By Staff Correspondent
Following the news that the US Department of Defense has awarded a contract for engine development for the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NAP) program, which is set to power the US Air Force’s (USAF) Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, to five different firms.
James Marques, Associate Aerospace, Defense and Security Analyst at a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:
“With a spending ceiling of $975 million, the indefinite delivery-and-quantity contract for the NAP project raises eyebrows due to its inclusion of Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman alongside traditional engine builders General Electric and Pratt & Whitney. The new engine will be in competition with others such as Japan’s XF-9 and the UK’s E2SG project. All are expected to leverage adaptive cycle technologies to create propulsion that can efficiently operate at sub, trans, and supersonic speeds.
“While the development of an engine and airframe usually go hand in hand, it is unusual for firms such as Lockheed and Boeing to be working directly on propulsion. It comes at a time when the US is looking to diversify competition in the defense industry: the head of the USAF propulsion directorate has argued American advantage in engine design will ‘stagnate’ if the marketplace isn’t ‘pushed to innovate’. The wide field for competition over NAP suggests that the US may be looking to harness the potential of digital transformation to evolve the capabilities of the propulsion industry.
“With nations like Japan planning to export for the first time, in a market projected to be worth $98 billion by 2032, the US is moving to guard its industry advantage.”