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Taiwanese troops hold a flag amid military readiness drills on January 11, 2023, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. (Getty Images)
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A 1st Fighter Wing's F-22 Raptor from Joint Base Langley-Eustis, VA. (DVIDS)
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The Air Force and Navy are pursuing Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programs to replace front-line fighters such as the F-22 and F/A-18 E/F with families of manned and unmanned systems. But, by focusing on hardware like manned aircraft first, the services risk constraining NGAD’s flexibility—repeating mistakes of the F-22 and F-35 programs. Instead, NGAD programs should take a note from tech companies like Apple and prioritize the development of software ecosystems first to ensure ease of use and maximize interchangeability across platforms. By developing a software ecosystem, native NGAD systems and external platforms could work as a team to afford commanders a wider range of plays compared to a tight-knit NGAD family that grows up together.
Please join Hudson Senior Fellows Dan Patt and Bryan Clark, former commander of U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command Mike Holmes, and Dr. Tim Grayson, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for a discussion of NGAD and new approaches to acquiring the next generation of military weapons systems.
Check out their new report here
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(Screenshot via Bloomberg)
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A US Marine Corps VXE30 Stalker unmanned aerial system is staged during a maritime domain awareness training exercise in southern Finland on July 31, 2025. (DVIDS)
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