REDONDO BEACH, Calif.—Northrop Grumman [NOC] will bid for both the Air Force’s and Navy’s sixth-generation fighter jet programs and has already assembled teams working toward winning those contracts.
Northrop Grumman Corporate Vice President and President of Aerospace Systems Tom Vice told reporters here Tuesday the company has a program manager leading the effort to win a contract to succeed the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, jointly-acquired for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. A Northrop Grumman spokesman later clarified the company has two individual programs working on possible sixth-generation fighter programs: one for the Navy and one for the Air Force. The two efforts are being lead by one company executive, the spokesman said, with one program manager for each service effort.
With the long lead times it takes to develop, acquire and field military aircraft, Vice said it was time for Northrop Grumman to start working.
“Northrop Grumman will compete for the next-generation fighter,” Vice said.
Vice said the company “of course” expects to bid as a prime contractor. Northrop Grumman, along with BAE Systems, is currently a subcontractor to Lockheed Martin [LMT] on the F-35. Northrop Grumman is also expected to bid as a prime contractor for the Air Force’s next-generation bomber program, but has not officially announced the decision. They would take on a team of Lockheed Martin and Boeing [BA] for Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB).
Vice said Northrop Grumman has had a “lot” of discussion with the Navy and Air Force about their respective F/A-XX and F-XX programs. He referred questions about acquisition timelines to the services.
Northrop Grumman, Vice said, has created a company-wide initiative to drive innovation and invention with an eye on big-ticket programs like a sixth-generation fighter jet and the Air Force’s T-X trainer. Vice said Northrop Grumman in 2014 had its best year in the amount of invention disclosures, which he said leads to patents. Vice said this effort will position Northrop Grumman to take advantage of the technological and innovation demands driven by such programs like a sixth-generation fighter.
“The next generation, sixth-generation fighter, of which we are already focused on, is going to drive that technology,” Vice said. “What technologies will be required? Think about how sophisticated the programs are (today) in the Air Force with fighters. What is the next version of that?”
Vice expects a sixth-generation fighter jet program to drive innovation like new communications suites, new engines, new on-board systems and human-machine interfaces. Beyond a sixth-generation fighter, Vice expects this effort to provide innovative fruit in programs like the T-X trainer, Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (STARS) recapitalization and in requirements like strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and autonomous electronic warfare (AEW).
“Almost every single technology will have to accelerate to meet the demands of F/A-XX alone,” he said.
Air Force spokeswoman Vicki Stein said the Air Force does not currently have a sixth-generation fighter program. Follow-on possibilities are being explored for the current fighter fleet, Stein said, but at the time, they are too immature to further elaborate.