U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, believes stealth and speed are not important for the next generation F/A-XX naval fighter.
Speaking at the Office of Naval Research Naval Future Force Science and Technology Expo, Greenert said: “I don’t want to necessarily say that it’s over but let’s face it, if something moves fast through the air and disrupts molecules in the air and puts out heat – I don’t care how cool the engine can be – it’s going to be detectable.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be super-duper fast, because you can’t outrun missiles,” he said on having high speed.
More important, Greenert wants the next fighter to be optionally manned. “The weight that we put on an aircraft due to the pilot is kind of extraordinary. You take that off and put sensors on there instead.”