7 Firms May Compete to Design Advanced Tactical Fighter : Air Force Seeks Bids on New Plane
The Air Force’s $45-billion program to build a new-generation jet fighter moved forward Tuesday when the service called on the aerospace industry for bids to conduct detailed designs and wind tunnel tests for the aircraft.
The new jet, called the Advanced Tactical Fighter, is generating tough competition in the aircraft industry, which views the new program as one of the last significant aircraft production awards of this century.
So far, seven of the nation’s major aircraft companies have been actively competing under small contracts to develop designs for the new warplane. Typically, the contractors have invested tens of millions of dollars of their own funds in vying for the lucrative project.
The competitors include the Los Angeles operations of Lockheed, Northrop and Rockwell International. The other four contractors are Boeing, General Dynamics, Grumman and McDonnell Douglas.
The Air Force’s action Tuesday, called a “request for proposal,” involves the second phase of the program, which will demonstrate and validate the new technologies that the Air Force wants included in the new fighter.
Some of those technologies would enable cockpit controls to be voice activated and the plane to fly at supersonic speeds for long distances and to attack enemies so far away that the ATF would not need to engage in dogfights.
Stiff Price
But the capability is going to come at a stiff price, which is creating controversy in Congress at a time when the defense budget is already under attack.
The Air Force plans to buy 750 ATFs at about $35 million each. It will spend about $12 billion to develop the new type of jet and about $6.75 billion for testing, ground equipment and training.
The $45-billion price tag of the program exceeds the $38.1 billion that the Air Force spent on procuring the F-15 jet that the ATF will replace. The Air Force says it is studying how to cut ATF costs.
“There is an increase in costs, but there is also an increase in capability,” said Lt. Gen. Bernard P. Randolph, deputy chief of staff for research, development and acquisition. “Cost is critical, but . . . it would be a waste for us to buy a machine at some very low, low cost that will fail in its mission.”
All seven of the current contractors are expected to submit bids, which are due in December. The Air Force will narrow down the field of competitors next spring to at least two but no more than four firms, Air Force officials said.
It hopes to select a single contractor in 1989 to develop, test fly and produce the ATF. The first flight is scheduled for 1991, and the aircraft would become operational in the mid-1990s. It would be in production for about 10 years.
