October 5, 2020
Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance Program:
An Introduction
On September 15, 2020, U.S. Air Force acquisition
Budget and Program Structure
executive Dr. Will Roper announced that the Air Force had
Air Force NGAD is budgeted at $9 billion from 2019 to
flown a full-scale flight demonstrator as part of the Next-
2025. The FY2021 budget is $1 billion, with a request of
Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
$1.5 billion for FY2022.
The announcement came as a surprise to many observers,
NGAD was originally mooted as a joint project between the
both as the NGAD program was believed to be an early-
Navy and the Air Force, and there is still some cooperation
phase technology development program unlikely to yield
between them, but the two services have created separate
hardware in the near term, and because funding began two
NGAD offices.
years ago, which is unusually fast to design and build a
military aircraft. DOD had mentioned an interest in
What Does the Flight Demonstration
building a new “X-plane” prototype as far back as 2014, but
Mean?
it is not clear whether this led to the NGAD demonstrator.
Based on the movements of senior DOD officials, CRS
assesses the first flight came on or about August 21, 2020.
What Is the NGAD Program?
Some news sources have referred to this event as the first
The Air Force has said that NGAD exists to examine five
flight of a new fighter, and speculated as to the design and
major technologies that are likely to appear on next
characteristics of such a fighter. However, it is notable that
generation aircraft, with the goal of enhancements in
the aircraft was described as a “full-scale flight
survivability, lethality, and persistence. It has not specified
demonstrator,” not a “prototype.” The former phrase is used
what four of those technologies are.
to describe an aircraft that is showing off some form of
technology and is different from “prototype,” which
The one acknowledged NGAD-related technology is
indicates a more production-representative system.
propulsion. Over the past few years, the Air Force has
invested substantially in variable cycle engines. Other likely
Figure 1. Northrop Tacit Blue
candidates include new forms of stealth; advanced
weapons, including directed energy; and thermal
management. The current engine on the F-35 and its
variants expected to be on the B-21 produce a tremendous
amount of electrical power that can enable new weapons.
That could require advanced techniques to manage
generated heat, so that it does not become part of the
aircraft signatures and make the plane easier to detect.
Is the Goal of NGAD a New Fighter?
Source: U.S. Air Force photo.
The technologies involved in NGAD are being developed to
The history of full-scale flight demonstrators shows that
provide air dominance. Part of the program’s goal is to
they are not always followed by broader contracts. For
determine how to achieve that end, independent of
example, in the early 1980s, Northrop flew a full-scale
traditional ideas. NGAD could take the form of a single
flight demonstrator in the Tacit Blue program. That was a
aircraft and/or a number of complementary systems—
single-passenger stealthy aircraft used to investigate
manned, unmanned, optionally manned, cyber, electronic—
operating a sophisticated sensor system in threatened
forms that would not resemble the traditional “fighter.”
airspace. Northrop built one Tacit Blue and did not wind up
subsequently building anything that looked like it. Some of
For example, a larger aircraft the size of a B-21 may not
the technology explored in that program eventually went
maneuver like a fighter. But that large an aircraft carrying a
into JSTARS, an airliner-sized, nonstealthy sensor platform
directed energy weapon, with multiple engines making
that had nothing physically in common with the flight
substantial electrical power for that weapon, could ensure
demonstrator.
that no enemy flies in a large amount of airspace. That is air
dominance. There appears little reason to assume that
Another full-scale flight demonstrator, the Boeing Bird of
NGAD is going to yield a plane the size that one person sits
Prey, flown in 1996, was used to demonstrate stealth and
in, and that goes out and dogfights kinetically, trying to
other technologies. Boeing made one Bird of Prey and did
outturn another plane—or that sensors and weapons have to
not receive any contract publicly connected to the work that
be on the same aircraft.
flight demonstrator performed. These cases illustrate the
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance Program: An Introduction
difference between demonstrators, which are research
Such an existing airframe could be augmented with one or
aircraft, and prototypes, early examples of finished systems.
two NGAD technologies to become a full-scale flight
demonstrator, considerably shortening time to “first flight.”
Figure 2. Boeing Bird of Prey
What Else Is Important About NGAD?
The NGAD program is part of the Air Force’s
reengineering of how it does acquisition. One goal is an
effort to split design, production, and sustainment so that
whoever designs an aircraft might not get the production
contract, and whoever gets the production contract may not
also support the aircraft in the field.
Ultimately, that vision could result in firms specializing in
Source: U.S. Air Force photo.
design that pass their designs to high-tech manufacturing
While Tacit Blue was a fighter-sized aircraft that led to an
centers capable of producing anything sent to them in
airliner-sized system, both the F-22 and F-35 programs
digital form, rather than maintaining dedicated airplane
included the opposite—airliners fitted out with those
factories. Companies with global logistics chains could be
fighters’ avionics and sensor suites, so the subsystems
tasked with the sustainment mission. This reallocation of
could be flight tested while accompanied by a crew of
roles could open Air Force programs to firms that are not
engineers to monitor and adjust performance. These aircraft
traditional military aviation primes.
were full-scale flight demonstrators of those subsystems, in
an airframe that in no way resembled the eventual aircraft.
This concept complements the Air Force’s other goal, to
There is therefore little evidence to describe what the Air
move from long programs to short runs of different aircraft,
Force recently flew based on the phrase “full-scale flight
theoretically made possible and economical by flexible
demonstrator.”
production lines. This might lower sustainment costs
because they would be replaced by newer designs rather
Figure 3. Boeing F-22 Flying Test Bed
than being kept in service for long periods. This effort is
often referred to as the “digital Century series,” referring to
simultaneous Air Force development programs of the 1950s
and 60s.
Does NGAD Compete with F-35 or
Other Programs?
For the next few years, at least, NGAD is a research effort,
with no current plans to acquire production aircraft or other
systems that may result. Congress authorizes and
appropriates research and development funds and
production funds in separate budget lines. F-35 is
substantially funded through procurement, NGAD through
Source: U.S. Air Force photo by Ethan Wagner.
R&D, and those are not directly fungible.
What Companies Are Involved?
Further, even if the flight demonstrator were a fully
DOD has made no mention of specific NGAD contractors.
production representative aircraft, it could still take industry
The three traditional aviation primes all have units devoted
several years to create production facilities. While the Air
to advanced development and prototypes, the best known of
Force is trying to move to new agile forms of production,
which is Lockheed Advanced Development (popularly, the
it’s not clear that contractors have kept pace with that
“Skunk Works.”) In 2007, Northrop Grumman acquired
initiative.
Scaled Composites, a dedicated builder of one-off
prototypes. Boeing complemented its internal Phantom
The F-35 is a program of record, with funding projected for
Works with the acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences in
the next five years at least. The Air Force has not budged
2017 and Insitu in 2008, increasing its boutique design
off its ultimate goal of 1,763 F-35s. No acquisition goal or
capabilities, particularly in unmanned aircraft.
fleet size has been posited for NGAD. Also, the air
dominance role NGAD is intended for is more in line with
Also, Textron proved a capability to quickly design and
the current mission of the F-22 or F-15EX than F-35.
produce an aircraft with its Scorpion trainer/light attack jet,
and General Atomics has shown a series of increasingly
That said, these programs would all have to fit within an
sophisticated designs with capacity for low-rate serial
Air Force topline budget, which could lead to pressures to
production.
favor one program over another in funding decisions.
The NGAD demonstrator was not declared to be a new
Jeremiah Gertler, Specialist in Military Aviation
design. Northrop, for example, built a prototype for the T-X
trainer competition the company later decided not to enter.
IF11659
https://crsreports.congress.gov
Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance Program: An Introduction
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to
congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.
Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of information that has
been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role. CRS Reports, as a work of the
United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Any CRS Report may be
reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However, as a CRS Report may include
copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the permission of the copyright holder if you
wish to copy or otherwise use copyrighted material.
https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11659 · VERSION 1 · NEW