(Washington, D.C.) The highly secretive, mysterious yet already airborne Air Force 6th Generation stealth fighter jet captures a lot of attention, something quite remarkable for a platform about which very little or nothing is known.
The simple fact that it exists, is arriving almost 10-years earlier than expected and has already taken to the skies, is certainly more than sufficient to generate massive global interest in the program. Might it re-define paradigms for air-attack?
6th Generation Fighter Jet & Air Force 2022 Budget
Given all this, you might be curious as to where the Next Generation Air Dominance 6th-Generation fighter program stands in the mix of Air Force 2022 budget priorities? What kind of budget is it getting? While specific numbers are not available, senior Air Force leaders explain budget is massively growing.
“The 2022 budget grows NGAD by $623 million and supports the design efforts in advanced open system architecture, radar, infrared sensors, resilient communication, and air vehicle technologies. NGAD will provide survivability, lethality, and persistent whilst seamlessly integrating with the advanced manage – battle management system,” Maj. Gen. James Peccia, Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, told reporters according to a Pentagon transcript.
Alongside any discussion NGAD budget, senior leaders were clear that exact numbers would not be available, for obvious reasons.
“It’s a classified program. No comment here,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Budget, told reporters when asked about the 2022 budget for the 6th Generation.
Gumbleton’s response seems understandable and seems to make sense given the importance of security to a program like this, yet he and many senior Pentagon leaders do, in a general way, emphasize that the NGAD program is a huge priority. No surprise there, in fact senior U.S. military leaders regularly make the point that other programs are being reduced, cut or pushed aside, in part to make space for some kind of 6th-Generation budget.
