“There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.” – Orson Welles
On the Radar
In a somewhat surprising move, Northrop Grumman has chosen not to be the main contractor for the US Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, a decision that was shared by Kathy Warden, the company's President and CEO, during the second quarter earnings call in 2023. Warden, however, did not dismiss the possibility of Northrop Grumman's involvement as a secondary partner in the NGAD program and conveyed ongoing interest in the Navy's future generation fighter.
This withdrawal from the NGAD program narrows down the list of potential primary contractors to just Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The NGAD program, set to be implemented by 2030, aims to supersede the capabilities of both the F-15 Eagle and the F-22 Raptor as a state-of-the-art, sixth-generation fighter. This new fighter is expected to work seamlessly with Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), drone technology with capabilities akin to traditional fighter aircraft. The Air Force has stated that it wants about 1000 CCAs by the 2030s.
This statement begins to make more sense when you consider that Northrop has already been awarded the B-21 Raider contract. It appears that Northrop is wisely focusing its efforts on the Raider.
More videos on the way be sure to check the channel!
This week in aviation history
31 July 1971: The Lunar Roving Vehicle or LRV was first used on the Surface of the moon. The buggy deployed from the Apollo 15 Lunar Module, Falcon. A four wheeled electrically powered surface vehicle, the LRV was designed to carry two astronauts, and stored in a folded configuration aboard the lunar module.
While weighing over 460 pounds on earth, the LRV weighed just 77 pounds on the moon’s surface. Apollo 15’s landing crew made three excursions in the LRV, and traveled a total distance of 17.3 miles in just under 3 hours and 30 minutes of driving time - now you know!
In case you missed it
Did you know there was once talk of the RAF operating F-14 Tomcats? Here’s the story as well as flight sim footage of an F-14 in RAF livery:
****Photo Outlet
Opps! Missed a picture last week so here is not one photo, but TWO photos!
The Navy’s Blue Angles flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet:
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading! If you know a fellow aviation enthusiast that would enjoy these weekly newsletters, then please forward this along. Now you know!
-Tog