New Mitchell Report: Cancel 15EX, Add F-35s, Build “New Start” Multi-Role Stealth Fighter

Video Above: Why is Advanced Stealth Still “Very Hard to Hit?”

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

Eliminate the F-15EX, increase F-35 production and begin a new-start “Multi Role X” stealth fighter program to propel the force into the future are a few of the cutting edge ideas or proposals entertained in a just-released Mitchell Institute for Aerospace report on the Air Force’s fighter force.

The study, called “The Future Fighter Force our Nation Requires: Bridge to the Future,” outlines a series of innovative ideas intended to ensure the Air Force fleet can sustain global dominance in a world increasingly filled with Chinese and Russian 5th-generation stealth fighter aircraft. 

Sky In Crisis

The report lists a number of detailed recommendations to include a call to completely divest F-15C/D, A-10Cs and F-15E inventories. 

The recommendations reflect a significant overall sensibility which favors “new” over “legacy,” meaning 1980s-era 4th-generation fighters should move toward extinction and platforms such as an upgraded 5th-generation F-22, F-35 or 6th-Generation Next Generation Air Dominance need to expand even further as defining elements of a future force.