President Donald Trump said he would offer US allies a less-capable export version of a coming sixth-gen fighter, but a former top Air Force official says he doubts they’ll want it.
Former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said in a podcast interview that he doubted US allies would be willing to buy the coming F-47 stealth fighter because of the high expected cost and concerns over the US’s commitments to its longtime alliances.
Speaking on Defense & Aerospace Report’s Air Power podcast late last week, Kendall, who left office in January, said the jet’s price, which the former Air Force secretary said could be up to $180 million each, roughly twice as much as the F-35, could put off US allies.
“I would be very surprised if our, any of our partners, were prepared to pay that unit cost for a new aircraft,” he said.
President Donald Trump announced this month that Boeing had been selected to build the new F-47, winning the $20 billion contract over rival Lockheed Martin. Boeing’s share price rose after the announcement, adding $4 billion in market value.
The F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is expected to be ready for combat by the end of the decade.
The aim is to develop a new sixth-gen fighter aircraft with unmatched stealth and air-to-air combat capabilities, including the ability to fly with uncrewed loyal wingmen drones, to give the US Air Force a technological edge to defeat new threats.
The US has been flying X-plane prototypes in pursuit of this effort.
It’s poised to replace the F-22 Raptor, a fifth-generation air dominance/air superiority fighter that has been in service since 2005. The US, despite pressure, has never exported the F-22, which was built by Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
The other US fifth-generation fighter is the Lockheed F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, which was developed as part of a multinational program. Numerous allies now fly the jet.
Kendall said that the Trump administration’s attitude toward longtime allies like Canada and dozens of countries in Europe may lead some to question the wisdom of investing further in really expensive US weapon systems like the coming F-47.
“Another factor right now, of course, is that the attitude we’ve taken towards our allies is driving a lot of them to rethink their degree of cooperation and commitment and reliance on US sources for equipment,” he said.
Kendall also highlighted Trump’s claim that the export version of the F-47 sold to US allies could have downgraded capabilities, the reasoning being that allies today might not be allies in the future.
“We basically have very close allies traditionally, and we share some of the best of our capabilities with them because we have a lot of trust in them,” Kendall said. “This administration doesn’t seem to be taking that point of view.”
The F-47 is being designed to fly alongside autonomous drones, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft. But Kendall said there were questions about how these drones will work with future crewed fighters.
“There isn’t a readiness at this point, a confidence in the uncrewed aircraft to bet entirely on them, right? And I tend to share that view,” he said.
Drone technology is being deployed across the US military, but autonomous drone technology is still in a heavily experimental phase.
Even so, Kendall said there was an urgent need for the US to upgrade its Air Force, where the average aircraft is about 30 years old.
The planned upgrades come as rivals like China appear to be investing in the development of new stealth fighters.
