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The contradiction of a stably deployed design and multiple iterations / airframes is why I don't think the Navy will take the same approach.If Roper suddenly had unlimited funding, his idea would be to do something along the lines of fighter jet natural selection - have multiple prime contractors producing multiple aircraft designs; any that run into major budgetary or schedule problems would get cancelled (because there were others in development / in service), and those that provide excellent bang-for-buck would have orders increased, etc. Those that make it to IOC but fall behind would have limited production lines and might only stay in service for (eg) 15 years before being retired.It's a nice concept for developing the best fighters, and it does present some opportunities for localised cost reduction, but overall it'd have to be an expensive venture, even if you're making efforts to (eg) recycle and share sub-systems like engines, EO/IR sensors, etc between designs.Edit:The Navy meanwhile (as bring_it_on mentioned) is going to have a hard enough time fully funding a proper Super Hornet replacement. I personally don't see the Digital Century Series happening at all (Roper's about to leave office and few [regardless of political leaning or administration] would be willing to take on a project as ambitious as this), though it might be more viable to apply to more scope-limited unmanned systems; you might not get a diverse fleet of 6th gen fighters, but you might get some rapid UAS development, especially in the software front.
The contradiction of a stably deployed design and multiple iterations / airframes is why I don't think the Navy will take the same approach.
If Roper suddenly had unlimited funding, his idea would be to do something along the lines of fighter jet natural selection - have multiple prime contractors producing multiple aircraft designs; any that run into major budgetary or schedule problems would get cancelled (because there were others in development / in service), and those that provide excellent bang-for-buck would have orders increased, etc. Those that make it to IOC but fall behind would have limited production lines and might only stay in service for (eg) 15 years before being retired.
It's a nice concept for developing the best fighters, and it does present some opportunities for localised cost reduction, but overall it'd have to be an expensive venture, even if you're making efforts to (eg) recycle and share sub-systems like engines, EO/IR sensors, etc between designs.
Edit:
The Navy meanwhile (as bring_it_on mentioned) is going to have a hard enough time fully funding a proper Super Hornet replacement. I personally don't see the Digital Century Series happening at all (Roper's about to leave office and few [regardless of political leaning or administration] would be willing to take on a project as ambitious as this), though it might be more viable to apply to more scope-limited unmanned systems; you might not get a diverse fleet of 6th gen fighters, but you might get some rapid UAS development, especially in the software front.
