Eyeing China threat, Trump announces Boeing wins contract for secretive
future fighter jet
[March 22, 2025] By
TARA COPP
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that Boeing
will build the Air Force’s future fighter jet, which the Pentagon says
will have stealth and penetration capabilities that far exceed those of
its current fleet and is essential in a potential conflict with China.
Known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, the manned jet will
serve as quarterback to a fleet of future drone aircraft designed to be
able to penetrate the air defenses of China and any other potential
foes. The initial contract to proceed with production on a version for
the Air Force is worth an estimated $20 billion.
The 47th president, who announced the award at the White House with
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force leadership, said with a
grin that the new fighter would be named the F-47.
Gen. David Allvin, chief of staff of the Air Force, said, “We're going
to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare with this." And
Hegseth said the future fleet “sends a very clear, direct message to our
allies that we’re not going anywhere.”
Critics have questioned the cost and the necessity of the program as the
Pentagon is still struggling to fully produce its current most advanced
jet, the F-35, which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.7
trillion over its lifespan. In addition, the Pentagon's future stealth
bomber, the B-21 Raider, will have many of the same cutting edge
technologies in advanced materials, AI, propulsion and stealth.
More than 1,100 F-35s have already been built for the U.S. and multiple
international partners.
A fleet of about 100 future B-21 stealth bombers at an estimated total
cost of at least $130 billion is also planned. The first B-21 aircraft
are now in test flights.
With evolving drone and space warfare likely to be the center of any
fight with China, Dan Grazier, a military procurement analyst, questions
whether “another exquisite manned fighter jet really is the right
platform going forward.” Grazier, director of the national security
reform program at the Stimson Center, said $20 billion is "just seed
money. The total costs coming down the road will be hundreds of billions
of dollars.”
Few details of what the new NGAD fighter would look like have been
public, although Trump said early versions have been conducting test
flights for the last five years. Renderings by both Lockheed Martin and
Boeing have highlighted a flat, tail-less aircraft with a sharp nose.
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The Boeing logo is displayed at the company's factory, Sept. 24,
2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
 The selection of Boeing, which has
faced intense pressure from Trump over cost overruns and program
delays on Air Force One, came after an independent analysis by the
Air Force, an official said on the condition of anonymity to provide
additional details on the selection. The Boeing offer was still
determined to be the “best overall value to the government,” the
official said.
The Air Force has not specified how many aircraft will be produced.
In a statement, however, Allvin said there would be more F-47s
produced than F-22s, the advanced fighter jet it's replacing. There
are now about 180 F-22 fighter jets in service.
The Air Force later issued a statement saying the number 47 was
chosen for a number of reasons: "It honors the legacy of the P-47,
whose contributions to air superiority during World War II remain
historic. Additionally, the number pays tribute to the founding year
of the Air Force, while also recognizing the 47th President’s
pivotal support for the development of the world’s first
sixth-generation fighter.”
A separate Navy contract for its version of the NGAD fighter is
still under competition between Northrop Grumman and Boeing.
Last year, the Biden administration's Air Force secretary, Frank
Kendall, ordered a pause on the NGAD program to review if the
aircraft was still needed or if the program, which was first
designed in 2018, needed to be modified to reflect the past few
years of warfighting advances.
That review by think tanks and academia examined what conflict with
China would look like with NGAD and then without it — and determined
that NGAD was still needed. Kendall then left the decision on which
firm would build the fighter jet to the incoming Trump
administration, a defense official said, speaking on the condition
of anonymity to provide details on the decision-making.
NGAD will bring “an entirely different level of low observability,”
the official said. It will also have a much longer range than the
F-35 or other current fighter jets, so it will require less
refueling. A future unmanned version of NGAD also is planned as the
Pentagon improves the AI for the aircraft, the official said.
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