The Navy’s secretive sixth-generation fighter—which will likely share attributes with the Air Force’s own Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter—will have substantially greater range and payload than its predecessors, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of the Navy said—indicating enthusiasm for the program amid uncertainty about both services’ path forward for advanced fighters.
The Navy and Air Force are also working together to evaluate their plans for joint air battle management in a new review, John Phelan wrote in prepared testimony for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
While Phelan did not go in-depth on Naval aviation during the hearing, he did address it when asked in his his advanced policy questions shared with the committee. Specifically, he said the F/A-XX—the Navy’s designation for its Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter—will offer “significant advancements in operational reach and capacity within contested environments.” The aircraft is “intended to enable Carrier Strike Groups to outpace adversaries while maintaining naval air dominance,” he wrote.
The Navy is also “collaborating closely” with the Air Force and Marine Corps on advanced aircraft “to ensure interoperability through shared enabling technologies like autonomy, mission systems, and communication architectures,” Phelan added.
Air Force and Navy officials have said before they are coordinating their sixth-gen efforts, with the two fighters likely to share technologies such as propulsion, sensors and communication systems. They will not, however, be variants of the same airframe like the F-35.
Phelan’s comments come amid uncertainty about both service’s NGAD efforts. The Air Force put its version on hold amid concerns about the requirements and cost, and previous Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall deferred a final decision on the program’s future to the incoming secretary and the Trump administration.
The Navy, meanwhile, withdrew about $1 billion from its NGAD effort in its 2025 budget request and said it would delay the program, without providing much detail. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti later said the service was still committed to pressing forward with the program, but she has since been dismissed by Trump.
Stephen Feinberg, the nominee for deputy secretary of defense, said at his confirmation hearing this week that a decision about the way forward for NGAD would probably be made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or President Trump. Trump advisor Elon Musk has publicly dismissed crewed aircraft as obsolete, saying the mission should be taken over by autonomous air vehicles.
CCA
Phelan also noted the existing partnership between the Air Force and Navy on Collaborative Combat Aircraft; autonomous drones that will fly alongside crewed fighters, carrying more munitions for them and potentially serving as sensor, reconnaissance, and relay platforms.
“This collaborative approach, encompassing both manned and unmanned platforms, including Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) will maximize operational effectiveness and flexibility across the services,” Phelan wrote.
“In my view,” he continued, “aligning technology development and operational requirements will ensure the services are poised to full leverage next-generation unmanned systems, ultimately enhancing capabilities and long-range mission effectiveness.”
Battle Management
Elsewhere in his written testimony, Phelan said that “in conjunction with the Air Force, Joint Staff, and the Combatant Commanders,” the Navy is undertaking a study “to define the requirements for joint air battle management in a high-end fight.” This study, directed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation shop, “will inform me, if confirmed, and the rest of the Navy leadership, as to any potential investments needed in airborne command and control capabilities.”
The Navy’s platform for airborne battle management for nearly 40 years has been the Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye, a turboprop-powered, carrier-launched and recovered, airborne warning and control aircraft with a large dorsal radome.
Numerous think tanks and Pentagon leaders have noted that China has developed very long-range air-to-air missiles apparently intended to take out single-point-of-failure assets like the Hawkeye; its Air Force counterpart, the E-3 AWACS; and aerial tankers. The Air Force is planning to replace the E-3 with the Boeing E-7 Wedgetail, but the E-2’s eventual replacement has not been publicly mapped out.
The Air Force has described its planned purchase of 26 E-7s as a bridge capability until it can migrate the air and ground moving target indication mission to satellites.