【Military Second Plane】Author: Golden Bomber

Recently, the "Big and Beautiful" bill pushed by Trump has officially passed the Congress vote. The part about military budget in the bill has attracted considerable attention from the outside world. According to the content of the bill, the US defense budget will increase by another $150 billion next year, making the overall military budget exceed $1 trillion, which is very close to Saudi Arabia's annual GDP, reaching an unprecedented high level. Although Trump is ambitious, many people still doubt that this $150 billion cannot save the US military industry. Why is that?

▲The "Big and Beautiful" bill will inject $150 billion into US defense

In recent years, the development of many military projects in the United States has not been smooth. The three most notable stalled projects are the E-7 early warning aircraft, the sixth-generation carrier-based aircraft of the Navy, and the hypersonic version of the Standard 6 missile. In the 2026 fiscal year military budget, the US has clearly canceled the procurement of the E-7 "Wedge Tail" early warning aircraft. The planned demand for this aircraft by the US and its allies was as high as 26 units, intended to fully replace the increasingly aging E-3 early warning aircraft.

In modern air combat, how important early warning aircraft are, there is no need to emphasize repeatedly. At present, the E-3 is the core and pillar aircraft of the strategic early warning and command system of the US Air Force and multiple US allies. It not only plays the role of an airborne radar, providing strategic-level airborne battlefield situational awareness, but can also provide real-time command coordination for fighter groups, bomber groups, and drone groups within a campaign-level air battle area. In large-scale air battles, one or even multiple waves of military aircraft formations, whether executing interception, control, air defense, and other tasks, all depend on the E-3. But the problem is, the E-3 is old, and it needs to be replaced by a younger model.

▲E-7

E-7 was originally intended to play this role. It can be considered a "super enhanced version" of the E-3. E-7 uses the Boeing 737-700IGW platform, which has better performance and reliability than the Boeing 707. Just the average flight cost per hour is more than 30% lower than that of the E-3. The mechanical rotating radar of the E-3, AN/APY-1/2, is no longer effective, so the E-7 will use a stronger active phased array radar with a refresh rate in the millisecond range.

The US had a plan to develop a new generation of early warning aircraft as early as 2007. At that time, Northrop Grumman Company also launched the E-10 project, which was soon canceled. Since then, E-7 has become the only remaining option in the US strategic early warning aircraft development plan. E-7 was once highly anticipated, but now it is gone. What lies ahead for the US is either no better early warning aircraft available or using satellite reconnaissance to replace the role of early warning aircraft. The "Big and Beautiful" bill increased the military budget by $150 billion, but none of that money went to E-7, which is a significant disappointment.

▲Boeing's F/A-XX

In recent years, another key project significantly cut in budget is the US Navy's next-generation carrier-based fighter, the F/A-XX. The US government did give an explanation for the project being put on hold, stating concerns that the US industrial base would not be able to simultaneously complete the development and production of two different types of sixth-generation fighters.

However, the F/A-XX was not completely canceled, but rather retained a symbolic budget of $74 million. This amount is insufficient to support the creation of a prototype, but it is enough to ensure the initial design of the project, keeping a spark of hope. A large portion of the budget that was cut or diverted from the F/A-XX will be invested into the US Air Force's sixth-generation fighter, the F-47. This decision gives a sense of "you can't have both fish and bear's paw." However, the so-called industrial system issue given by the US government is questionable in many aspects.

In developing sixth-generation fighters, both Lockheed Martin and Boeing have done their utmost. Especially in terms of funding, these two companies, which used to prioritize profit, even offered their own initial solutions. Therefore, at least in terms of research and development and funding, the US does not face particularly major difficulties. Giving up the F/A-XX and letting the F-47 face China's two sixth-generation fighters is equivalent to giving up the position of leadership that should have been held. As for the "Big and Beautiful" bill, it seems to have no intention of solving this issue, which is truly regrettable.

▲SM-6 Block IB

Another major problem faced by the US Navy is the hypersonic missile project "Standard" 6 Block IB (SM-6 Block IB) has also been "strategically delayed." This year, the US has suspended two hypersonic missile projects, one being the "Standard" 6 and the other being the hypersonic air-launched offensive missile HALO.

The hypersonic version of the "Standard" 6 is a budget-cutting plan, which involves developing a hypersonic version based on the mature "Standard" 6 body, thus breaking the traditional missile development model that can only perform a single type of task. The SM-6 Block IB does not require establishing a new production line and can significantly reduce the development cost and the time required for the production cycle. Originally, the Standard 6 was just an air defense missile equipped with a fragmentation warhead. Under this development concept, it has gradually developed specialized versions for anti-ship and land attack. In terms of effect, it cannot match the powerful dedicated anti-ship missiles and land attack tactical missiles in most cases. The "Standard" 6 could have developed a hypersonic version, but its budget was suddenly reduced from $162 million to $83 million, indicating that the development work will soon be suspended.

▲Many problems in the US military industry are not solvable with money alone

As a result, even though the "Big and Beautiful" bill injected $150 billion into the US, it still couldn't fundamentally change the stagnation state of many new military weapon development projects in the US. The current difficulties faced by the US military industry are largely due to inefficiency, with too many "Smith Commissioners" appearing in the entire management process. These people take money without doing anything. Even if the US spends eight or ten times the R&D funds, they cannot achieve the same R&D results as China.

In recent years, the number of new advanced weapons systems that the US military has abandoned is far more than the above three. The development plan for the 8000-ton version of the "Constellation" class has already faced difficulties, the M10 "Booker" tank has been completely canceled, and even the M10 that has been produced will be stored in inventory or sold to other countries. The robot combat vehicle RCV project has also disappeared, and the production plan for DDG (X) has jumped from 2028 to 2032. These signs indicate that the US military is getting worse and worse. Therefore, simply increasing the budget by $150 billion to solve the problem through money will definitely not be a quick fix.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7524662119397147176/

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