Air Force Future Fighter Force Roadmap Sees F-35s and 6th-Gen Fighters

Related Video Above: F-35s to Europe

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The Air Force is moving with a sense of urgency to bring its new Fighter Force Roadmap to life, by pursuing a force structure and tactical vision intended to fully prepare the service for massive, high-end “peer” warfare in the skies.

There are many nuances and variables considered in the plan, the major thrust of which could be described as an effort to migrate the fleet much more heavily toward 5th and 6th-generation aircraft and away from decades-old “legacy” 4th-generation fighting platforms designed in the 1980s. 

F-35s and F-15EXs

This means more F-35s, more new, yet-to-exist 6th-generation aircraft and even the addition of some F-15EXs, with a lot fewer “upgrades” and “service life extensions” for fighter jets intended to face a Soviet threat decades ago.

“Our fighter force was designed for a Soviet force. We are behind and our current incremental rate of change is insufficient. Fighter Roadmap is a change in investment priorities required for a peer fight. The fighter force will again need to flex from its original design to defeat a peer threat. We need to face the realities of a new threat environment and that requires the fighter force to change,” Gen. Mark Kelley, Commander of Air Combat Command, told an audience at the 2021 Air Force Symposium.

The F-15 and F-16, for example, while upgraded and intended to stay in the force for years to come, are essentially 1980s-era platforms designed for a different era and different enemy decades ago. Ultimately there are limits to how much aircraft such as these can be upgraded before eventually sliding into obsolescence.