Boeing's T-7 has struggled with safety issues and testing and schedule delays, and lawmakers want the Air Force to speed up the Red Hawk's acquisition.
The Air Force's hunt for a combat search and rescue approach that would work in a war against China or Russia will likely be a two-pronged effort: Help downed aviators survive longer behind enemy lines, and find new ways — perhaps using drones — of finding and reaching them.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., worried the Air Force could find itself without enough aircraft to conduct battlefield management or rescue downed personnel.
To prepare for far more contested airspace, the U.S. Air Force is laying the groundwork for a series of radical transformations in how it approaches air combat that could cost at least tens of billions of dollars over the next two decades.