It is called "Penetrating Counterair" or PCA and is the only platform, still covered by military secrecy, that will enter into service with the Air Force within the 2030.
It was published a few hours ago, the new official strategy of the US Air Force for the next 15 years. In the guidelines to ensure air superiority and counteract the real threats that lie ahead until the 2030, the Pentagon does not provide for the construction of a new fighter. The US combat fleet will be based on current (updated) platforms and implemented by an increasing number of F-35 and B-21 bombers.
Let's go in order. The Air Force has a plan to replace its traditional fighters, but we are still in the exploratory stages, while the sixth generation hunting specs are still on paper (although some prototypes are being tested in part).
What the Air Force calls "family of capabilities", in its strategic document "Air Superiority 2030 Flight Plan", includes a series of capabilities integrated between different existing platforms. The Pentagon provides, at least until the 2030, a front-line combat air force formed by the F-22, supported by the F-15. Although not mentioned in the strategic document, we know the new role ofEagle, destined to become the force multiplier of the F-22.
The F-15 2040C It was designed forAir Dominance until the advent of the next generation of aircraft. Specifically, theF-15 2040C will be able to carry 16 air-to-air missiles and will be equipped with the Talon HATE, a complete communication suite integrated with the Raptor. The package also includes the electronic scanning active radar Raytheon APG-63 (v) 3 and the electronic warfare systems Eagle Passive / Active Warning Survivability System (EPAWSS). It seems clear that the package 2040C arises from the need to integrate and enhance the capabilities of the F-22. To date, the US has 250 F-15. Considering the upgrade, F-15 and F-16 will remain in service at least up to 2045.
The 300 F-16, on the other hand, are undergoing a modernization and extension of cell life. At least up to 2035, the proposed strategy of the Air Force provides the massive use of F-15 and F-16 for low-end tasks, reserving the F-22 only high-end missions. It seems clear that those 123 Raptor they are far too few to guarantee optimal levels of presence in crisis areas around the globe in twenty years.
The main problem is that the Air Force, considering the current threats and the contexts where the presence of a fifth generation platform is needed, would need 382 Raptor. The United States has six operational F-22 squadrons, but these are undersized compared to other combat units.
THEF-15 2040C, it should become the first force multiplier, opening the era of the flying arsenal. One of the main limitations of the low observability configuration is determined by the internal load of the latest generation platforms. The ability to carry weapon systems internally is an essential prerogative for a profile stealth clean. The problem is that the F-22, for example, only carries six BVR missiles, the F-35 only four. The proposed solution of the Air Force is "the flying arsenal" that is based on a platform, most likely it will be the B-52, able to transport dozens of missiles and precision bombs from the rear. In the new doctrine, in the fifth generation hunt, the advance would be beyond the visual range thanks to the avionics of the last generation. Once the threat is identified, the fighter connected to the network with the "flying arsenal" would transfer the pointing information. Finally, the B-52 would launch the missile at the target.
The Air Force pushes for online "integrated combat forces" that can perform a variety of tasks in one mission. Planes stealth, which would no longer have the need to "stain" the profile, would continue to coordinate multiple attacks from the flying arsenals operating in the rear. Considering that the B-1 fleet has been denuclearized, it is easy to assume that this task will be performed by the 76 B-52H still in service.
The tactical asset will be up to the F-35 that will remain in service at least up to 2050 and that we know to be in any way dogfighter. Yet in the new strategic document include those three letters, PCA, acronym for Penetrating Counterair.
The document reads: "The PCA will have to maximize a series of compromises between autonomy, payload, survival, lethality, accessibility, and sustainability. The Air Force will issue an AoA, Analysis of Alternatives, in the 2017. Consistent with an agile acquisition mentality designed for entry into service according to the required times, rapid development is required that can respond to future threats".
The PCA will have to respond to "growing platforms and advanced aerial and surface assets that are spreading all over the world".
But what will the PCA system be? Excluding it may be a new fighter, it will almost certainly be a low-observable drone that will exploit the know-how acquired with the tested platforms (publicly and not). This could be the SR-72.
We know that Skunk Works, a division for special projects of Lockheed, has delivered a final project to the Pentagon for a platform able to reach North Korea in 90 minutes, fly over the entire peninsula in two minutes, make surveys at very high resolution and behave like a standard aircraft, without the need for a launch or booster aircraft. It would be based on the concept of a combined cycle engine. The latter circumvents the traditional limitations of reactors, statoreactors and scramjet, which can operate only at different speed regimes. The new propulsion system aims to solve this problem by using a turbine engine for low-speed and one scramjet at high speeds.
Of the Lockheed demonstrator we know the dimensions, the same ones of the Raptor and the cost, about a billion dollars (we are talking about the first operational prototype). The Penetrating Counterair it could therefore revive the concept of persistent recognition. Invisible to the radar (to most of them), it could fly deep into enemy airspace and circumvent the problem of satellites, confined by their orbits.
If armed, the SR-72 could hit any target on the planet in 90 minutes. One wonders, however, the real cost of an operating fleet considering the existing alternatives. The first and probably the most realistic one would be to arm submarines with hypersonic missiles. In the strategic document no reference is made to the alleged Phoenix Program that should bring the F-22 back to life Raptor (already considered non-starter).
Finally, other programs are not mentioned. Only for the Air Force, the US find themselves having to finance at the same time new tankers, bombers stealth, radar and search and rescue helicopters. Then there is a new Air Force One, obviously the F-35 and the update for F-22, F-15 and F-16. Finally, there is the AX program to replace the A-10s.
(photo: Lockheed Martin / US Air Force)
