The U.S. Department of Defense expects that advanced missile and next-generation fighter jets will enhance end-to-end strike force systems, increasing the potential for deterring future threats. Thanks to the newest updates, we revealed some clues about who’s likely building the air force’s secret new fighter jet.

RELATED INFORMATION:

Prototype

In 2020, the US Air Force announced that it had built a full-scale prototype of the NGAD fighter for testing and evaluation.

Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper said that the NGAD test flights have broken records and that he was “impressed” by the integration of digital technology into the real world.

“What we did was an experimental prototype,” Kendall explained. “We basically had an X plane program which was designed to reduce the risk of some of the key technologies that we would need for a production program.”

Despite the progress on the highly-classified sixth-generation fighter program, the aircraft manufacturer has yet to be revealed.

Aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia stressed that Kendall’s announcement might indicate that the Air Force has settled on a single design by a single contractor.

Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman are all possible contenders for the NGAD fighter program, he said.