Boeing has been awarded a contract worth over $20 billion to develop the F-47, the United States Air Force’s (USAF) first sixth-generation air superiority fighter, under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme.
The announcement, made on March 21, 2025, by President Donald Trump, marks a significant milestone in the modernisation of the USAF’s fighter fleet, replacing the aging F-22 Raptor with an advanced, next-generation combat aircraft.
The F-47 will serve as the manned core of the NGAD initiative, operating alongside uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (CCAs) to enhance mission effectiveness. While specific design details remain classified, USAF Chief of Staff General David Allvin stated that the aircraft will feature greater range, enhanced stealth, advanced sustainability, and higher operational availability compared to existing fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 and F-35.
Allvin emphasised in remarks that the F-47 will be more cost-effective than the F-22 and will be procured in larger numbers, making it more adaptable to future threats while requiring fewer resources for deployment.
Boeing’s Strategic Win
The contract award is expected to revitalise Boeing’s military aviation division, particularly its fighter production line in St. Louis, Missouri. Over the past several years, Boeing has invested heavily in new defense facilities, a move that Defense One described as “the most significant investment in the history of our defense business.”
Following the announcement, Boeing’s stock surged by 5%, while Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-22 and F-35, saw a 7% drop in its share price.
Key Features of the F-47
Although specific capabilities remain undisclosed, the F-47 is expected to introduce:
- Cutting-edge stealth technology
- Advanced sensor fusion
- Integration with AI-powered drone swarms
- Extended operational range
- Reduced maintenance and logistical requirements
The aircraft will also be built to operate effectively in highly contested environments, ensuring air superiority in future conflicts.
Development Timeline
The NGAD program has been conducting test flights of experimental X-planes since 2020. According to Allvin, the F-47 will fly by early 2029, with the USAF aiming for operational deployment before the end of the decade.
With the award of this contract, the United States solidifies its commitment to maintaining air dominance, as near-peer adversaries continue to advance their own next-generation fighter programs.
Boeing given their current track record it will fall apart.
I just received $6618 working off my Iaptop this month. And if you think that’s cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made 0ver $15781 her first m0nth. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less.
This is what I do… work43.marketingℱ
please don’t copy”ℱ” In Url Thanks
Earning over $15k monthly through a simple online job has been a game-changer for me. Last month alone, I earned $17,529 by dedicating just a few hours online. If you’re looking to increase your online income, you can start earning more cash by following the instructions provided here…
Open This——➤ 𝐖𝐰𝐰.𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝟏.𝐂𝐨𝐦
As long as it’s better than the F-35’s development, Boeing for the win.
Hard to be worse.
You are confusing Boeing Commercial Aircraft with Boeing Defense which manufactures the F-15EX, Apache, Chinook, P-8 and a number of the best military aircraft in the world.
The P-8 is a 737 (commercial). All of the others are obsolete antiques. Boeing has no experience of building anything modern.
All of the others were designed outside of Boeing but became Boeing by merger (Vertol, Hughes and McDonnell Douglas)…..
Obsolete ? Compared to what ?
All of those were developed while Boeing had good engineers. Most were sacked to save money for directors bonuses ten years ago. So now we have 737MAX, 777X & Starliner. It will serve Trump (the 47th President) right if the new fighter is another Boeing fiasco.
Have previously stated from personal experience/observation that Boeing had a respectable engineering capability during the time period of the 1980s through the 1990s. No data beyond that period. Your hypothesis, if verified, would credibly explain the more recent corporate track record. 🤔
I over simplified. The previous board in the 2010s had lots of share options. If they sacked the good, respected Boeing engineers, they could save enough money for a large, generous share buy back. That caused a short time upward spike in the share price, so they could cash in their share options at top dollar & retire with $20m to $50m each.
Boeing KC-46 Pegasus
The Apache and F-15 are legacy aircraft that were developed by Hughes Helicopters and McDonnell Douglas. Pretty sure that the Chinook started development in 1956 when Boeing acquired Vertol in 1960. Boeing got these IPs through acquisitions.
Explain the long list of QA failures in the KC 46?
Agree, Boeing has a strong track record w/ upgrades of legacy ac/programs (w/ possible exception of KC-46). Open question re Boeing performance w/ a new design. Hoping for unalloyed program success; there are real threats about. 🤞🤞
Boeing don’t have the greatest record of delivering products of late so this will be interesting.
Would still go for our effort as the trust in the US had been sadly broken. Even if the next USpresident comes in a pulls back on the trump lunacy we don’t know about the one after that. Trumps comment about the export not being of the same level as theirs can’t encourage sales either.
I was surprised it went to Boeing , given LM track record in Stealth fighters .
I think LM’s track record in stealth fighters is the problem. F22 works but is very expensive, both to buy & operate. F35 is reasonable to buy but expensive to operate, low availability rates & is still after all this time, barely useful (block 4 software needed new hardware which it has now got but still no block 4).
I would suggest NG likely winner of the naval fighter competition. LM to continue with F35 (at least until they can make it work properly).
Barley useful? You are kidding right..
Trump has also said that other countries are calling constantly to buy it without offering proof. He’s also said if they do sell it to other counties they will tone it down by 10% because some day they might not be allies. Very much the pot calling the kettle black.
I just saw that in the video. Truly bizarre.
I’d recommend watching the whole thing, if only for comedy value!
He says “It will have unprecedented speed, it goes faster than 2. You don’t hear that very often”.
Not Mach 2, just 2!
He’s also said he would like to be in the commonwealth, what is going on in that head of his. I think all the fake tan is rotting his brain.
N Ally, , a 78 year old who uses Halloween colours on a daily basis is bizarre. But, it is the New Normal
Yup, he wants to be KING DONALD the ZEREOTH!
America has No King (c) 1776, the Founders.
In reality, US has an elected King. The country is stuck with a constitution written in 1776, when powerful Kings & Emperors were common place & they lacked the ability to think beyond that. The rest of the world has moved on. US is still stuck in 1776.
You forgot they are going to house it in sheds, one would assume constructed from the fields of US wood , they will be cutting down.
As F35 contracts are being cancelled ( 2 so far) I suspect Germany and maybe India will be next. Although India might buy a handful for Russia and China to pull apart.
The American defence industry is going to suffer the Trump effect, BIG time.
Selling F35 to india, the prominent ruzzian sanction evasion enablers, would indeed compromise the JSF Programme completely and ensure that other FMS contracts are dead.
The rationale to expel Türkiye from F35 is fully relevant to india and much increased RF military and economic desperation make the outcome quite certain.
Further impetus for integration of non US weapons as compromise avoidance will be high priority for countries unable to ditch F35 and the fortunes invested in it to date and in future.
Another ‘really great deal’ from the ‘stable genius’ who calls those who serve ‘suckers’ and the fallen ‘loosers’. He really has no clue..
The main photo here looks like it’s got a fake nose on
Those canards could be a bluff too.
They will be queuing up okay but to buy Tempest or FCAS( if it gets built) not anything with “made in the USA “ stamped on it.
Europe First requires ITAR avoidance as a core GCAP requirement. Given the experience of the three countries involved, export enablement will be core, too. The JSF experience will be a strong customer driver for sovereign control of any future aircraft.
Avoidance of any tech which would allow the US government any influence on Tempest( sorry I can’t say GCAP ) is line 1 of the agreement to develop the jet. Both the Japanese and the Brits are sick to the back teeth of US interference in how and when they can use weapons.
Biden stopped the use of Storm Shadow in Ukraine for weeks , much to the annoyance of the Brits .
FYI SCALP is ITAR Free since 2019, France removed US component when US blocked sale to Egypt in 2018
Hopefully the “Tempest” is first put of the sheds!
Maybe not first now but out of the sheds soon as.
He’s a documented liar both by independent verification and by legal due process, on thousands of occasions, so expecting truth not deluded opinion is a staggering piece of wishful thinking. Please don’t apply the high journalistic standards of this parish to the narcissistic sociopath who blatantly works for his own personal advantage and not for the nation as expected for the office he holds presently.
An understandable mistake, but no.
So many Paedocrats 🐹🦄🌈 in this chat. Full on raging TDS 🤪
Absolute comedy gold that speech. He actually believes his own BS. Bizarre?
Hmmm. 2029.
When do we expect it?
How do you know it will be the last unmanned plane? Sometimes the drone fetish on this site stretches incredulity.
Wasn’t the F-35 supposed to be America’s last manned fighter jet?
They said that about the F-22
I think Duncan Sandys was saying similar things off over 65 years ago in 1957. There’s always someone that thinks manned fighters are about to become extinct.
Indeed
In the 1950s they said missiles would replace auto cannons/machine guns in figters, then rapidly had to re arm the Phamtoms with cannon for dogfighting over Vietnam.
The end of manned fighters has been predicted for as long as the end of the tank. Yet both are still in service with new models being designed. I won’t hold my breath waiting for pilots going extinct…
It’ll be interesting to see how this compares with Tempest. I can’t quite tell from the image but it looks to have canards which is surprising.
It has already flown. Unlike tempest.
What has been designated as the F-47 has not flown. Prototypes have been flying for about five years. What Boeing will be manufacturing is the last design iteration with knowledge gained from the test flights.
Technology demonstrators will have flown. Production standard prototypes are a few years away.
The Tempest tech demonstrator is being constructed. The avionic test bed aircraft is already flying
Yep..but F35 first flew 26 years ago…still awaiting FOC / Effective software
Technology demonstrators and X-planes have flown. That could be anything from a 737 with a radar on the front to a fully functional fighter.
It does not have canards. What you think are canards is a very wide mouth undoubtedly to house sensors, ew, radar etc.
If you look at the wings behind there is a clear triangular gap or line between the inner leading edge and the rest of the wing.
That might be canards in front of the wing or maybe some sort of intake/sensor system.
It does have canards. There are multiple images showing canards clearly, and the Boeing concepts for the NGAD and the F/A-XX also included canards.
Denial is always the first stage of grief.
will be interesting to see if this is a fixed price contract (like KC-46 & VC-25B – both of which are losing Boeing a fortune)
Think the management ruled out bidding for fixed price after their disasters which includes Starliner.
Boeing corporation was a dying business except for its military branch. Old Donnie just gave Boeing is huge life line from a slow death. This F 47 will prevent a well deserved bankruptcy. Boeing stock jumped up on the news.
The decision to give Boeing F-47 is, depending how you look at it, either a strategic decision to keep Boeing in the fighter business given that all of its existing prodcuts are obsolete antiques or a sympathy contract given that Northrop and Lockheed are both busy. Either way it doesn’t look good. Boeing have zero experince of building a modern fighter in numbers so I’m not expecting this to turn out well (expect loose parts rattling around inside the aircraft, doors fallng off, etc. )
Which bit will fall off first the wheels, the cockpit, the qings?😀😀 Boeing needed this bail out, it will probably go 40 to 50 bn by the time they done.
Forgotten about the F15EX or the Super Hornet? Or maybe Chinook or P8?
Strictly speaking, apart from the P8, the F-15 and Super Hornet are legacy aircraft developed by McDonnell Douglas, and the Chinook by Vertol.
True. But today they are built by Boeing. And have been for many years now
But this is about developing a 6th generation and the fact Boeing have zero experience of even developing a 5th generation fighter…who ignores the company that developed 2 fifth generation fighters and gets a team with zero experience.
They had the F32 don’t forget.
So the manufacturer with no expertise in 5th generation fighters wins the contract for the 6th generation fighter over the manufacture of worlds 2 main fifth generation fighters…seems an interesting decision.
To keep all 3 in pork.
LM. F35.
Boeing. NGAD.
Northop. B21 Raider.
The USN Fighter still to come.
When they say it will be built in greater numbers than the F-22 and more cheaply, wasn’t the F-22 planned to be built in greater numbers and more cheaply as well? I wonder what’s different this time.
I’d be surprised if they build no more than 200 of these. It will be very expensive.
Honestly, I’m trying very, very hard to be apolitical here, but we, Italy and Japan need to be going all ahead flank with Tempest, etc. The world’s going to hell, and not in a way that anyone is going to be able to sit out readily. Absolute bloody shambles, politically.
Boeing F47, doesn’t have that special ring to it. F47 Trump sounds better.
I wonder who built the deep space fleet??
LM and Northrop at a guess.
Trumpest
😊
Ignoring all the political crap, I’m sure this will be a fine, fine aircraft.
We need to get a move on with Tempest.
The death of the manned fighter has been predicted for decades. I wouldn’t bet on this being the last the US design.