DOD IG to launch NGAD review

The Defense Department inspector general plans to launch a review next month of critical technologies associated with the Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance platform.

Officials will convene an entrance conference the week of Oct. 17 to start coordinating the evaluation, according to a memo released yesterday. The process will assess whether key technologies associated with NGAD “were mature enough to support entry into the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the NGAD program’s acquisition timeline.

“We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives,” the memo adds.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said earlier this year that the program had entered EMD but has since clarified NGAD has not formally conducted preliminary design review, which paves the way to approval for milestone B and formally launches the EMD phase.

“We are working on the actual design of the aircraft. So for me that means we are in engineering and manufacturing development,” Kendall said during a media roundtable at the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space and Cyber conference last week.

He then reiterated the program intends to deliver a capability by the end of the decade.