Filling the Fighter Gap

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to suggest how the Air Force can mitigate the risk presented by the delays in fielding the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by procuring a fleet of generation 4.5 fighter aircraft. The obstacles posed by the enormous cost of acquiring generation 5 fighter technology forced the Air Force to cut the number of F-22 Raptors they had requested from an original requirement of 648 aircraft to just 381 and late last year Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that the F-22 program would be halted at only 187 total aircraft. Recently announced delays to the F-35 Strike Fighter program only serve to increase the Air Force's risk caused by the advanced age of the existing fleet. One potential solution to the Air Force's fighter problem is to purchase the US Navy's F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet multirole fighter because it is highly cost effective and meets multiple Air Force tactical aircraft requirements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 18, 2010
Accession Number
ADA517073

Entities

People

  • Justin Demarco

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Warfare
  • Air Force
  • Air Power
  • Air Superiority Fighters
  • Aircraft Industry
  • Aircrafts
  • Assembly Lines
  • Budgets
  • Defense Industry
  • Defense Systems
  • Demographic Cohorts
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Tactical Aircraft
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Aerospace logistics and air mobility.
  • Defense Acquisition Program Management