“I wanted to convert the plane into an RV (Recreational Vehicle) since I was 12 years old, after watching a TV show. Until I served in the Air Force, I always thought one day. will make it happen.” It took Gino about a year to build his dream mobile home by himself. Almost every day, he slept very little because he was excited, thinking about what to do the next day. Gino manually converted the plane into a mobile home. Parts from old aircraft are used by Gino and fitted into the car such as light switches, intercoms to decorative details. The engine part was taken from an old truck. In addition to the main parts, the bathroom area, the kitchen with a microwave oven is also fully installed by Gino and tries to keep the space and layout of the plane. He also turned what used to be the cabin crew area into his youngest son’s aviation-themed bedroom. Despite its unique shape, Gino’s 27-square-foot RV is still roadworthy and legally licensed in all 50 states. The RV is fully equipped and meets the traveling conditions. Since completing renovations in the summer of 2020, Gino has taken his family on many trips across the United States. When traveling on empty and wide roads, he feels like he is actually flying an airplane. “Children are often surprised and curious about the shape of the car, many veterans are also interested and start a conversation with me. It’s very happy to see that people like my work.”

“Based on the progress of the program, the budget will likely continue to be replenished. And the $48 million is just the initial investment,” the source from the US Air Force said. The US program to use rockets to deliver cargo on Earth was judged to be unfeasible. According to General Stephen R. Lyons – Commander of the US Transport Command (US TransCom), the use of missiles to transport goods has many advantages compared to the traditional way of using transport aircraft. Using rockets without a chain of aerial refueling aircraft to support the mission; Safe and secret, the opponent has very little chance of shooting down, not having to notify the host country when flying over like how with transport aircraft. The commander of US TransCom confirmed that this is a potential program and that the US Army is working with a team of experts from billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) to research and build a rocket that can fly. deliver weapons, military equipment to any place on Earth in less than 1 hour. According to the plan, the initial tests to test the principle will be carried out as soon as 2021. SpaceX has previously demonstrated the ability to land vertically and reuse boosters for its Falcon 9 system on mobile landing sites at sea. But the aerospace technology company has never landed a full payload rocket, and the proposed new rocket will carry four times as much cargo as these rocket flights have tested. There are two possible modes of transport that will be explored – cargo originating from a space base on the US mainland to overseas, or pre-sourcing on a spacecraft operating in orbit. and cargo can quickly leave orbit and land when needed. In partnership with industry, the U.S. Army could develop a prototype of such a space vehicle within the next 5-10 years, which could be used by TransCom to supplement air-to-air logistics operations. sea ​​and on land, including humanitarian assistance somewhere around the globe. TransCom will also have to deal with doctrinal, diplomatic, regulatory and organizational issues to facilitate the standardization of high-frequency launches. If successful, the US will revolutionize the transportation of goods. However, as soon as the US announced the program, the military community of this country pointed out a series of insurmountable difficulties. In terms of technical factors, rockets can only be launched when the weather conditions are relatively good; Poor weather can cause delays lasting up to a week. So a trip that is counted as lasting less than an hour will require significantly longer preparation time. The next problem is cost. According to calculations, a SpaceX Falcon 9 spacecraft with a capacity of 25 tons has a launch cost of $ 28 million. While the 12-hour flight from California to Japan on a C-17 Globemaster III costs $312,000, the cost doubles if the plane flies home to buy more equipment. By best estimates, it costs four times more to ship by rocket than to send the same amount of cargo by plane. However, cost is not everything, especially when hostilities are raging.

Orders for the F-16 fighter version Block 70/72 will be completed at the factory in Greenville. Nearly 400 jobs will be created to support this production line, almost double the workforce employed at Lockheed Martin’s plant in Greenville. This will be the only surviving F-16 production line in the world. It was set up three years after Lockheed Martin discontinued the line in Fort Worth, Texas. Recently, representing five partner countries, the US Air Force signed a contract with Lockheed Martin worth $14 billion to build 128 F-16s by 2026. The first F-16s of this line will ship in 2022 and production will increase steadily in the following years. These aircraft will be delivered to Bahrain, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Taiwan territories. The F-16 Block 70/72 will be integrated with active electronically scanned array radar (AESA), advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) with longer strike capability, and a suitable expanded fuel tank. with the fuselage. Even after 2026, the US is expected to receive more orders for the F-16 due to its reasonable price and versatility.

F-35A Lightning II . (Source: airforcemag.com) According to Sputnik, Air Force Magazine considers the F-35A Lightning II to be the most effective fighter aircraft in the world US Air Force . The magazine notes that between 2019 and 2020, the Mission Capable Rate (MCR) of this fifth-generation fighter has increased from 61.6 to 76.07%. Meanwhile, this parameter of the F-22A Raptor has increased from 50.57 to 51.98%; The MCR of the F-15C, F-16C and F-16D increased, but decreased with the F-15D and F-15E. The improved combat capabilities of the F-35A Lightning II are due to the renewed fleet of aircraft, as well as an increase in the number of available spare parts and the opening of new warehouses for them. The magazine reiterated that the US Air Force plans to phase out the F-15C and F-15D, as well as in the future to phase out the F-15C. F-22A Raptor . Earlier in April, The Drive reported that the US Air Force’s F-35A Lightning II would be equipped with a tablet with an “app store.” However, Defense News revealed F-35A Lightning II incapable of traversing significant distances over the Pacific Ocean in air-to-air conditions aerial refueling ./.

The birth of flying saucers It was not until 2015 that this investigation was made public. To date, some of the strangest UFO incidents have been posted online, revealing mysterious objects in the sky that have shocked those who have witnessed it. The most famous case is the “Lubbock Beam” incident that 3 professors in Texas reflected on August 30, 1951. Together, they claim to have seen 20-30 lights in the sky. The objects appear to be about the size of a saucer and have a green fluorescence. “They are smaller than the full moon on the horizon. About 15 such bright streaks, round … We all feel extremely strange “- a professor shared. However, the USAF concluded that the light appeared to be caused by a porcupine (whose breast feathers are white, possibly reflecting light from urban lights below). Of the more than 12,000 UFO cases presented for dissection in the Blue Book Project, the majority concluded “disappointment” as such. The USAF believes that most of the strange objects seen are stars, clouds, civilian aircraft or reconnaissance aircraft. However, 701 of them are still unexplained. New Zealand UFO photo titled “Winter 1951”. Many believe it to be a flying saucer, but the USAF thinks it’s just a lenticular cloud Photo: DAILY MAIL Evaluating the aforementioned massive investigation, Nigel Watson – author of the “UFO investigations Manual” (about UFO investigations from 1892 to the present) – said that in many cases, amateur investigators trying to find an explanation without having time to consider or research. In particular, a particular case that attracted Mr. Watson was the reflection of Kenneth Arnold’s strange object, an incident that can be called the beginning of the extremely popular term “flying saucer” later. Mr. Arnold saw 9 UFOs on Mount Rainier (Washington State) on June 24, 1947. The US government agencies were particularly interested in this report. A similar scene appeared in Tulsa, Oklahoma just a month later, on July 12, 1947. “These objects fly in a diagonal line stretching about 8 km, from the first object to the last object, evaporating,” said Mr. Watson. According to Arnold’s estimation, the above objects were traveling at more than 1,600 km/h from Mount Rainier to Mount Adams. It is “like a saucer if you let it slide across the water”. Soviet secret program Mr. Watson believes that the term flying saucer was born from describing the motion of a flying object rather than its appearance. From secret aircraft to simply birds flying in the sky have been proposed to try to explain the strange phenomena that are reflected, but, in fact, they are still a mystery. In the 1940s and 1950s, the events of encountering flying saucers or even alien abductions in the United States, began to fill the newspapers of this country. However, according to Soviet ufologist and author Paul Stonehill, UFO encounters on the Soviet side at that time were far more direct than those of the US and any object flying over the Soviet Union would have attracted the attention of the military. “The Soviets were shocked that so many UFOs were able to penetrate their borders and unleash themselves without the Kremlin knowing how to control,” Mr. Stonehill revealed on the Daily Star website. During the Cold War and the space race, Soviet forces frequently clashed with UFOs, once they were ordered to shoot down UFOs but failed. Mr. Stonehill – whose research articles on UFOs have been translated into 11 languages ​​- said that when reports of strange phenomena appear in the press, the Kremlin often interprets them as hoaxes. of the Western powers. However, a secret research program called SETKA (Iron Grid) was established in 1977 at the behest of then-President of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Alexei Kosygin, after the famous Petrozavodsk affair, during 48 UFOs appeared in the sky over the city in this Republic of Karelia (then in the Soviet Union). The purpose of SETKA is to identify UFOs as authorities have begun to acknowledge these flying objects may not belong to Earth. According to Mr. Stonehill, most of the files of this sensitive program remain secret. In total, more than 400 unusual mysterious cases, encounters with UFOs or aliens, were studied. The show also changed its name several times to distract the curious. Fierce encounter Through conversations with military intelligence personnel, government officials and Soviet-era scientists, Mr. Stonehill said the most intense encounter between UFOs and Soviet forces occurred in 1953, shortly after leader Joseph Stalin died. A large UFO appeared in the sky over the Taiga region in Siberia. At first, eyewitnesses thought it was a balloon. Soviet military commanders at that time sent a detachment to the scene. However, when trying to attack the foreign object, 3 of the detachment’s planes caught fire. Later, throughout the 1960s, Soviet forces had to comply with a limited order to shoot UFOs because authorities believed that the objects would fight back and destroy any unit that fired. into them. However, in some cases, the UFO side made the move first! In 1990, the legendary Soviet test pilot Marina Popovich held a press conference at the Russian Consulate in San Francisco and published images of what she called an alien plane. The female pilot with the rank of colonel claimed to have seen photos of children of human-alien hybrids. At the same time, Ms. Popovich said that Russian cosmonauts have also encountered UFOs many times.

The US Air Force recently conducted a test for the F-15E multi-role fighter when it carried five long-range air-to-surface missiles to attack outside the AGM-158 JASSM air defense point. These 1-ton stealth missiles will give the Strike Eagle the ability to hit land and sea targets equivalent to a bomber, while the air combat capability remains the same. To mount the AGM-158 JASSM to the F-15E’s external fuel tank mount requires a specially designed mechanism. At the same time, the aircraft still carries 2 short-range air-to-air missiles and 2 medium-range missiles, a total of 9 missiles. Despite being born for a long time, the power of the “Attack Eagle” F-15E is said to be still superior to many opponents in the world, now with a large number of AGM-158 JASSM missiles, Strike Eagle has become more and more multiple. dangerous part. AGM-158 JASSM is an upgrade from AGM-154 JSOW, officially put into service with the US Army in the mid-1990s, this is essentially a stealthy cruise missile equipped with a jet engine with Super long range, enough to overcome all the most advanced air defense systems. The AGM-158 JASSM missile is equipped with a Teledyne CAE J402 jet engine that allows to operate over a large area for a longer time. The missile’s body is designed with stealth capabilities and infrared shielding measures that make it very difficult to detect from a distance by radar systems. The AGM-158 is equipped with a very sophisticated navigation system that combines updated INS inertial guidance from the GPS global positioning system with an infrared sensor for finding and locking the target at the end. . The missile is also equipped with a data link that updates the operational status during the flight to change the target at the last moment if necessary. Significant improvements in the engine and aerodynamics give the AGM-158 JASSM a range of up to 370 km and up to 1,000 km in the JASSM-ER variant. The AGM-158 JASSM operates as an air-launched ground-attack cruise missile, not a clever glide bomb like the AGM-154. The range of the AGM-158 missile has exceeded the reach of most modern air defense systems today, helping the aircraft carrying it not have to enter the danger zone. Stealth capabilities and a new generation of quieter jet engines, which can operate at low altitudes below the range of radars, allow the missile to launch a surprise attack that makes the enemy unable to react. The AGM-158 JASSM has a variant of the AGM-158C LRASM super-long-range anti-ship cruise missile, which will be the main attack weapon of the US Navy fleet in the not too distant future. With the AGM-158 family of attack missiles, the US Army wants to convey the message that speed is not the core factor that gives a weapon’s power, this direction of theirs is completely different from that of Russia.

According to the latest reports, the number of F-35 fighters in service with the US Air Force, now surpassing all other aircraft of this force, rose to second place – after injections. click F-16. Specifically, with a squadron of F-35 fighters up to 283 aircraft, the number of F-35s of the US Air Force has surpassed both the F-15 and F-10 – two types of backbone aircraft of this force. throughout the decades. The single-engine F-16 fighter with the advantage of low maintenance costs and low operating costs is still the most popular fighter in the US Air Force. Specifically, the US Air Force owns 934 F-16 fighters. This number of F-16s will be gradually replaced by F-35 fighter jets in the future. Designed to be a mixed-attack fighter and strike aircraft, the US F-35 is capable of replacing all other fighters currently in service with this force. However, while the F-35 is being finalized and corrected for hundreds of defects, it still cannot become the backbone of the US Air Force at the present time. In fact, the heavy F-15 fighter jets still have a dominant position in the US Air Force’s bombardments if there is a war. The latest version of the F-15 is the F-15EX, which was rushed into service by this force shortly after making its first flight earlier this year. It is expected that until the 40s of this century, the F-15 will still serve in the US Air Force. As for the A-10 fighter jet, this type of aircraft that is nearly half a century old is still considered “without a worthy substitute”. The failure of the US Air Force to develop a serial version of the A-10 is simply because the aircraft is currently too efficient, and effective enough, until the F-35 comes into its own. future. Up to the present time, the US Air Force owns 279 A-10 Warthog attack aircraft in service. However, only about 60% of these are qualified to fight, the rest need constant revolving maintenance. The US Air Force expects the entire A-10 strike group to be phased out gradually from 2032, even sooner if there are serious accidents in the future. By that point, the F-35 would have to be completed to take the place of the A-10. Photo source: BI. The US is producing F-35 fighters at breakneck speed, both for domestic service and for delivery to allied countries as planned. Source: Chosul.

Born in 1977, GAU-8 up to now basically has not had much difference compared to its inception. This cannon weighs 281 kg and has a total length of up to … 6.06 meters in which the barrel is 2.3 meters long. The GAU-8 over the A-10. The cannon used the caliber 30x173mm and had a total of 7 barrels. Due to the use of an electric reload mechanism, this cannon had a very small recoil and could even be considered non-recoil with the post escape mechanism. The maximum rate of fire of the cannon was up to 3900 rounds / min. At this rate of fire, no one could even hear every bullet coming out of the barrel of the GAU-8 cannon and only heard a very fast “crack” sound. With a barrel length of more than 2 meters, the barrel head speed of the bullet was pushed by GAU-8 at speeds of up to 1000 meters per second. This muzzle-tip is faster than the speed of sound and is essentially the target of the GAU-8 that will not hear anything before being hit by bullets. The effective range of this cannon was 1200m but its maximum range could be up to 3600m depending on combat conditions. Previously, the GAU-8 even changed the rate of fire from the lowest speed of 2100 rounds / min to the highest speed of 4200 rounds / min. However, later, the engineers of the US Air Force realized that not many pilots paid attention to the GAU-8’s variable rate of fire, so they removed this feature, greatly reducing electronic systems. like complex mechanics. The accuracy of the GAU-8 can be considered to be absolute, much better than its predecessor M61 Vulcan (still equipped on the more advanced F-15) that fought in Vietnam. At maximum distance, over 80% of the ammunition of the GAU-8 fired in the test was accurate. Although the ammunition is only 30mm, one thing for sure is that this cannon can defeat many main battle tanks. Even without penetrating the tank’s explosive armor, the GAU-8’s 30mm bullets are capable of severely damaging the tank’s electronic sensors, rendering it impotent. continue to fight. Reloading the GAU-8 is quite heavy and often requires the help of heavy machinery. On the attack A-10, for example, it can carry only 1,174 30mm bullets for the GAU-8 – meaning it can only shoot for about 20 seconds … clean bullets. But in addition to the amount of ammunition for the GAU-8, this fighter can also carry nearly all of the missiles and bombs in the US Air Force, making the A-10 a worthwhile air attack machine. afraid of all targets. The mechanism of action of the GAU-8 on the A-10

The average height of the Truong Son is 2,000 m, with many heights of over 2,500 m like a wall of citadel in the western border of the S-shaped strip of land. Throughout its length the Truong Son meanders and at times it seems that it wants to come close to the East Sea leaving only a thin strip of plain like rice leaves and the thinnest place is Quang Binh. Sticking to that thin strip of plain, the roads through Vietnam were easily blocked by the US air force. Therefore, in order to bring soldiers and goods to the South of the transport roads of the 559 line, it was compulsory to go round to Laos. But in order to get to Laos, people had to cross the top of Truong Son. Heaven Gate is one of those streets. Heaven Gate – surely it must be very tall to have that name “arrogant”. Standing at the bottom of the slope, looking up could not see the top, only seeing the mountain pass. Its ascending dimension alone was nearly 30 km. Heaven Gate is also known by another name – that is Monkey Pass – probably because it is too craggy and dangerous, only descendants of Emperor Sun Wukong live and pass here (?). Heard that there were many wheelchairs down the cliff from a height of thousands of meters. Heaven Gate is also known as “Bag Bom” because tens of kilometers of passes are the focus of the attack of the US Air Force, the road is unique and dangerous, when being beaten, it is impossible to avoid where to go. It is said that there are dozens of air raids of all types of aircraft, including the B-52s. I don’t know how bad the reality is, but looking up, I only see the sores like the stone age … I just heard it, I’ve seen it creepy. […] 17 o’clock. Mountain mist has spread to the table. In the sky the marker had flown south and disappeared. Company leader Than gave the order to set off. The sky darkened, the more difficult the way to go: The towering cliffs seemed to just collapse on the road, below is the abyss. The road is narrow, just two tank chains, there is a place where the borrowed land has been raked up and rushed down the cliff, the bends of the sleeves also appear more and more. The driver’s back of the shirt was wet with sweat, eyes strained to look at the road, both hands tugged the steering wheel continuously, then shifted gear, downshift. Binh muttered: – The road with nothing but only cows number 1, number 2 like this. Unexpectedly, company leader Than heard him, he reminded: – Just keep up the speed. Remember to stick close to me on narrow roads. About an hour away an almost upside-down slope appeared, again tied up like a bottleneck and folding crabs. Carefully ordered to stop the car for everyone to get off, he used a flashlight to signal behind to let the cars know, then got off the bus and asked Binh: – What is the temperature of the cooling water and oil? Binh looked down at the dashboard and said: – It’s all up a hundred degrees, but I guess I can still walk. – Then keep going. I’ll walk in the middle of the road, just look at my white shirt. Carefully take off the jacket and throw it in the driver’s door for Binh. Answer: – Yes! In front of Hien with Tinh, Dat, Trang is walking. Page carried a stone, his mouth said: – See if this is deep! Saying that he rolled the stone down, one stone dragged the other rock and hurled endlessly. Page stick out tongue: – Must be a few hundred meters, not a few. Show: – According to my estimate, this place is only about three hundred meters high. Haven’t eaten yet, this peak should at least be over a thousand meters. They both shook their heads and stuck out their tongues. Behind, according to the shadow of the company captain, Binh tried to keep the car right in the middle of the road, he was always sticking with him, so the mud shield sometimes bumped into the cliff and hit “uỳnh” once. Binh estimated that the slope should be approximately 30 degrees, it is impossible to go number one but the engine temperature roars (!). When the walking wing reached the top of that narrow slope, the tank just crawled to the middle, the teachers and students sat and rested for the car to arrive. It took three times to get off the bus to walk to the top of the slope. Strangely enough, thinking that the top of the slope had to be very choppy, it turned out to be a fairly flat and spacious road. The line-up of cars snuggled up on the edge of the road for a break and checked the technique to prepare to go downhill. Trang and Dat pulled each other to the edge of the road to look down, but saw nothing but a cloud, they rolled on a stone but only saw the same as last time, did not know where the bottom was. It turns out that the previous images of the downward direction of Heaven Gate were completely wrong. Everyone thinks that the slope is so steep, so dangerous, its downward direction must be “relative”. But not! The Heaven Gate slope in the West Truong Son is quite pleasant compared to the eastern half, it is gentle and short, probably at the foot of the slope is a plateau with an altitude of several hundred meters above sea level. Over the top of the slope a few kilometers, the front station was already on the way to enter the army camp. To enter the army camp today, we had to follow a stream. It is the dry season, so the stream has little water, the stream bed has different large and small shiny black rocks lying around. It was almost morning, everyone wanted to quickly hide the car. […] All about the vehicles quickly dissipated. The sound of an engine let out for a moment, then the silence returned the stillness of the forest. It was just morning too.

“The Air Force had a step back in progress with its supersonic missile program when the first test with a propulsion failed. The B-52H bomber took off on April 5 to launch the prototype AGM-183A, but the test bullet could not complete the launch procedure and was safely hung on the plane until it reached the Edwards base ” . Missile AGM-183A onboard B-52H aircraft. The test was to test the performance of the propulsion engine, as well as the detachability of the supersonic surfacing vehicle after the rocket engine stopped working. The warhead is designed to self-crumble shortly after being separated from the engine, helping to minimize the no-fly zone for ships and aircraft. The US Air Force has conducted seven test flights with the missile model AGM-183A to collect positioning data and flight parameters, test the ability to integrate missiles onto the B-52H launch platform and build procedures. commissioned for the first test shot. The AGM-183A hypersonic missile is also known as the “Aircraft Launched Rapid Reaction Weapon” (ARRW). This is one of the supersonic missile programs being developed for the US Air Force to close the gap in this field with Russian opponents. Especially according to the US Air Force’s statement, the AGM-183A possesses many advantages over the hypersonic missile Kinzhal of the Russian Air Force. The US side said that the parameters on Kinzhal of Russia are equivalent to the AGM-48 Skybolt (developed 60 years ago) of the US and far behind the current AGM-183A. The AGM-183A is superior to the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal in that it does not require the launcher to climb to very high altitudes and maintain Mach 2 as the Kinzhal’s speed and still easily reach design specifications. In particular, according to the US Department of Defense procurement advisor Will Roper, the AGM-183A has an impressive speed when it can reach a maximum of nearly Mach 20. It can be seen that the AGM-183A has a much faster speed than the Kinzhal when the Russian missile reaches just above Mach 10. Although not yet launched, but with the aforementioned parameters, the AGM-183A deserves to be considered a rival to Russia’s supersonic weapons today. But for the AGM-183A to enter service, it may take the Americans a long time. Meanwhile, Russia is ready to equip Kinzhal after successive trials of the weapon.

The US military transport aircraft C-130H Hercules

In order to strengthen the air force, the Polish Ministry of Defense announced that the country’s air force will receive five US Lockheed C-130H Hercules military transport aircraft and accompanying technical equipment.

An agreement between the US and Polish governments for the supply of five C-130H aircraft was signed on April 12, 2021.

This deal is delivered through a special partnership program. All five aircraft will be delivered to Poland this month.

The contract is worth $ 60 million, but Poland will pay only $ 14.3 million to the US side. With this money, it will not be enough for the Pentagon to maintain the annual maintenance, maintenance, repair, and replenishment of equipment, so the US military has considered the possibility of early handover to Poland. to reduce costs.

Currently, all five of these aircraft have been stored at the facilities of preservation group No. 309, on the payroll of the US Air Force located at Davis Montana Air Base in Arizona.

The US military transport aircraft C-130H Hercules

The C-130H aircraft that the United States intended to deliver to Poland were produced in 1985 and the US Air Force closed in 2017.

Poland chose 5 out of 20 proposed. The first Hercules will arrive in Poland in late 2021 and the last will be delivered in 2024.

C-130 Hercules aircraft has 4 propeller engines, wingspan of 40 m, length more than 29 m, height of nearly 12 m, can fly in all weather conditions, maximum flight speed is 370 km /H.

The Polish Air Force uses the aircraft, for missions such as military transport, paratroop deployment, reconnaissance, maritime patrol, aerial refueling and combat.

The C-130H Hercules aircraft will replace four C-130E aircraft operating in the Polish air force since the 1970s.

According to Defense World, the US Air Force recently announced blueprints for a new fighter jet being developed under the “Next Generation Aviation Advantage” (NGAD) program, which includes including unmanned and manned fighters.

Design image of 6th generation fighter aircraft of the US Air Force. Source: Sina.

The image shows a triangular flying fighter and its aerial weapons on display as well. The configuration of this fighter is also very different from today’s fighters, the plane is relatively flat, triangular seen from above, has a pair of vertical V-shaped tails and the air intakes located above. fuselage.

The photo shows that this fighter jet has very highly modular characteristics, can quickly replace engines, landing frames … thereby reducing the load of logistics maintenance, missile pods inside. The aircraft is also equipped with a variety of missiles.

The NGAD program was originally proposed as a joint project of the US Air Force and Navy. Although there is still some joint cooperation between the two sides, each side has in turn set up independent offices to research and develop next-generation fighters.

From 2019 to 2025, the budget for the NGAD program of the US Air Force is 9 billion USD, of which the budget for the fiscal year 2021 is 1 billion USD and the budget of the fiscal year 2022 is 1.5 billion USD.

According to the report, the NGAD program aims to complement the F-22 and F-35 fighters, creating a system with multi-domain cognitive capabilities, flexible information and strong operational advantages. air raid attack. The program will apply digital technology to large-scale fabrication and replacement of small components.

This approach is based on the automotive industry’s digital transformation and uses models to solve design, assembly, maintenance and repair issues before, the Air Force said. build a physical system.

The US Air Force report did not specify the cost of the project to build the aircraft. However, the report mentions that a mysterious jet under the project was tested in 2020, and it is still unclear whether the plane is manned or not.

Concept art of a fighter in the NGAD project. Source: Sina.

“We have built and tested a new aircraft and broke all aircraft records,” said Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for US logistics and technology equipment procurement. fight. We are now ready to build the next generation aircraft in an unprecedented way. “

Some previous reports suggested that the NGAD program plane will have an artificial intelligence co-pilot, maybe even the ARTU system (artificial intelligence system built by algorithm to play chess. ).

The artificial intelligence system will act as a support for true pilots, but the weakness of AI systems lies in their logic, while actual military actions may not obey this logic. Human presence is then required to make a decision in unusual, non-standard situations.

It is known that from March 2018, the US Air Force Laboratory has released the image of the next generation F / X aircraft, showing that this aircraft will have a stealth design, eye-catching appearance with laser. High energy capable of cutting enemy aircraft in half.

This is also the main aircraft in the NGAD program, also known as the Penetration Jet. The future F / X aircraft is expected to have longer range and payload, as well as the ability to carry hypersonic weapons.

Under the NGAD program, the US Air Force advocates to exploit advanced capabilities of the new generation of aircraft such as air combat systems linked to fighters, drones and networking platforms. . With the aim of increasing air superiority, the F / X fighter program offers significantly enhanced stealth and works closely in coordination with the drone.

Until now, all information about the capabilities of the F / X is still a military secret. If the program progresses at a rapid rate through streamlined processes and uses current technology, the new generation fighter could join the US Air Force earlier than expected in 2030. .