First US sixth-gen fighter jet will be the F-47, Trump says, and Boeing, not Lockheed, is going to build it
US Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stefan Alvarez
- Boeing has been selected to build the US Air Force's sixth-gen fighter aircraft.
- The Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is expected to succeed the F-22 Raptor as the top air dominance fighter.
- President Trump said on Friday that the new aircraft will be known as the F-47.
The way forward for the US Air Force's mysterious sixth-generation fighter aircraft is clearer. The president revealed that it has a name, and Boeing Co. will build the new jet.
President Donald Trump announced at the White House on Friday that Boeing, a US aerospace giant, is being awarded a lucrative contract to build the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, which is set to succeed the stealth F-22 Raptor, the world's first fifth-generation fighter jet.
Trump, who was flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, said the new aircraft will be known as the F-47, and hailed it as the most advanced, capable, and lethal aircraft "ever built."
"Nothing in the world comes even close to it," the president said in the Oval Office.
The NGAD is expected to succeed the Lockheed Martin-manufactured F-22, which entered service two decades ago, as the Air Force's top air superiority fighter and will be built to operate alongside drones.
The program is considered a "family of systems" and is expected to work with uncrewed Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that function as semiautonomous "loyal wingmen" for the new aircraft.
Photo by Annabelle Gordon / AFP
The latest movement in the development of the NGAD fighter comes as the US military looks across the Pacific at China, which the Pentagon has identified as its "pacing challenge." Beijing's long-range air defenses and electronic warfare capabilities have advanced dramatically since the F-22 ended production. China's military has also fielded capable fifth-generation fighters and flown what seem to be sixth-gen fighter prototypes.
These developments by a top US military rival make the coming NGAD fighter, which top Air Force officials have said needs to be able to achieve air superiority and penetrate contested combat environments, critical.
The new fighter aircraft's exact design is unclear, but it will presumably include advanced stealth technology and other high-end sensors beyond the top capabilities of current fifth-gen aircraft.
Boeing's share price jumped while Lockheed's dropped as the NGAD news dropped on Friday.
Trump said an experimental version of the aircraft has secretly been flying for almost five years. He said the plane will have unprecedented speed, maneuverability, and payload capacity, as well as low observability.
"We're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, adding that the new fighter aircraft will be equipped with "state-of-the-art stealth technologies," making it "virtually unseeable."
US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jacob M. Thompson
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin called the F-47 the "crown jewel" in the NGAD family of systems.
"This is allowing us to look into the future and unlock the magic that is human-machine teaming, and as we do that, we are going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare," Allvin said in the Oval Office.
The Air Force paused the NGAD program last year to review its goals and requirements in depth. Service leaders under the Biden administration then decided to delegate decision-making to the incoming Trump officials. The president was recently briefed on the program.
In its 2025 budget proposal, the Air Force set almost $20 billion for the NGAD program.
Boeing and Lockheed previously competed for the US military's Joint Strike Fighter program, with Lockheed's X-35 edging out Boeing's X-32 for the contract. The fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter is in service with American and allied forces.