US Confused About What Air Power Should Look Like

In the not too distant future, the face of the US Air Force will change dramatically. The US Air Force will consist of a relatively small number of very high-capacity manned and unmanned combat aircraft flying at hypersonic speeds, a large number of cheap, disposable and numerous UCAVs, and a small number of multi-million dollar UCAVs. 

Task forces will be formed in a "swarm" concept. These task forces will consist of a large number of UCAVs operated by a small number of manned aircraft. A significant number of these UCAVs will be "kamikaze" drones.

The Pentagon is designing new concepts and systems for the rapid fielding of task forces with thousands of UCAVs. The US is looking for ways to return to its World War II status of superiority through superior numbers, that is, through quantity. In order to do so, Pentagon experts aim to push the boundaries of what we usually think of as science fiction, transferring the bulk of combat activities to rapidly developed robots, often powered by artificial intelligence.

In the wars of the near future, there will be very few Americans alive on the front lines (in the air, on land, at sea). Unmanned air, land and sea platforms will dominate the battlefield. Artificial intelligence will be active and intensively used in every system and phase, but humans and human intelligence will have the last word.

The United States aims to put into practice as soon as possible its "Replicator Initiative" concept, which aims to field "thousands" of low-cost drones operating in the air, on land and at sea.  Rather than seeing this as a new program, it may be more appropriate to think of it as a new philosophy moving towards what the US Air Force has long called the "affordable mass" model.

So why is the US confused about what its new air power should look like? 

The F-35 was supposed to be the last manned jet fighter, but it turned out not to be true!...

The US is planning to fly humans even on its hypersonic aircraft. And how will this happen? Why do they want to put a live pilot on a plane that will fly at a minimum speed of Mach 6? Why do they plan to put humans in the planes they intend to fly at Mach 10 when they plan to put a minimum number of people on the front line in their new war concept? The answer is simple; the US does not trust Artificial Intelligence to make the final critical decisions, not at all.

Hypersonic NGADs (Next Generation Air Dominance Aircraft) were not intended to have human pilots, but now these aircraft are required to be configured to fly manned as well.

The SR-71's son, the hypersonic SR-72, is also designed to be manned.

A "joint" aircraft like the F-35 is no longer desired.

Even the F-35 program was called Joint Strike Fighter, but the Pentagon did not want a common purpose for NGADs. There are different NGAD programs for both the US Air Force and the US Navy.

At the same time, there will no longer be a joint logistics support program (PBL) like the F-35. The original manufacturers of NGADs will be different. The designs of the NGADs will also be different. The US Air Force and Navy will do the logistic support of their own aircraft themselves. Logistic support systems will be tailored to their own needs.

Expensive systems will not be preferred; they will be few and far between. Low-cost systems will be procured in large numbers.

The US will no longer opt for mega-high-cost programs like the F-22 and F-35, expensive systems will be few and far between, and cheap systems will support them in large numbers. 

The most important threat to US Air Power is now Chinese Air Power.

From the Second World War to the present, the most important threat to US Air Power was Russian Air Power, but from now on, Chinese Air Power poses the most important threat.

Conclusion:

Excessive defense spending is eroding the US economy. While the US wants to maintain its technological superiority in defense systems, it also seeks to reduce the financial burden this superiority places on its economy. But it does not seem to have found the answer to what the optimum solution should be. They must be very confused.