Commander of the US Air Force Air Combat Command Talks about the Sixth Generation Fighter and Old Warning Aircraft

US Air Force General Mark Kelly, who leads the Air Combat Command, hopes he can tell the public more about the service's secretive sixth generation fighter program - Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD). Last September, the US Air Force disclosed that a full-size NGAD validation aircraft had flown, indicating that the program went further than most external aerospace analysts had predicted.

As a major supporter of the NGAD program, Mark Kelly is unsure when the department will be able to reveal more about this highly classified system, which may include new manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, advanced weapons, and sensors. He said, "I aspire to be as public as possible, commensurate with the safety requirements of the project, because I believe, frankly speaking, the more people know about the requirements and capabilities, the better we are from the perspective of the project

Defense News interviewed Mark Kelly on August 16th. Here is his opinion on one of the most advanced fighter jets being developed by the department, while also sharing his thoughts on one of the oldest aircraft still in operation - the early warning aircraft.

Defense News: You have been loudly calling out how important it is to keep the NGAD project fully funded and on schedule. From a combat perspective, why did this plan excite you so much?

Mark Kelly: In the past 70 years, the United States' rival threats have been Russia or the Soviet Union, and the technology we face includes a very limited portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Therefore, if you look at the design standards - what shaped the development of F-15 and F-22 fighter jets in terms of threats, available technologies, and environment - it is the Soviet Union, European bases and aerospace, as well as the mechanical scanning X-band sensors at the front.

We need to go beyond the threat of Russia, beyond the basic airspace combat range of Europe, beyond the technology of the 1980s and 1990s, and defeat the single band sensors of mechanical scanning. Therefore, although Russia remains a threat, we are now facing new adversaries with longer distances and wider utilization of the electromagnetic spectrum in the Asia Pacific region. This requires the ability to perceive, shoot, and develop long-range capabilities in a multispectral environment.

Defense News: What challenges does the NGAD project face?

Mark Kelly: I can think of three questions starting with C: confidentiality, cost and COVID-19 (COVID-19).

Highly confidential makes it impossible to discuss on public forums in most cases. COVID-19 makes it difficult for us to arrange truly important people in a small enclosed space, and because of concerns about the pandemic, we need to talk to them. High tech products are not cheap. But when it comes to NGAD, it's not cheap, but it's much cheaper than failure.

Defense News: We haven't heard much about the Air Force's plan to replace its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft, including the E-8C JSTARS ground surveillance aircraft, E-3 airborne early warning and control aircraft, and unmanned assets like the MQ-9 Reaper and RQ-4 Global Hawk. What is the plan there?

Mark Kelly: Regarding some of our [ISR] platforms such as AWACS, JSTARS, U-2, like fighter jets, there are very few young ones among them. Take a closer look at AWACS and JSTARS. They are (Boeing) 707 bodies, and there is no airline in the world that uses 707 as a profitable airline to fly, because you cannot. If you look at the global supply chain attempting to maintain the 707 fuselage, compared to the P-8 aircraft maintaining the 737 fuselage. There are 6800 737 aircraft worldwide, with a global supply chain.

E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft (AWACS) based on Boeing 707 carrier modification

If someone asks me what my priorities are in the ISR portfolio, I must say AWACS. To be frank, we must keep our eyes wide open. We must acknowledge that unlike our closest treaty allies, the Australians and the Royal Air Force, we do not possess the cutting-edge airborne moving target indication (AMTI) capability of their E-7A Wedge Tail.

In my opinion, you are not a true fifth generation air force until your fifth generation fighter has fifth generation weapons and fifth generation sensors, such as AMTI [aircraft] to complement them. We must ensure that we have surveillance and weapons components to complement our platform components.

Defense News: Other Air Force officials advocate for the Air Force to purchase "Wedge Tail" (early warning aircraft), but the necessary funds have never appeared in the budget. Meanwhile, the inventory of AWACS is also constantly aging. How long can the Air Force last without replacing AWACS?

Mark Kelly: This is not a trivial device, our great pilots maintain it. When I say pilot, I mean from the first level pilot on the flight line to the [maintenance personnel] in the rear workshop and then to the great warehouse workers at Tinker [Oklahoma Air Force Base]. They are creators of miracles every day.

Before the airplane was voted on with its wings and metal structure, we were in single digits and it was no longer feasible to operate and maintain.

Regarding the "wedge tail" (early warning aircraft) you mentioned, to be frank, I don't know where our budget will end up when it encounters the reality of what we actually have available. But I can clearly tell you that as a military provider, it is largely close to my first requirement.

General Mark Kelly is the commander of the Air Combat Command (ACC) at Langley Eustis Joint Base in Virginia. As a commander, he is responsible for organizing, training, equipping, and maintaining ready air, space, cyber, and intelligence forces for rapid deployment and use, while ensuring that strategic air defense forces are prepared to meet the challenges of peacetime air sovereignty and wartime defense. The command operates over 1000 aircraft, 35 regiments, 12 bases, and 1336 units in more than 242 combat locations worldwide, with a total of 156739 military and civilian personnel. As the main command center of the combat air force, ACC formulates strategies, regulations, concepts, tactics, and procedures for the use of air, space, and cyber forces. This command provides conventional and information warfare forces to all unified commands to ensure network and information superiority for air, space, combat personnel, and national decision-makers. The headquarters is also ready to assist national agencies in providing intelligence, surveillance, and crisis response capabilities at any time.

Mark Kelly joined the United States Air Force in 1986 and was appointed to the Southwest Texas State University Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He received pilot support during the joint European NATO jet pilot training at Shepard Air Force Base in Texas. Mark Kelly commanded one fighter squadron, two fighter squadrons, one expeditionary squadron, and two numbered air forces.

Mark Kelly is a commanding pilot with over 6000 flight hours, including over 800 fighter combat hours.

Source: Defense bacteria pushed from Heart Small