Aircraft (Formerly Air Domain) –
The dawn of the 21st century presented America with a unipolar world free from large-scale competition with great powers. September 11, 2001, forever changed the world and shifted America's focus, significantly impacting the United States’ National Defense Strategy. This dramatic shift in focus embroiled America into a decades-long counter-insurgency regional conflict in the Middle East and Central Asia. The post 9/11 emphasis on non-state actors and unconventional warfare drove new requirements centered on small-scale regional conflict, reducing resourcing and acquisitions programs needed to compete in Great Power Combat.
Twenty years later, the United States is experiencing a global shift in strategic competition as Russia and China grapple with expanding their spheres of influence. It is now clear the world is entering an era of multipolar Great Power Competition. America is facing a different world, containing multiple peer competitors striving to gain a worldwide strategic advantage. Moreover, Russia and China's advanced military modernization programs are rapidly reducing the technical and military superiority the U.S. has enjoyed over the past several decades. As a result, America must refocus on Great Power Competition to ensure the military is ready and resourced to fight tonight while developing a future force for 2030. The 2030 force drives new resourcing requirements to meet the challenges of this complex global security environment.1 The return to Great Power Competition presents the United States with an increasingly lethal and disruptive battlefield, across multiple domains with ever-increasing speed and reach of forces that render long-standing forward “sanctuary” bases vulnerable.2 This new paradigm obliges America to preserve its “fight tonight” force while modernizing and resourcing a future 2030 force capable of high-end, near-peer conflict and long-range strike in a contested and degraded operational battlespace.
THESIS:
The long-term effects of defense industrial base consolidation, near-term impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the aircraft industry, continued budget uncertainty, and the resurgence of global power competition requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to modify fighter fleet modernization strategies, accelerate the fighter modernization plan, and reevaluate U.S. government research funding, acquisition efforts, and material supply strategies.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
Research gathered from a review of recent literature, interviews, industry site visits, and guest speakers form the basis of this report. Representatives from the DoD key acquisition leaders, the aerospace industry, second and third-tier suppliers, and operational military units were interviewed and featured as guest speakers to provide holistic perspectives. In addition, members of the seminar conducted independent research on the wide-ranging air domain topics included within this report. However, the preponderance of research incorporated into this paper focuses upon fighter aircraft.
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