https://aviationweek.com/defense-spa...t-navy-fighter
White House Connects Secret Code Name To Next Navy Fighter
The Biden administration has requested funding to develop an NGAD Navy fighter under the special access Link Plumeria program.
A tiny crack has opened in the U.S. Navy’s closely guarded plans for a next-generation crewed fighter, with the White House confirming a relationship between the F/A-XX project and an apparent special access program code-named Link Plumeria.
The disclosure adds new depth to the Defense Department’s ongoing investment of more than $40 billion to develop a new family of Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) technology for the Air Force and Navy, with the latter facing calls by some lawmakers for a potentially devastating budget cut in fiscal 2024….
….Funding for the F/A-XX program had been hiding all along under the Link Plumeria special access program (SAP) code name, which—although classified—ranked as the Pentagon’s fourth-largest research and development program.
The fiscal 2023-27 $11.5 billion budget for Link Plumeria in the fiscal 2023 request fell behind only the spending levels for the Air Force’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, NGAD and Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared programs.
In fact, the requested budget for Link Plumeria exceeded the proposed $10 billion outlay in research and development for the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider during the same period.
Despite its size, Link Plumeria was a public mystery. Although the large investment pointed to a known, classified development project such as the F/A-XX, Navy officials refused to connect the programs as recently as two months ago.
“As stated in the budget exhibit, details are classified per Executive Order 13526, Sec 1.4 (a),” a Navy spokesperson stated in an email to Aviation Week on May 23.
But the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directly tied Link Plumeria to the F/A-XX program for the first time in a July 10 communication to Congress.
The House Armed Services Committee has passed a version of the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill that proposes to reduce a $2.1 billion spending request by the Navy for Link Plumeria to $1 billion, citing only “unjustified requirements.”
In response, the OMB said the committee’s proposed spending cut for Link Plumeria would harm the Navy’s development plans for the F/A-XX fighter.
“The language makes it impossible for the Navy to satisfy a critical element of the [national defense strategy] in support of Joint Force priorities,” the OMB letter stated. “The 70% reduction breaks the program and leaves the acquisition strategy unexecutable.”….