The U.S. Air Force continues to face issues as it tries to develop its next generation of fighter jets, Axios reported.
The Air Force paused its Next Generation Air Dominance program several months ago as it continues to grapple with wars abroad and developments in technology, Axios reported. At the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference in Maryland, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Air Force is "taking a hard look at whether we've got the right design concept."
"The requirements are several years old now," Kendall said. "The concept, if you will, was an F-22 replacement designed very much for a specific mission under a specific set of circumstances."
Kendall, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, could be out of a job depending on the results of the next presidential election, but he stressed he would like to remain on if Donald Trump won the election. He told reporters at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference that he was not worried about that.
"There is no way a future Trump administration would keep Kendall on," a source close to Trump's transition team told Newsmax's Eric Mack on Wednesday. "He is a Biden appointee who slowed down fighter jet production, and has been part of Biden's disastrous national security decisions."
An NGAD fighter would cost $300 million, which would be too expensive, Kendall said. Kendall would prefer the NGAD fighter cost $80 million to $100 million, the cost of an F-35, Axios said.
"We need a unit cost that's affordable in significant numbers," Kendall said. "Whether there'll be variants that might be crewed or uncrewed is another question mark."
According to Air and Space Forces Magazine and Aviation Week, cutting costs could mean going from two engines to one on the NGAD or other large-scale changes.
The Air Force had intended to select a contractor for the NGAD this year with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grunman in the running and a decision is expected in the next several months, according to Axios.
"The things we're doing, I think, are pretty logical there," Kendall said. "They're aligned with what our needs are relative to the threat. There's been no real pushback from the Congress on any of them. I think they're not controversial.
"The idea of a futures command in the Space Force, the idea of an integrated capabilities command in the Air Force with a similar role, changing the nature of the centers on the acquisition side, and introduction of warrant officers. These are not political football, policy type things. They're all about the heart of the matter of how we organize."
Newsmax writer Eric Mack contributed to this report.