USAF Air Combat Command (ACC) is worried about China being “on track” to develop its 6th-Gen fighter and the opportunity for Beijing to arrive first in this race with US. During a roundtable with reporters at the last Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference in Washington DC (USA), the ACC commander, General Mark Kelly, stated that the Chinese National Party is not losing time debating over the relevance of 6th-Gen air dominance, China defence industry, despite its secrecy, is perfectly “on track” for having the new capability ready “to protect the sea and sky” by 2035, as forecasted by Wang Haifeng, chief designer for the Chengdu Aerospace Corporation in 2019. The alarm raised by General Kelly has the purpose to “close the ranks” of the American military, and political, leadership, and bypass all the current discussions about the US Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems, with the goal of having the new capability before their competitors. Despite General Kelly’s alarmism, China’s conception of a 6th-Generation fighter seems to mirror the United States’ own, with a future fighter characterized by the ability to team with drones (swarms), the use of artificial intelligence, the improvements in stealth and omnidirectional sensors, lasers and adaptive engines. In accordance with General Kelly’ declarations, USAF first flew a manned NGAD prototype in 2020, and the service could pick a manufacturer for the program in the near future. Randolph Stone, US DoD Assistant Inspector General for evaluations, space, intelligence, engineering and oversight, wrote in a memo that the current objective is to determine if the critical technologies used in NGAD fighter aircraft may be mature enough to support entry into the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the NGAD program’s acquisition timeline. However, the program is very complex, merging a manned fighter, new weapons, such as the AIM-260 Joint Advanced Tactical Missile, and likely several varieties of drones (called Collaborative Combat Aircrafts), and it will be very expensive, with a manned NGAD fighter unit costing “hundreds of millions” which, if not quickly approved, may close the gap between the US and Chinese timelines. In order to avoid this possibility, and despite the secrecy on the project, Air Force officials have hinted there may be opportunities for the US to co-develop technologies with some allies that could be “associated” with the NGAD, as UK (TEMPEST), Australia (MQ-28 GHOST BAT) and Japan (F-X).

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