Raptorille ja F-15:lle pohditaan seuraajaa. Pitkä artikkeli loppu linkissä
https://warisboring.com/the-f-22-ra...han-a-typical-fighter-522a24ff74a4#.cg12yqsc4
A Northrop Grumman concept for a laser-zapping future stealth fighter. Northrop Grumman illustration
The F-22 Raptor’s Successor Will Be Bigger and Faster Than a Typical Fighter
The U.S. Air Force wants a plane with more range and a heavier payload in the 2030s
by DAVE MAJUMDAR
The U.S. Air Force is in the process of completing its initial research on a next-generation air superiority capability to replace the Boeing F-15C Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighters.
Once such research is completed, the service will embark on an 18-month analysis of alternatives (AOA) starting this coming January to determine exactly what kind of capabilities it will need to gain and maintain control over the skies in the post-2030 threat environment.
By then — in the year 2035 — the stealthy F-22 will be 30 years old while most the F-15C fleet will be more than 50 years old.
Thus, while the Air Force has not made any decisions on what a future air superiority fighter might look like, the service says that the so-called Penetrating Counter-Air (PCA) capability will be designed to meet threats that an upgraded F-22 and F-15 fleet cannot.
“We understand what the threat is going to be like in the future,” said Col. Tom Coglitore, chief of Air Combat Command’s Air Superiority Core Function Team in an interview with
The National Interest.
“We understand what our current and projected capabilities will be and will compare them to the future threat. If there is a gap, then we will likely pursue the development of a new capability if we cannot modernize an existing capability to fulfill our need.”
Essentially — as Coglitore explains it — the PCA is the air domain platform component of a future “family of capabilities” for air superiority. But that family of capabilities is more than just the PCA aircraft itself, it includes basing and logistics, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, command and control, as well as other platforms and weapons — both existing and future.
Indeed, for the Air Force, air superiority will likely move beyond just the realm of kinetic actions to include non-kinetic effects such as electronic attack and cyber-warfare, Coglitore said.