The DoD plans on buying two new VC-25 presidential transports (Air Force One) by the end of this decade, kicking off an effort to replace the ancient T-38 Talon around 2018, new bombers and a fleet of more than 600 UAVs by 2022. The plan lists an effort to develop a 6th-generation fighter, dubbed F-X, to replace the Air Force’s F-22 Raptors and another 6th-gen jet called F/A-XX that’s slated to replace the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. All in all the document shows that the Pentagon’s aviation fleet will grow slightly from 14,340 aircraft today to 14,415 by 2022, with aviation spending totaling about $770 billion during that time. Anyone interested in reading the study/report in it's entirety...see link below. Annual Aviation Inventory and Funding Plan Fiscal Years (FY) 2013-2042 http://www.scribd.com/doc/89067363/DoD-Aviation-Plan
I am surprised the US isn't investing more into transition from manned to unmanned planes. Surely that's where the future lies?
I agree with you. The only thing I can think is that the technology isn't quite there yet. I imagine that within 50 years pretty much everything will be unmanned, except for the soldiers on the ground but even they will have untold new abilities. Unmanned ships and planes is definitely the way to go however. Unless it's cost prohibitive that is.
Bump. HAMPTON, Va. - Some of the nation's 200 F-22 Raptor pilots want to be moved into other jobs because of oxygen-deficit problems with the stealth fighter, an Air Force leader said Monday. Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va., told reporters that a "very small" number of pilots have asked not to fly the fifth-generation fighter jets or to be reassigned. "Obviously it's a very sensitive thing because we are trying to ensure that the community fully understands all that we're doing to try to get to a solution," Hostage said. He did not provide exact figures on the number of pilots who have asked to not fly the jets and said each pilot's request would be handled individually.
