The US Air Force (USAF) confirmed that its future fighter jet, and centrepiece of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, “will fly during President [Donald] Trump’s administration.”
“At my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet,” said President Trump during a press briefing at the White House. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it, and it’ll be known as the F-47.”
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F-47 is designed to integrate next-generation stealth, sensor fusion, and long-range strike capabilities to counter the most sophisticated adversaries in contested environments. Its adaptability and modular design ensure integration with emerging technologies.
Boeing followed with an update confirming it will deliver the aircraft, although no contract details have been made available.
Boeing wins F-47 contract
The prime has produced many combat aircraft including the P-51 Mustang, F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet and EA-18G Growler to the United States.
However, Lockheed Martin has delivered the most recent advanced fighter aircraft to the USAF, from the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II and the F-22 Raptor, as the supplier ascended to what seemed to be an uncontested space among US defence primes.
The contract represents a welcomed break for Boeing, an aviation prime that has fallen – financially and in the public imagination – after a string of problems with safety in its manufacturing process across its commercial and defence businesses.
At the start of this year, Air Education and Training Command requested that Boeing allay concerns with additional safety guarantees with the delivery of four ‘production representative test vehicles’ in FY2026, before rolling out the full fledged T-7A trainer aircraft.
“For the past five years, the X-planes for this [new NGAD] aircraft have been quietly laying the foundation for the F-47 – flying hundreds of hours, testing cutting-edge concepts, and proving that we can push the envelope of technology with confidence,” the USAF stated.
Compared with what the service argue is the “finest air superiority fighter in the world” right now, the F-22, of which there are 183 units in service, the F-47 is said to constitute a “generational leap forward” and still cost less.
Road to NGAD
NGAD comprises more than just the new F-47 combat aircraft, but also a host of various uncrewed autonomous systems that will provide additional attritable mass at the tactical level, known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCAs. The service intend to procure up to 1,000 systems.
Anduril and General Atomics are the two competing vendors in the CCA portion of NGAD.
Strangely, this platform announcement comes after the summer of 2024, when the USAF announced that they wanted to “pause” the NGAD programme, citing cost concerns.
Five months ago, at the International Fighter Conference in Berlin, a senior air force official revealed that NGAD lived on, that rumours of the programme’s demise were “grossly exaggerated.”
“We are at a point where we must re-evaluate exactly what [NGAD] becomes before making an investment worth several billions of dollars,” the official reassured international colleagues.
