The winning bidder will build a successor to the F/A-18 fighter piloted by Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. : Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films
America's largest military aircraft manufacturers are preparing to battle to replace the US Navy's aging Top Gun fighters.
The Navy has confirmed that three of America's largest military aircraft manufacturers are bidding for contract F/A-XX. The winning bidder will lead the project to build a successor to the F/A-18, the fighter aircraft flown by Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick.
The F/A-XX project is at a relatively early stage and has no set budget. However, it is likely that a lot of money will be offered. The cost of the last major US Air Force F-22 fighter program was estimated at $79 billion.
The job applicants are: Boeing, the manufacturer of the military aircraft featured in Tom Cruise's recent blockbuster; Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the F-35s used by the Royal Navy on the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier; and Northrop Grumman, manufacturer of the F-14 Tomcats that flew the original 1986 Top Gun and the B-2 stealth bomber.
The first generation of US Navy FA-18 aircraft took to the air in 1978. Photo: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP via Getty Images
The backdrop to the new contract is rising tensions with China.
While modern F-35s have only recently entered service with the Navy, they are mostly seen as attack aircraft and attack craft rather than an aircraft capable of withstanding air combat, says Rob Stallard, an analyst at Upper Research Partners.
Another disadvantage of the F-35 is that it has only one engine, which means limited durability in the Pacific. The F/A-18, nicknamed the Super Hornet, has two of them, giving them a longer range.
However, the F/A-18s are based on technology from the 1970s. The first generation of these aircraft took off in 1978.
“They want something that could be the equivalent of an Air Force F-22 to fly from an aircraft carrier. So if they need to assert air supremacy, they have a plane that can do it, and the F-35 can drop bombs around it,” says Stallard.
Boeing is considered a favorite on the way to a new plane . contract due to work on the modern Top Gun fighter.
«It's up to them,» says Stallard.
One of the problems could be Boeing's limited experience in developing stealth combat, something like that. The Navy will want to let their aircraft hide from enemy radar.
“I think they will probably have to try to convince the Navy and the Department of Defense that they are as good as the other two, because that the other two have decades of experience,” Stallard says.
Competition in aircraft manufacturing is unique to America.
In most European countries, there is only one manufacturer that can do the job: BAE Systems in the UK, which makes the Eurofighter Typhoon; Saab in Sweden for the Gripen; and Dassault in France, which makes the Rafale.
The US, with its huge defense budget, prefers to keep three machines running.
“They really want competition,” Stallard says. “You don't want all your eggs in one basket. The less you cut the defense industry, the more likely it is that if you end up starting groupthink, you won't come up with these innovative new ideas.»
There is a lot of work to be done. The US spent $877 billion on defense last year, accounting for 39 percent of total global spending, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
F/A-XX is one of two ongoing major fighter programs in United States, the second is the US Air Force program to replace the Lockheed F-22 Raptors produced. This project was called Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD).
Military personnel will likely consider who needs the job when deciding which company to award the F/A-XX contract.
< p>Northrop Grumman is developing the B-21 stealth bomber, which should go to weapons by 2027. That means it has plenty to do at the moment, Stallard says.
Meanwhile, Lockheed's recent experience with the F-22 means it's a good candidate for the Air Force's NGAD program, though Boeing is still is a contender for this project.
One wonders why the Navy and the US Air Force can't merge these two projects and use the same aircraft for both, which would cut costs.
One of the obvious reasons not to team up is political: the US Navy and Air Force prefer to own their own equipment and have a budget to buy it.
However, these two aircraft will also be completely different. Stallard says.
A carrier needs to be able to withstand the harsher conditions of salt water, as well as the jolts of rapid takeoffs and landings on the carrier's surface. For example, although the F-35A used by the Air Force and the F-35C flying from aircraft carriers are part of the same program, they are completely different in form and capabilities.
Range and the ability to stay airborne will also be key, says Robert Wall of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“Think about it in the context of China; One would expect the aircraft to have a range, possibly significant,” says Wall. “Especially if you think your carriers are increasingly at risk from Chinese missiles.”
Whichever company wins, it has a lot of work to do, says Stallard, due to the sheer complexity of modern fighters.< /p>
«The emphasis is much more on the systems than on the aircraft itself,» says Stallard. he says.
Modern fighter jets are more like a supercomputer than a machine gun with wings: drones and sensors will constantly transmit data to the pilot and back to base.
Technological shift is akin to the transition from the classical Volkswagen to Tesla, Stallard says.
The winning bidder will likely need help installing cameras, radar, satellite radio equipment and computing power, as well as secure radio communications and an accompanying fleet of drones.
That means a drone maker like Northrop Grumman could buy it. a lot of work, even if it doesn't lead to an F/A-XX contract.
How many fighters will eventually be built and how big is the prize for the winning bidder? This is an open question.
The F/A-XX contract comes at a time when the Navy is spending huge sums of money elsewhere. The company is embarking on a $110 billion submarine upgrade, replacing Ohio-class nuclear-powered missile carriers with new Columbia-class submarines.
Orders for the Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin F22 B-2 nuclear bombers reduced. shortly after the overspending. F/A-XX could suffer the same fate if the winning bidder busts the budget.
“I think everyone recognizes the fact that if costs go up, the numbers will drop,” says Wall. “However, there is a different perception of the threat now: people are worried about China and they are worried about the numbers that China has.”
Last week, the Pentagon announced a new drone program called the Replicator. The US will build thousands of these «small, smart, cheap» drones in response to hordes of Chinese drones, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks told a conference. Wall says.
That could be very good news for whoever wins the dogfight to build the Navy's next fighter.
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