The U.S. Air Force Has Secretly Flown A Demonstrator For Its Next-Generation Fighter

[GhostZ06]

In his address on the second day of the Air Force Association’s virtual Air, Space & Cyber Conference, on September 15, 2020, Dr Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, revealed that a previous undisclosed demonstrator for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program has begun flight testing.

“We’ve already built and flown a full-scale flight demonstrator in the real world,” Roper confirmed to Defense News, “and we broke records in doing it. We are ready to go and build the next-generation aircraft in a way that has never happened before.”

Based on the nature of the NGAD program, it seems most likely that the aircraft in question is a technology demonstrator that will be used for risk-reduction efforts and to help prove major concepts that could underpin the NGAD program. Perhaps coincidentally, there has been a notable uptick in flight-test activity in the Southwest of the United States of late, which could point at least in part to NGAD-related testing.

While Roper’s reference to breaking “records” might conjure up images of manned X-planes pushing the limits, it could equally refer to advances made in the aircraft’s design and development path, which is known to make use of the digital engineering espoused in the Air Force’s new “eSeries.”

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-demonstrator-for-its-next-generation-fighter

lockheed martin rip off of the YF23

northrop

F-X boeing

Boeing FAXX

 

[Rational Poster]

Bro stop we still have the F-35s on our credit card.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Wait, the Air Force is ahead of schedule?

 

[Hadron90]

I've been watching all these defense stocks in my Roth going sideways for too long.

 

[GhostZ06]

Bro stop we still have the F-35s on our credit card.

6th gens been in Development since 2011 or some shit

 

[GhostZ06]

Wait, the Air Force is ahead of schedule?

on a black budget yes, public? No the B-21 is also in schedule and the prototypes are under construction

 

[Yehudim]

Ghost have you been following Chinese military tech and strategy?

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Bro stop we still have the F-35s on our credit card.

It's the government, if you don't spend the budget you won't get it next year. I have a buddy who is in sales for some computer system the government uses. They buy licenses per user. End of the fiscal year they will just buy a bunch of licenses to hit their expense budget.

 

[GhostZ06]

Ghost have you been following Chinese military tech and strategy?

they dont really have one outside of pour copys and even those arent good, theyre in house stuff is interesting but still really far behind. The only that ive looked at with them is to try and find sources are they're hypersonic weapons,
and even then no clear answers of proof they have active Hyper sonic capabilities. Theyre still very far behind

 

[Yehudim]

they dont really have one outside of pour copys and even those arent good, theyre in house stuff is interesting but still really far behind. The only that ive looked at with them is to try and find sources are they're hypersonic weapons,
and even then no clear answers of proof they have active Hyper sonic capabilities. Theyre still very far behind

Yeah I was wondering if you had heard of their space program and how aggressively they’re pushing for that.

Seems like they’re trying to have some niche in space, since they currently can’t contest us in the sea or air.

Anti-satellite technology to knockout GPS for example.

I know very little about military tech, though.

 

[GhostZ06]

Yeah I was wondering if you had heard of their space program and how aggressively they’re pushing for that.

Seems like they’re trying to have some niche in space, since they currently can’t contest us in the sea or air.

Anti-satellite technology to knockout GPS for example.

Theyre still far behind on that, most of theyre stuff they put up falls back down to earth. If referring to they're space plane that is a clone of the X-37B, the shenlong ? Yes its named after the Dragon ball Z dragon lol, its way smaller then the X-37B and still in early stages of development.
The 2 stage one is the interesting one, which looks like a clone of a german space plane design. The US X-37B and what it does is still unknown, apparently it can get energy beamed to it from earth or beam it back down to earth.


https://www.scmp.com/news/china/mil...tep-forward-plans-aerospace-plane-could-outdo

this is the chinese 2 stage space plane, i believe we have one in development as well

 

[MusclesMarinara]

That is more 'danger zone' than my little heart can take.

 

[Fluffernutter]

It's the government, if you don't spend the budget you won't get it next year. I have a buddy who is in sales for some computer system the government uses. They buy licenses per user. End of the fiscal year they will just buy a bunch of licenses to hit their expense budget.

Financial office: "Hey, you need a new photocopy machine?"

Me: "No. Mine works fine."

Financial office: "What about a new TV for your office?".

Me: "No. The one I have works fine.".

Financial office: "Listen, you have money left in your budget. If you don't spend it all before the end of the fiscal year, they will cut your budget."

Me: "I don't need anymore stuff."

Financial office then went to my boss.

 

[D 1 Wrestler]

Financial office: "Hey, you need a new photocopy machine?"

Me: "No. Mine works fine."

Financial office: "What about a new TV for your office?".

Me: "No. The one I have works fine.".

Financial office: "Listen, you have money left in your budget. If you don't spend it all before the end of the fiscal year, they will cut your budget."

Me: "I don't need anymore stuff."

Financial office then went to my boss.

Lol yup

 

[KnightTemplar]

It's the government, if you don't spend the budget you won't get it next year. I have a buddy who is in sales for some computer system the government uses. They buy licenses per user. End of the fiscal year they will just buy a bunch of licenses to hit their expense budget.

Same with UK city councils. Near the end of the financial year, most councils use what's left of their budgets on things like road maintenance. So they can get an even bigger budget next time around

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Strong lobby these defense contractors have.

 

[ocean size]

I'm not an aerospace engineer, but I'm confused by the mix of very organic curves and very 80s-looking sharp lines on these cutting edge aircraft.

 

[4daLuLZ]

they dont really have one outside of pour copys and even those arent good, theyre in house stuff is interesting but still really far behind. The only that ive looked at with them is to try and find sources are they're hypersonic weapons,
and even then no clear answers of proof they have active Hyper sonic capabilities. Theyre still very far behind

Their hypersonic (and Russia’s) and carrier killer ballistic missiles are just psyops I’m sure.

They’re trying and will get there but they’re not there yet.

 

[4daLuLZ]

Seems like they’re trying to have some niche in space, since they currently can’t contest us in the sea or air.

That’s a myth.
They can’t contest the US....IN A VACUUM.....but their projected battlefield is near their own borders. North Korea (if their government falls and there’s a subsequent UN / NATO intervention) or Taiwan.

They can contest there just fine and while they can lose militarily, they’re the odds on favourite to win strategically.
That means, while the US might show a 2 to 1 superiority in aircraft downed, Chinese appetite for losses in a long term national pride issue are far greater than US resolve for casualties on a distant battlefield for what is essentially a domestic dispute / inevitable eventuality for a very diminished and relatively inconsequential ally.

 

[Yehudim]

That’s a myth.
They can’t contest the US....IN A VACUUM.....but their projected battlefield is near their borders. North Korea (if their government falls and there’s a subsequent UN / NATO intervention) or Taiwan.

They can contest there just fine and while they can lose militarily, they’re odds on favourite to win strategically.
That means, while the US might show 2 to 1 superiority in aircraft downed, Chinese appetite for losses in a long term national pride issue are far greater than US resolve for casualties on a distant battlefield for what is essentially a domestic / inevitable cause of a very diminished and relatively inconsequential ally.

Interesting post and I both agree and disagree

We could never win a war in which we occupy China and I do understand that China is so far behind the US military in absolute terms but they have the advantage of not having their military spread across the globe.

Where I disagree though is the idea that we would ever have to occupy and defeat China in a land war. We can destroy their Navy and make them return to China circa 1960 with famine and no electricity.

Their food and energy situation is incredibly precarious and the reason they’re so aggressive in the South China Sea.

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

Interesting post and I both agree and disagree

We could never win a war in which we occupy China and I do understand that China is so far behind the US military in absolute terms but they have the advantage of not having their military spread across the globe.

Where I disagree though is the idea that we would ever have to occupy and defeat China in a land war. We can destroy their Navy and make them return to China circa 1960 with famine and no electricity.

Their food and energy situation is incredibly precarious and the reason they’re so aggressive in the South China Sea.

Sink their Navy, hit their power grid hard, and deny them their airspace and we could sit back and strangle them over the long term. All the ground forces in the world wouldn't matter when their country is sitting in the dark.