1 week Ago By Aaron Spray
Is the era of US-manned fighter jets within sight? Possibly. The F-15's production is entering its twilight, the F-35 is in full swing, the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is ramping up, and NGAD is in development and perpetually uncertain . However, what all these 5th and 6th-generation fighters have in common is low production numbers compared to their 4th-generation predecessors.
Additionally, it is unclear if there are any plans for manned combat aircraft beyond them. Current combat aircraft being built/developed Fighter jets were first developed in the 1940s, and through the 1950s and 1960s, there was an explosion of them and many thousands were built. However, the United States Air Force currently has only three fighter aircraft in development or production: the F-35A and F-15EX (currently in production) and the manned component of the NGAD program.
The F-16 Block 70 remains in production but for export only, the Air Force is purchasing a limited number of F-15EX Eagle IIs (to be replaced by NGAD), and the F/A-18 Super Hornet is Navy not Air Force (besides its production is to end in 2027). Aircraft type: Generation: Role: Remaining to be delivered: Note: F-15EX: 4.5th multirole/air superiority Approx.
96 Production likely to end before 2030 F-35A: 5th multirole stealth fighter Approx. 1,450 Deliveries through 2030s NGAD manned fighter: 6th "system of systems,"/air superiority Approx. 200 In development, eventual production not certain B-21 Raider: 6th strategic bomber Approx.
100 In low rate production F-35A fighters Overall, the US Air Force plans to acquire 1,763 F-35A fighter jets, of which a bit over 300 have been delivered to date. That means the Air Force plans to acquire around 1,400 more F-35s - that's a lot, but not that many by historical standards (e.g.
, the Air Force acquired over 2,600 F-4 Phantom IIs alone). The US says that producing the advanced F/A-XX fighter jet remains a priority and is looking to award a contract for it. NGAD sixth generation fighter The manned sixth-generation fighter component of the NGAD program is the Air Force's flagship fighter jet in development today.
However, its eventual development and fielding is far from certain with constant rumors and suggestions the Air Force will end up canceling the jet. But even if NGAD is built, it is estimated that only 200 sixth-generation manned fighter jets will be built - that's a paltry number by historical standards (while only 183 serial production F-22s were built, the intended number had been 750). B-21 Raider bomber The only other manned combat aircraft (although not a fighter jet) in production now is the B-21 Raider strategic bomber (these are in low rate production with three prototypes built).
The Air Force plans to acquire around 100 of them. Again, that is low by historical standards (the US Air Force acquired 744 B-52 Superfortresses and 104 B-1 Lancers and had intended to purchase 132 B-2 Spirits - although this was ultimately reduced to just 21 (of which 19 remain today). The MQ-47 is a groundbreaking drone, combining advanced AI, stealth features, and enhanced avionics, posed to transform modern air warfare.
Dawn of an unmanned air force The United States Air Force has not been as small as it is now since before World War II. It is now down to around 5,000 non-trainer, non-UAV military aircraft and is expected to continue shrinking for the foreseeable future. And yet, the US Air Force has never been as capable and deadly as it is now.
That is because there is simply no comparison between an F-35 fighter and the F-16 Fighting Falcon before it or between the future NGAD and its F-15 predecessor. These new systems are immensely more capable and are not one-for-one replacements (not to mention advancements in the ordinance used by those aircraft). Even if the NGAD manned fighter is produced, it may actually be optionally manned (a suggestion floated with the British Tempest counterpart).
Example loyal wingman drones: Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat General Atomics XQ-67 Anduril Fury But it's not just increased costs and capabilities of each platform driving the numbers down. It's drones. The future of the Air Force is looking ever more like that of incredibly advanced unmanned platforms.
For example, when there's debate about canceling NGAD, it's always talking about the manned fighter—not the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) or loyal wingman drones being developed as part of the program. Those appear to be the future and they are much more capable than the MQ-9B Reaper. Examples of advanced recon unmanned aircraft: RQ-170 Sentinel RQ-180 XRQ-73 (in development) SR-72 Darkstar (in rumored development) Unmanned platforms are replacing fighters and other manned systems more and more.
Spy planes are a great example. The famous SR-71 Blackbird was retired years ago, and its rumored hypersonic replacement, the SR-72 Darkstar, is believed to be unmanned . The ancient U-2 Dragon Lady is poised to retire without a direct replacement, but now the Air Force can spy with stealth drones like the RQ-180 and RQ-170 (among other systems).
The Air Force is even looking at options for unmanned transport aircraft. Time will tell how many more manned combat aircraft the US Air Force will procure. But as it appears now, that number is less than 2,000 in total (less than the number of F-4 Phantoms it acquired).
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