational leap in technology over the F-22 and our ability to achieve air superiority in the future highly contested environment,” he said.
Air Force Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, the head of Air Combat Command, said last month that he favors keeping the Block 20 F-22s, as “they give us a lot of training value and, even if, we had to, in an emergency, use the Block 20s in a combat situation, they are very capable” (Defense Daily, July 10).
Wilsbach, the former commander of Pacific Air Forces, also said that he expected a downselect this year on manned NGAD, as planned. Yet, the presidential and congressional political season makes such a decision unlikely until after the November election.
Modernizing the Block 20s to a war ready status would not be a cheap or quick fix, Voorheis said this week.
“Retaining the Block 20s is a different question than modernizing them,” Voorheis said. “There’s retaining in a training capacity, which they’re [ACC] doing today, and it’s quite a different story about using them in operations.”