USAF rethinks future fleet, ponders clean-sheet 4.5-generation fighter

[DWG]

USAF rethinks future fleet, ponders clean-sheet 4.5-generation fighter

The US Air Force is studying a future fighter fleet that might include new Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters or possibly a clean-sheet 4.5-generation fighter.

www.flightglobal.com

USAF considering either new F-16 purchases, or developing a clean-sheet 4.5 gen design that would be more rapidly updatable.

“If we’re going to do software defined, and we have the capability to do something even more capable for cheaper and faster, why not?” [USAF Chief of Staff Gen Charles Brown] says. “That’s what we’ve learned with our e-series approach with the T-7, and, what we learned with the NGAD. So, the question is: What is the son of NGAD?”

 

[riggerrob]

I envision two versions: one manned and the other un-manned.
USAF would use unmanned versions primarily as "loyal wingmen" while foreign military sales would be primarily manned versions with simplified avionics and simplified software.