No New Navy Fighter…
By 
For those who’ve been paying attention the saga of the F/A-XX, the Navy’s projected new sixth generation fighter, took a turn last month:
The decision on a prime contractor for the F/A-XX was supposed to arrive in March 2025.
News first emerged that Lockheed Martin had been eliminated from the competition, leaving Northrop Grumman and Boeing (the latter the contractor for the F-47) as the remaining candidates. But a different choice was made.
Rather than decide between Boeing and Northrop Grumman, the Pentagon decided to substantially slow down the F/A-XX program in favor of additional work in the Air Force’s F-47 sixth-generation fighter project.
In June, news arrived that the Pentagon would dramatically reduce the appropriation for the F/A-XX (to a paltry $76 million) while investing over three billion dollars in the F-47.
I am wondering if there are issues:
Most worrying for the Navy, the Trump administration may have determined that the aircraft carrier has a limited future lifespan, and that the lifespan does not warrant the development of an expensive new manned fighter to replace the Super Hornet and complement the F-35C… If so, the decision runs of the risk of putting a deadline on the supercarrier as a form. Aircraft carriers depend for their continued effectiveness on the development and sophistication of their air groups.
The difference between the USS Nimitz of today and the USS Nimitz of 1977 is the difference between F-14 Tomcats, A-6 Intruders, and A-7 Corsairs on the one hand and F/A-18 Super Hornets and F-35C Panthers on the other. This makes the decision to curtail the F/A-XX quite ominous. If innovation in the carrier air group slows, then the effectiveness of the carrier also slows. The obsolescence of the aircraft carrier then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the older Nimitz-class carriers slowly leave service and the fleet as a whole shrinks, presumably to be replaced by other platforms. It’s a vision that some will find bold, while others will find it horrifying.
Stay tuned, as they say. Some other links:
- Bret Devereaux on Cannae.
- Domestic legal issues may end up sinking AUKUS.
- Are we gonna get a US Cyber Force?
- India’s Air Force got troubles.