The US Air Force’s quest for an affordable airframe that can survive in contested airspace may be critical for the effectiveness of the overall fleet in a future conflict.
The US Air Force is asking the defense industry for ideas on which airframe to pick for its next generation tanker.
Last week, the Air Force released a classified request for information, seeking pitches from the industry on the airframe of the Next Generation Air-Refueling System (NGAS).
Should the NGAS Tanker Have Stealth Capabilities?
The Air Force has kept its request for information classified, but some information is known. Defense companies have until October 24 to respond with their proposals. Moreover, the documents in the request indicate that the Air Force is seeking ideas with regard to the airframe of the NGAS tanker.
In the past, the Air Force has requested proposals on engines and onboard systems for the NGAS.
Yet in the present climate, the future of the NGAS itself may be at risk. Air Force officials are reconsidering the stealth requirement for the NGAS aircraft in light of heightened budgetary pressures from other, more crucial programs. Specifically, the Air Force is prioritizing the development of the B-21 Raider sixth-generation stealth strategic bomber, the F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter jet, and the Sentinel Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICMB).
In April, Air Force Major General Joseph D. Kunkel, the Air Force’s Director, Force Design, Integration, and Wargaming and Deputy Chief of Staff for Air Force Futures, speculated that the service would reconsider the stealth requirement of the NGAS aircraft.
“When you look at this NGAS and NGAS family of systems… you’ll find us talking through this in terms of survivable air refueling,” Kunkel stated.
Stealth Is Expensive—and the Pentagon Has Other Priorities
In a potential conflict with China or Russia, the US military would have to win air superiority against a near-peer adversary for the first time since the end of World War II. Concepts and tactics taken for granted over the past 20 years of combat operations in the Middle East—such as the implicit assumption of air supremacy—would require revisiting in the face of potent Chinese and Russian air defense capabilities.
“Adversary kill chains is what we’re trying to counter. We’re not trying to counter just at end game. We’re trying to counter the entirety of the kill chain and that could result in a bunch of different things,” the senior Air Force officer added.
In military parlance, the term “kill chain” describes the sequence of steps necessary to conduct a successful strike, including finding, fixing, tracking, targeting, and engaging a threat.
“There are multiple attack surfaces within that adversary kill chain that we need to look at and that we are looking at, and it presents opportunities to do things different[ly] that might not be just a stealth tanker or just an end game effector on a tanker or just a networked tanker. There’s a family of things that come together to create survivability,” Kunkel added about the NGAS.
Although air tankers might not share the same flash as fighter jets and strategic bombers, they play a key role in air power operations against state and non-state actors by extending the range of combat aircraft.
Thus, the Air Force’s quest for an airframe that can survive in a contested airspace, but also be within budget, may be critical for the effectiveness of the overall fleet in a future conflict.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: Shutterstock / Remco de Wit.
