by Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington D.C.) The largely secret and unseen Air Force 6th-Generation NGAD stealth fighter jet is airborne years ahead of the anticipated schedule, and it now looks like the Navy’s F/A-XX variant may also take to the skies in just the next few years.
Navy’s F/A-XX
Of course planning and technological specifics related to F/A-XX are likely not available for security reasons, yet conceptual work on the fighter has been under way for many years and the Navy’s 2024 budget request asks for as much as $9 billion in funding for the new jet. The requests spreads the billions out over the next five years, yet an essay in The Drive pointed out that this may be an indication that prototypes or demonstrators are on the near horizon.
This would not be surprising given the large extent to which the Air Force, for example, has successfully accelerated weapons platform design, development and production through the use of digital engineering. Advanced computer simulations can now precisely replicate key weapons performance parameters, a circumstance which enables weapons developers and innovators to analyze a number of different designs and performance specs of a given weapons system much more quickly and efficiently.
Along with the Air Force 6th-gen aircraft, the service’s new ICBM called the Sentinel also emerged ahead of schedule due in large measure to the successful application of digital engineering. Senior Air Force weapons developers, for example, say digital simulations enabled engineers and analysts to assess eight or nine different ICBM models before deciding which ones to build. This proved critical as the Air Force did not need to build ten different prototypes and “bend metal” as much to determine the optimal designs.
Therefore, given the success thus far with the use of digital engineering across several large weapons platforms, it seems entirely feasible that such progress at least in part accounts for Navy progress and funding increases with its F/A-XX aircraft. Perhaps demonstrators will take to the sky if they have not already. Designed to fly alongside and ultimately replace the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the F/A-XX is expected to break new ground in the realm of carrier launched stealth aircraft.
Certainly many of the specific technologies are likely not available, yet industry and Pentagon weapon developers have in recent years explained a series of potential requirements, concepts of operation and technologies likely to inform Navy 6th-gen development. Some of the key areas which come to mind include the use of multiple drones, drone swarms or other unmanned systems, AI-enabled networking, new generations of sensing and targeting and an ability to share real-time combat data with existing 4th-generation aircraft.
The Pentagon, Navy and Air Force, for example are all fast advancing technology enabling manned stealth fighters to control multiple drones from the cockpit, to leverage speed of attack and enable survivable forward reconnaissance. A carrier-launched 6th-gen could, for instance, direct multiple drones from the cockpit to test enemy air defenses, blanket an area with surveillance or even launch attacks when directed by a human.
The aircraft will likely incorporate new paradigms of stealth technology as well, wherein heat signatures and radar return signals can more easily be greatly minimized, if not eluded completely.
NGAD & F/A-XX to Feature EW
Several years ago, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said whoever dominates the electromagnetic spectrum will likely prevail in war.
The Navy’s 2024 budget documents reveal this emphasis as they allocate large amounts of money to “spectral” dominance regarding the 6th-Gen F/A-XX stealth fighter jet. Lasers, EW weapons and RF countermeasures are all technologies expected to figure prominently with NGAD, Navy and Air Force budget documents explain. The Air Force’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget request calls for “studies…… to develop operational/system architectures to include family [sic] of systems and spectral dominance platforms.”
Jamming weapons guidance systems, “blinding” an enemies’ targeting sensors, disabling communications systems and interfering with radar systems are all critical future warfare missions potentially performed by electronic warfare systems.
Dominating the electromagnetic spectrum is fast becoming a heavily prioritized area of future warfare focus given the growing extent to which networks and weapons systems rely upon electronics. A precision-guided weapon, for example, cannot hit its target if its RF guidance is interfered with or jammed by an EW.
There are growing applications for EW due to rapid technological advances. AI-enabled, software-driven systems, for instance, can help deconflict the spectrum by identifying friendly from enemy frequencies and identifying which signals to jam. Spectrum information can be bounced off of a database to make rapid identification of which signals to jam.
Also, sensors and communications systems can be tailored to emit a more “narrow” or streamlined “pencil” beam type of electromagnetic signal. This is extremely critical as a larger or broader electronic signature can give away a location to an enemy, whereas a more targeted beam can exact an effect without emitting a large signature. When it comes to weapons guidance systems, developers are working on a technology called “frequency hopping” to essentially “counter” an electromagnetic jamming effort.
Should one frequency be “jammed” or interfered with, weapons guidance systems can be adjusted to essentially “hop” from one frequency to another in order to sustain its track or guidance to a target. Hardening networks, datalinks or communication systems to operate in a jamming environment is critical to sustaining functionality in a contested EW environment.
For 6th-generation aircraft, EW can prove critical in the realm of manned-unmanned teaming, as both the Navy and Air Force plan to operate a “family of systems” wherein manned fighter jets control nearby drones from the cockpit. This can enable forward operating drones to “jam” enemy air defenses, overwhelm communications and share critical targeting detail across formations.
Passive EW can essentially “listen” to identify a “line of bearing” on an enemy electronic communication to locate signals to monitor or jam, whereas active EW can emit a signature to block, jam or interfere with a communication.
Platforms are also increasingly using omni-directional antennas to tailor an electronic signal in a specific direction and avoid emitting a large 360-degree signature which would be easier for an enemy to detect. For example, 6th-generation aircraft and the drones they network with can use hardened data links or sigint assets to emit EW signals for offensive use and also “harden” datalinks for more secure information exchan
ge in a contested environment.
These kinds of applications are critical to Navy and Air Force plans for 6th-generation manned-unmanned teaming, referred to as Combat Collaborative Aircraft, or CCA. The concept is to network a “family” of systems to one another in real time using drones in close coordination with manned-fighter platforms to conduct forward surveillance, test enemy defenses, ensure precision guidance, harden targeting sensors or even deliver weapons.
Kris Osborn is the Military Affairs Editor of 19 FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
