President Donald Trump has announced that any new U.S. F-47 fighter jets sold to allied nations will be deliberately downgraded by 10%, citing potential future changes in alliances.

“It probably makes sense, because someday, maybe they’re not our allies,” Trump said, explaining the decision to limit the full capabilities of the aircraft for foreign sales.

The announcement follows the U.S. Air Force’s confirmation that Boeing has been awarded the contract to develop its Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter platform, the F-47. The initial contract, worth an estimated $20 billion (£15.5bn), will see Boeing design, build, and deliver the next-generation aircraft over several years.

While details of the NGAD fighter remain classified, it is expected to incorporate advanced stealth technology, next-generation sensors, and cutting-edge propulsion systems. Trump described the jets as “something nobody has ever seen before,” and suggested that international interest is already high. “Our allies are calling constantly,” he said. “They want to buy them also.”

The decision to limit the capability of export versions has attracted scrutiny, particularly as the Pentagon continues to face production challenges with the F-35 programme. The F-35, currently the most advanced fighter in the U.S. arsenal, is projected to cost over $1.7 trillion (£1.01tn) over its lifespan.

Boeing has positioned NGAD as a major step forward in air combat. “We recognise the importance of designing, building and delivering a 6th-generation fighter capability for the United States Air Force,” said Steve Parker, interim president and CEO of Boeing Defence, Space & Security. “In preparation for this mission, we made the most significant investment in the history of our defence business, and we are ready to provide the most advanced and innovative NGAD aircraft needed to support the mission.”

The NGAD fighter will serve as the core of a broader “family of systems” aimed at enhancing range, survivability, and lethality in modern air combat. A timeline for production and deployment has not yet been confirmed.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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85 COMMENTS

  1. Er, Donald, they will be built by Boeing, no one will want them as they will be useless, late and over budget

    • Besides which, he will long be dead let alone out of office before they are in service, if the production timelines of the F22 or 35 are anything to go on.

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    • I’m beginning to think the F number of american jets 22, 35 and 47 is the year they will be fully operational.

      • The F-35 proved itself in the Middle East last year and now that both Block 4 and 6 in the bay are appearing, the F-35 is the best multi-role fighter the world has ever seen. Substantially before 2035, if you are counting. Or subtracting.
        The F-47 will probably see IOC in 2030 or 2031, unfortunately later than it is needed, but still before your prediction for the F-35.
        Yeah, I am ignoring the tongue in cheek nature of your post.
        Sorry.
        LOL!

    • This has to be the dumbest decision that the Donald has made this time around.

      Free Advice: Anything that comes out of the Lockheed Skunk Works will be a Winner if history is an indicator!

      Boeing: Not so much

  3. Ahhh, yes, The Donald, that inimitable deal maker, practicing the fine art of winning friends and influencing people, as detailed by Dale Carnegie. 🙄😉

    • Trying to work out who these ‘allies’ are that Trump says are so deeply interested. So far I can only think of Russia, Iran and North Korea, doubt China will be interested as they will be able to build their own version from its plans… if they feel it even competes with their own efforts. Do they have any other allies who may be interested in a fighter that goes up to 2. The guy is truly living in his own orange bubble.

    • The Strong Stable Genius Tangerine Tint salesman….who knew that such a genius sales guy could so expertly find the kill switch on US arms exports? That is real genius….at another level….

      That said most exported systems are of more limited spec. You just don’t say it openly as annoys the top buyer [usually an autocrat] who wants to believe ‘we have the best’….

      And The Tangerine does have a point that Sadam, and others, turned…

  4. And bang…there goes any potential exports ! If the Tempest can keep a fair wind behind it, it really does stand a chance of success….

    • Maybe Mr Tangerine Man is secretly working for his best bud King Charles III to improve Tempest sales?

  6. Donald I really don’t think it will be a problem.
    1) your behaviour has burned to the ground , eighty plus years of trust. NOBODY is going to buy any weapons from US manufacturers , especially a highly complex 5th gen plus jet aircraft which required continuous support from the US in order to operate.
    2) you are doing your best to alienate every Ally America has but Russia, China and North Korea might be interested
    Ps The guys on the F35 assembly line send their regards and thanks for destroying their jobs.

    • Don’t worry Elon will offer them jobs on the Cybertruck production line… oh hang on a minute.

      Why I’m on the subject of the Ketamine kid I just saw the latest videos of Boston Dynamic’s Atlas running, twisting and all manner of gymnastics, don’t somehow think Musk’s constipated efforts by comparison are going to be the robot of choice to the World as idiot Lutnick tried to desperately delude the shareholders to keep them onboard. Indeed just as you think it’s rock bottom there are new delusional lows every day from all manner of Trump and his apologists. Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at America’s insane self harm.

  10. Looking at the delays in 777X, Starliner & Redhawk, the F-47 Donald Duck may be a 22nd century fighter by the time it is in service & working. Circa late 70s/early 80s, the USA said it would only sell dumbed down F-16/79 & F5G/20 to allies . Nobody bought them. The US had to relent & allow allies to buy the normal US spec F-16.

    • Doubt they will need to worry about an export version very much. Probably Saudi Arabia and Japan might purchase some. Maybe Australia too but most of the USAs traditional allies won’t. Britain, Italy and Japan are going for GCAP and Saudi Arabia is likely to go for this aircraft as well.
      Ditto Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden etc.
      I can see Tempest achieving hundreds of overseas sales .
      Especially if pitched right. Eg <£100 million each.

      • Really doubt it could be under £115m at 2025 prices. By next decade, inflation will have pushed it way higher.

        • Last I saw they were budgeting at 300m a pop.I don’t see there being a very long queue of would be buyers at Boeings door or any White House doorframe that matter. Has all the hallmarks of a cluster ****.

        • No Japan has been pretty pissed at the US aircraft industry for a while. The got really screwed by Lockheed on the F2.

      • If I understand Tempest right, it’s going to be a relatively large aircraft, slinging quite a lot of missiles, and acting as a sort of node for loyal wingman drones. Think somewhere along the lines of an F-15 / B-1 mash-up than a strike fighter as we have them today. The loyal wingmen will be the strike fighters/interceptors that will open up the airspace, and then the manned component of the tempest will launch their larger weapons from further away.
        That’s how I read the very vague press releases, anyway.
        By that measure, they don’t need to be less than £100M, because you’re buying fewer of them- with far larger numbers of sub-£50M loyal wingmen everywhere.

        • There are two key issues that need solving for a future fighter type aircraft, the first is the duration of a mission and the second is persistence in a fight.

          The first issue, is that the majority of fighter aircraft today require underwing fuel tanks to reach their target, even with stand-off weapons. This is on top of being topped-uped by an air refuelling tanker. The UK is tasked by NATO to patrol the Greenland to Iceland and UK (GIUK) gap over the Northern Atlantic and North Sea. Aircraft such as the Phantom, Tornado F3 and latterly the Typhoon, have managed to do so being refuelled mid-air but also carrying additional fuel in underwing tanks. However, in doing so you reduce the number of weapons the platform can carry. Additionally the heavy fuel tanks compromise the aircraft’s performance.

          The Tempest (FCAS/GCAP) is going to solve this issue, by being a bigger aircraft and storing its weapons internally. Storing the weapons internally will benefit both the aircraft’s radar cross section (RCS). But also the performance, as there’s no weapons or stores under the wings creating a lot of drag, thereby requiring the aircraft to burn more fuel. It has to be bigger to not only contain a large weapons bay, but also having the volume to store the fuel internally. The scenario is that until air dominance has been achieved, the aircraft will carry its weapons internally.

          The second issue is combat persistence. If we look at other “5th gen” stealth aircraft like the F22, F35, J20 and Su57. They hold internally a maximum of 6 air to air missiles. In the case of the F22, J20 and Su57, 4 AMRAAM type BVRAAMs and 2 Sidewinder type BVRAAMS. As far as I know the F35 is not cleared to fit BVRAAMs internally. It currently can only carry 4 AMRAAM type BVRAAMS internally. Although the A and C variants will be modified to carry 6.

          In a future air to air engagement the person who holds the most missiles, will likely be the winner. This is due to how the combat is likely to be fought. Where as soon as you detect you’re being fired upon you will turn to evade/run. Which could cause the incoming missile to run out of energy and thereby not catch you. Therefore if the enemy turns back, you will need another missile for a second shot and so on.

          The outcome of which is that you will need to carry more BVRAAM weapons internally, i.e. at least 6. Which will give it more combat persistence. Now if the aircraft is teamed up with a loyal wingman, that also carries some BVRAAMs. The ability to prosecute an engagement gets significantly more complicated but allows it to either last in the fight longer or give you an overwhelming missile advantage.

  13. Yes Trump is alienating so many of his past friends that they may turn against him….

    No one outside the US will buy this, not to mention the stories of US kill switches etc.

    I am glad we will not buy this as we will have Tempest.

  14. Looks like Donald has just killed the UD defence export market. Who would buy American now? Its the art of the deal….

  15. Mr Trump deserves an honorary Knighthood for services rendered to the British military and industry. It must be a nightmare trying to draft SDR and the latest knock back from Mr Witkoff on Starmer’s half baked plan really does demonstrate how impotent our country (and the rest of Europe) has become due to the incessant cutting of our forces.
    Sadly these circumstances leave Ukraine in a very precarious position.

    • I think if you remember it was the US that actually asked European nations to develop a plan to put troops on the ground..starmer only started to put a plan to together because the U.S. said it would be a precondition to peace…now Russia says no the U.S. are pretending it was a UK idea…

    • I have no time for anything Mr. Witkoff says- a special envoy who doesn’t even know how many regions of Ukraine Russia are laying claim to, and only knows the names of two. He is an incompetent man trying to sound like he knows what he’s talking about, while being played by someone who plays the game better (Putin).

  16. Clever politics really. He knows his successor will go a different way to protect jobs, yet at the same time, he looks like he’s being the big man in the short-term.

  17. The question is for how much longer will the moderate states stand by before they stand up and declare “ not in our name”
    The town hall meeting held by Republican and Democratic politicians are absolutely brutal. There are a lot of seriously p**sed off Trump and non Trump voters.

  18. Ahh… Action Trump with realistic hands and gripping hair flaps his gums again! I wonder how many are saying… take your F-47, and stick it up your pibrock.

  19. Come on George. Repeating this kind of crap just isn’t on. We don’t know the capabilities of this aircraft. Let alone an export version, which likely won’t be available for export.

    • What country in their right mind would buy a US jet that even if it doesn’t have a kill switch can be grounded in a matter of weeks by cutting off spares and support.
      I fully expect the F35 orders will rapidly dry up
      As country after country pulls the plug.
      I do however expect the U.K. to buy at least enough F 35 to equip both carriers( at a knock down price) but we have the advantage few countries have which is a fully equipped aerospace industry that can reverse engineer anything on the jet.
      Even if , big if, Trump is replaced by a less Trump shit crazy US empower , it will take decades for the US to rebuild trust and at the back of every country’s mind will be they are four years max from another Trump who will be just as bad.

    • RB agree, unwise to export hush hush technology without good reason. It’s amusing a low tech F47 export version was even announced and combine that with current hostile White House view of Europe.

    • Exactly.
      I’m quite amused by the comments being taunted, because it’s Trump therefore jump on Trump, whether he’s right or wrong.
      1. They didn’t sell F22, so why this?
      2. They didn’t sell F117, either, but did offer it to the UK, a close ally.
      3. In the Cold War, and after, Russia would only sell lesser versions of its aircraft to allies, like the Mig25 Foxbat. And did not sell the SU15 Flagon abroad at all.
      4. Did I not read here we provided a lesser version of Storm Shadow to UKR?
      5. Trying to give your nation an edge! What a concept! Maybe our politician’s should try it?
      6.And finally, I think that there nations ringing in to buy it is exxagerated Trump bluster anyway, like so much he says and does.

      • “ Did I not read here we provided a lesser version of Storm Shadow to UKR?”

        Yes, all export missiles have a limited range to comply with treaty obligations.

        • Thanks. And I recalled it was you SB who told me, but didn’t want to attribute incase I recalled wrongly.

      • the case Russia selling lesser versions of aircraft, was also the case in MiG23 (No High Lark radar fitted to aircraft out side of the Warsaw Pact) and the MIG 27 ( down grade on EW) Pretty sure SU17/22 was the same

  20. 10%? This is even more divine: You can add used 50 percent of our potentiality. That’s even better than the original… (smiley) Regards and Shalom from Israel!

  21. The US refused to export the F-22, which has long been considered at the top of the food chain for air superiority fighters since the 1990s. The fact that the US is even considering the possibility of selling the F-47 is an improvement. Even downgraded, it will likely be better than what else is available, based on historical examples. It is questionable that the current European programs for a 6th generation fighter will actually be considered 6 generation, rather than just an improved 5th generation.
    They have limited experience with 5th generation aircraft. All European programs, after the 1960s, have typically targeted an existing US aircraft design and sought to make an improved version, while ignoring any new US aircraft currently in development. This approach does save money since its easier to come up with technology when you already know that someone else was able to do it. As an example, both the Euro-fighter and Rafael programs knew of the existence of the 1980’s ATF program (that became the F-22) but chose to make aircraft that were an improvement on US 4th generation ones that were first developed back in the 1970s. They still ended up with excellent aircraft, but were clearly inferior the F-22 in the fighter role, despite being newer.

    • Plenty of F-22s have been downed during Red Flag. The F-22 has basically stagnated ever since it first arrived on the scene. Had the need for it persisted it would have been the F-22C,D,E by now. I think it served a valuable purpose, that of helping inform the dev. of F-35 but apart from that, I wouldn’t run and hide just cos an F-22 showed up :p

    • You’re making a huge generalisation, and as a result come to some hilariously wrong conclusions. You talk about the relative experience about building fighters with advanced features, such as stealth in terms of nationality. Nations don’t build fighters, aerospace companies build fighters.
      Boeing hasn’t built a new fighter in decades and certainly nothing with stealth. Whereas BAE has worked with Lockheed Martin on stealth fighters such as the F35.

      Then like generals who plan to re fight the last-war, you assume that European fighter development plans will be follow previous practice because… no other reason other than you want them to. Both 6th gen programmes are aiming for just that, they’re not looking at tweaking existing American designs.

      • A very good stealth aircraft example built by Boeing, is the YF118G “Bird of Prey” X-plane. To put things is context, this aircraft’s radar stealth (radar cross section (RCS)) in particular, was an order of magnitude smaller than the F22’s. Compared to other “stealthy” aircraft, it has some very novel features, such as the increased main wing dihedral compared to the norm, as well as an upper fuselage engine air intake, that incorporates a diverterless (bump) air flow splitter.

        The released images of the “F47” does show some parallels to this X-plane, especially the nose chines and dihedral of the presumed main wings. The airbrushed rendering does seem to show canards. Which is a surprise, but may be targeting the supermanoeuvrability requirement over outright stealth. It will be interesting to see if it shares the same above fuselage air intake arrangement. Which is great for stealth, but rubbish for aerobatics. The image also shows that the proposed aircraft is not as big as everybody was expecting. Where we were all expecting something around the size of the YF23. As one of the requirements was for significantly more internal fuel range than the current F22 can manage. The images show the aircraft somewhere between the F35 and F22 in size.

        However, the USAF is infamous for releasing images of aircraft, that bear little resemblance to the actual in-service aircraft. Could these images just be a red herring?

  22. Well Yes, why not ? JTFC.
    Recall, the Soviet Union did this with MiG-21s-23s-29s; the crappy “export” variants with old’er” avionics, fewer hardpoints and even older weapons. It was only by virtue of the dipshit regimes that couldn’t buy western kit that the Soviets sold anything. If Tempest can be kept relatively free of political wrangling and paint schema arguments (though that is France & Germany), then there is no reason it wont excel and sell.

  23. As F22 was never offered for export, I would be surprised if Trumpest would be.
    As for “Our Allies are calling all the time ” I suspect that all these calls are all in his head.

  25. This is where had the UK had smarter people involved in the Tempest programme, that, it included CATOBAR capabilities for carrier operations.
    .
    .
    Some, wrongly, will argue this would negate other programme partners requirements and other export orders; negating many past examples of aircraft which had naval carrier roots and which served the land dwelling ‘junior services’ (UK and many others previously, including the F-4, F-14, FA-18 and S2 Buccaneer to name but a few.
    .
    .
    The UK just needs to have a spine, dictate the requirements are the requirements, as the project creators, plain and simple.
    .
    .
    This approach will allow the CVFs (and successors) to revert to CATOBAR operations, provide flexibility for surge deployments where if the light-blue hasn’t already been disbanded into the FAA, then they can also get their feet feet from something else other than a hotel pool (🙃) and could allow the F-35B to remain in service on proper LPH/LPDs and/or be flicked to Spanish, Italians, Nice (S) Koreans, Thais, or Japanese (I left the Aussies off the list as they lack an appreciation of naval air! 🙃).
    .
    .
    Finally back to the article, of course, the Americans would do the revitalised Tempest aircraft programme the best advertisement by well, being American, over-priced delivering poor value for money.

    • If Britain wants a carrier-based version of Tempest, it should design and build one after the non-carrier version is operational. Much of the cost of new fighters is in technologies that would largely remain the same, from engines to sensor fusion. However, we’ve seen with F-35 A/C just how different the structural requirements become and how hard it is to keep them moving forward together. We don’t need it right now as we’ll have F-35B for the next couple of decades. Nor do we need the inevitable arguments over CATOBAR vs STOVL.

      The best thing about working with the Japanese is that it’s forcing us to build on time and not continually change our minds about what we want, delaying delivery.

      • That might be a second string project [for UK, JON, IT] once Tempest is flying to use the core tech to produce a VSTOL.

        RR did the VSTOL bit of F35B anyway so we have that sovereign knowledge. Bear in mind F35B exported well, as did Harrier, so there is a market for it. There is no export market for F35C anywhere…….

        • Their is always going to be a likely market for VSTOL aircraft because CATOBAR is just to technically, people and resource intensive for most nations.

          The fact there are going to be more VSTOL carriers than CATOBAR carriers really says it all…in the end proper peer wars are all about effective use of resources and VSTOL carriers are just far more resource efficient.

  26. I read that the Saudi F15S radars are downgraded in SAR mode over the radar sets available to the US. Similar lesser block of radar on the South Korean ones as sold to the USAF.
    I doubt that’s anything new. Electronic warfare systems and threat libraries would differ on foreign spec, that may be the case with RSAF Tornado Vs RAF.
    I doubt the French release all the secrets of SPECTRA on Rafale to buyers, considering the Rafale also carries part of Frances nuclear deterrent and would rely heavily on EW to penetrate Russian airspace.
    Trump just says what most buyers probably know already.

  27. It’s worth pointing out that it’s Congress and not the US president that legislates on arms exports. Donald trump will be long dead before the F47 ever takes to the air and congress will never allow its export and no one will either want to buy it or be able to afford it. It’s likely to be a very niche product for fighting over the pacific.

  28. Trump is doing exactly what he has been told to do; ruin the USA, weaken / break traditional alliances and normalise relations with Russia.

  29. Boeing have not got a great track record of developing new aircraft anyway.
    I do not think any NATO members will be buying huge amounts of kit from the USA in the future anyway, if things continue like the last few months.
    Europe has the technology and rich enough to totally exclude the USA from the any arms sales in the future anyway.

    • Boeing hasn’t developed a fighter for 50 years and even upgrades like 737 max and 777 x seem beyond it’s engineering expertise now.

      • Actually yes they have. F32 was their losing proposal against the F35. Yes it lost but it was developed quite substantially. Boing Civil is a different arm.

  30. Looking back at the F-22, export sales were never permitted because the US military didn’t want to risk their technological lead. This meant that there was no prospect of using overseas sales to claw back any of the exorbitant development cost. Since Trump consistently expresses concern about the sheer magnitude of US military spending I suspect he’s trying to find a ‘middle way’- not so much scuppering export prospects as trying to find some plausible way of creating them. He will fail though, because customers are getting more demanding and the market for downgraded ‘export’ variants isn’t really there any more. The extent to which platforms are increasingly becoming ‘systems of systems’ also makes it much harder to sell an airframe without, e.g. the EW suite that was designed around it. In the end they’re just going to have to decide whether protecting their trade secrets is worth bearing the full cost of development or not.

  31. Most informed observers would have never expected the F47 to be exported, or for only a downgraded version to be exported, to protect technology/production secrets, and to maintain military advantage. The F22 was never exported, F16 and F15 export versions were downgraded, and F35 purchases are restricted to closer allies. Even tanks, such as the M1s exported to Egypt, have had downgraded armour. This is not new in any way.

    But it is so predictable to watch the usual suspects throw hissy fits, and claim that this is a sign that Trump is an enemy and we shouldn’t trust America or buy American equipment. The naivety is mind boggling.

  32. Best to get enough F35s for our Carriers eventually, he’s hopefully 🙄 Then buy Trench 4 Typhoons for the RAF , crack on with Tempest and let the USA get on with it 🖐 Bye 👋 Bye 🇬🇧

  33. Trump,stick your pile of Boeing crap where the sun doesn’t shine ✨️, 300 million a plane ,byebye, we won’t buy your crap ,so go sell it to your new friends in Russia, china, north korea oh and iran ,ORANGE BLOATED BALLOON, THE MAN WHO SOLD AMERICA OUT FOR HIS OWN VANITY AND GREED ,

  36. Probably the boost Tempest needed.
    In all honesty though the F22 was banned from sale to allies.
    Various other US made aircraft have had “special” versions. So this is not really anything new.

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