Why the US Air Force is unlikely to adopt the Navy's F/A-XX

Could Air Force funding pressure lead it to buy the Navy's F/A-XX instead of developing its own next-generation aircraft?

It is possible but unlikely, because the Air Force will probably insist on controlling a design tailored to its own requirements.

The panel calls a US Air Force purchase of the Navy's F/A-XX a possible but unlikely answer to budget pressure. The Air Force is expected to protect its own program, requirements, and institutional control even if a naval aircraft could perform some of the same missions. The discussion broadens into a warning about attempts to judge complex defense programs from only part of the classified picture. Compartmentalization creates apparent inefficiency because information is deliberately restricted to reduce compromise. Procurement reform therefore has to contend with both interservice incentives and the security reasons outsiders cannot see every dependency.