US General: ‘If we slow down, China will dominate the air’

By Boyko Nikolov

WASHINGTON, (BM) – If the United States fails to show its courage and focus on developing a next-generation fighter jet, China could overtake the Americans. Such a statement was broadly General Mark Kelly’s comment on Washington’s NGAD program. General Mark Kelly is the head of the Air Combat Command.

His comment came on a $ 140 million cut in the programme’s budget. NGAD aims to develop a next-generation aircraft for the US Air Force. It is alleged that the plane was developed and tested last year. According to sources, the designers have also developed an easier way to design, build and operate the new aircraft.

“I, for one, am confident that the technology and the test points have developed to where NGAD technology will get fielded,” Kelly told reporters Friday during a virtual Air Force Association conference.

“I’m confident that the adversaries on the other end of this technology will suffer a very tough day and tough week and tough war,” he said. “What I don’t know, and what we’re working with our great partners, is if our nation will have the courage and focus on fielding this capability before someone like the Chinese fields it and uses it against us.”

The F-35 will be a milestone in this project

This thinking is the opinion of dozens of military experts. They believe that the fifth-generation American fighter could prove vital to the next-generation aircraft. However, problems accompany the F-35 project.

Apart from the fact that we have revealed key reports from Lockheed Martin on technological problems in fighter use in recent years, it turns out that the F-35 is facing a financial task.

As we wrote earlier, the cost of an F-35 is an hour of flight equal to nearly $ 36,000, and Lockheed Martin must reduce it to a minimum of $ 25,000. It is unclear whether the United States will acquire the desire for a total of 1,763 of these fighters, as politicians planned in 1997.

There is skepticism about acquiring additional F-35s, especially after the United States resumed the F-15 program and showed the world and bought the F-15EX.

“I’m not full of confidence, but I haven’t lost confidence,” said the general on the subject of the F-35.

They say

The Sixth-gen fighter is preparing to be bold, destructive, and self-regulating. This answer is what the United States is preparing in response to its opponents. These are the words of the editor of defense in the American edition of the National Interest, Chris Osborne.

Osborne makes an extensive analysis of what the United States will try to develop in the coming years. The 6th generation fighter expects to begin testing and series production at the beginning of the next decade. “In 2030, we can have so much modern technology,” Osborne said in his article.

According to him, the next generation fighter will perform many functions. Detect and avoid enemy radars and silence electronic warfare systems. Data collection, analysis, and the transfer will be done in milliseconds and supported by an artificial intelligence system. According to Osborne, the United States will develop a fighter that will launch and control drones, hypersonic missiles, and laser weapons.

In his assumptions, Chris Osborne goes even further. What we have said so far is not such a significant innovation. But the fact that, according to Osborne, the next-generation fighter will have self-regulating functions is something that is of interest. The author claims that the fighter jet will generate new fighter coverage during flight or make new armor. Restoring structures and elements lost during combat will also be part of the fighter’s self-regulating capability.

Journalists filmed strange planes and tests over the Mojave Desert

The US military began to test new secret planes over the Mojave Desert, which, according to America’s The Drive magazine, could be an ideal adversary for an equally effective Russian air defense system.

“In the United States over the Mojave desert [California], tests of top-secret aircraft systems are being conducted, which can make it invulnerable to Russian missiles. We are talking about two aircraft, Model 401 and Proteus, in the sky with the F-15D NASA fighter and the KC-10 air tanker. On the tail of the Model 401, obscure rhombuses are visible [possibly a hidden radar or some sensors] and are visibly installed a certain electro-optical system on the Proteus,” the magazine said.

Journalists of the publication believe that both aircraft were in unmanned flight or controlled by NASA’s F-15D, Russian media reported citing The Drive.

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