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Credit: U.S. Air Force/Staff St. Joshua Dewberry
The U.S. Air Force chief of staff is entertaining a clean-sheet design to replace the F-16 and wants the tactical aircraft mix discussion to extend past the service and into the Office Of The Secretary Of Defense (OSD).
The service needs to determine what the “son of [Next Generation Air Dominance]” will be to replace the F-16, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. C.Q. Brown told reporters Feb. 17 during a virtual Defense Writers Group event.
Brown envisions a 4.5-generation, or fifth generation “minus,” as the F-16 replacement. This is similar to what the Navy did when the service decided to pursue the Block III Super Hornet. At the time, former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert called the Block III a 4.5 generation fighter.