China Will Field a Sixth Generation Fighter Before America Can

Doesn't really matter - there may actually be second mover advantage in warfare, unless the innovation is overwhelmingly decisive (no '6th' generation plane is that, simply doesn't have the payload). Greater concern is procurement costs - US spends far more, gets a little less and this seems to be getting worse. DOGE needs to investigate here, more than anywhere

I fail to see what role fighter aircraft play in 2025.

Do we just keep building them out of habit?

>China could comfortably win the sixth generation race, particularly in terms of the speed at which it could bring aircraft into service

...

>NGAD fighter was confirmed in 2022 not to have entered this phase indicated it may not enter service until the latter half of the 2030s

Really understating it. If J36 follows J20 LRIP, PRC will have them in service by 2030 and 100s by 2035.

>hopes in the United States that use of advanced digital assembly and testing technologies was expected to significantly accelerate NGAD’s development and reduce costs, the value of these technologies was conceded by Secretary Kendall to have been “over-hyped.”

Hilariously J36 designer insinuated PRC is basically going to be doing this + essentially Digital Century Series of rapid iteration -> turn high end weapons platform procurement into smart phones. We already see PRC EV bringing design to production timeline from 5 years to 18 months. Which puts them in position to respond to relevant US NGAD developments. US needs to learn to design + build fast.