The engine’s expanded budget indicates progress to secure the world’s first-ever sixth-generation fighter is being made.

The U.S. Air Force’s Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program is a work in progress. But once the futuristic fighter is introduced to service, it is expected to blow competitors out of the skies. The NGAD program will replace the service’s aging F-22 Raptor fleet down the line and will (hopefully) represent the first sixth-generation platform of its kind to reach the production pipeline. Moscow and Beijing are racing to develop their own sixth-generation counterparts, making the timely introduction of NGAD even more paramount.

Based on the program’s most recent milestone, it appears this aim is reachable. The Air Force announced it will greatly expand funding for the prototype engine for the next-generation fighter earlier this week. According to Defense News, manufacturers Pratt & Whitney and General Electric each received modifications to their initial Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) contracts that increased their respective budgets by nearly three times. While NGAD overall is on pause pending a decision about how to proceed by the Trump administration, this update indicates progress.

As detailed by the Pentagon, “The work includes design, analysis, rig testing, prototype engine build and testing, and weapon system integration. The contract modification is for the execution of the prototype phase of the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program and is focused on delivering a state-of-the-art propulsion system with a flexible architecture that can be tailored for future combat aircraft operating across various mission threads; and digitally transforming the propulsion industrial base.” These adaptive engines are expected to be able to shift to the most efficient thrust configuration to power the NGAD depending on the conditions the jet is flying in.

What we know about NGAD

As previously mentioned, the upcoming manned NGAD aircraft is being developed as a successor to the F-22. The sixth-generation platform is derived from DARPA’s Air Dominance Study and will incorporate a range of related technologies with a particular focus on stealth, propulsion, and advanced weapons. Notably, the fighter platform will incorporate a series of highly autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles dubbed collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs). These small aerial weapons will function as “loyal wingmen” drones, able to carry out surveillance, test enemy air defenses, and extend command control under human direction. Since the CCAs are significantly cheaper to produce than the manned fighter jets they will accompany, the Air Force will be able to produce them in mass. The sheer number of CCAs that will be produced will aid the service in establishing air superiority and reduce any capability gap caused by a lack of operational Raptors.

As reported by Defense Scoop, the CCAs are being designed to synergize with the Air Force’s sixth- and fifth-generation aircraft. Therefore, it has been cautioned that budget-driven actions like not purchasing enough F-35 Lightning II fifth-generation jets and delaying the NGAD “risk cutting the legs out from under the case for CCA.”

While much information surrounding the NGAD program is pending or highly classified, the engine’s expanded budget indicates progress to secure the world’s first-ever sixth-gen fighter is indeed being made.

About the Author: Maya Carlin

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.

Image: Shutterstock.

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