Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper is trying to build the case for frequent, spiral development of the Digital Century Series (DCS) of aircraft--among them the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter--in preparation for the release of the fiscal 2022 budget in the first quarter of next year. That effort is part of Roper's goal to shift billions of dollars from the decades-long sustainment of legacy systems--what Roper terms "geriatrics"--to research and development and procurement of cutting edge systems that the…
