It is to be even more packed with technology, and also cooperate in the air with a loyal partner or even partners, namely drones. Almost two years after the announcement of the NGAD program, we have learned about the company that will build a sixth-generation fighter for the US Air Force. The choice was not great, because pilots had to choose between the Lockheed Martin design and Boeing's proposal. Ultimately, however, the aviation giant from Seattle, Boeing, was chosen.
Boeing has won a contract to design and build a next-generation fighter jet for the U.S. Air Force, beating out its biggest rival, Lockheed Martin, in the fight for the billion-dollar program.
The decision was announced in the White House by Donald Trump, who, accompanied by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, spoke about maintaining US dominance. This confirmed the assumptions we wrote about in the morning on bankier.pl.
The new fighter, called the F-47, “will ensure that the United States continues to dominate the airspace,” Trump said.
While details of the project remain top secret, the Air Force’s 2025 budget indicates that up to $20 billion will be allocated for NGAD research and development through 2029.
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From the legacy of yesterday to the future of combat, your @USAirForce will continue to own the skies with the world's first 6th-generation fighter jet: the F-47. pic.twitter.com/TcFHEdEbGq
— General David Allvin (@OfficialCSAF) March 21, 2025
According to Donald Trump’s public schedule, the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are scheduled to make a statement at around 11:00 a.m. A statement that, as Bloomberg was informed by administration insiders, was supposed to be about naming the winner of a competition to build a next-generation fighter jet. The information seemed to be confirmed, of course only indirectly, by the Pentagon itself, which informed the defense committees on Thursday that the president was preparing a major announcement on the matter.
For a long time, it seemed that the time had come. Little is known about the secret program, except that it is expensive and has received further funding. According to data announced with the 2025 budget, planned spending on its research and development could reach as much as $16 billion by 2028 and as much as $20 billion by 2029. The plane is scheduled to enter service in the early 2030s.
Lockheed vs. Boeing. For the latter, it's a chance to bounce back
In the NGAD program, two projects competed with each other. One was prepared by Lockheed, which currently produces the F-35 fighter jet and also produced the F-22, which the next-generation aircraft is to replace directly. The second airframe is being torn apart by Boeing engineers, who lost the competition in 2001 to the F-35 and their colleagues from Lockheed. Winning will be a chance for redemption for them, but it won't be easy. Boeing's KC-46 air tankers are struggling, and what's worse – although not for the army, but for the leader himself – the company has found itself in Trump's crosshairs due to delays in the production of the next-generation aircraft, which are to serve as Air Force One.
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Musk turns up his nose, but the army is the army
Some time ago, Elon Musk, who is leading a crusade against unnecessary spending in the administration, criticized the F-35s, which he called useless compared to drones. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has supported Musk’s cost-cutting efforts, announced during Senate confirmation hearings that he intends to “take a close look” at the NGAD program, but at the same time—and this seems very important in the context of the military—he also expressed concern about reports that China has developed its own sixth-generation fighter prototype.
“I want to know what will defeat our enemies, what will keep us safe, what will scare them away and keep them awake at night,” Hegseth said.
The new fighter is set to replace the F-22 Raptor and, if all goes according to plan, enter service in the 2030s. While the F-22, introduced in 2005, was groundbreaking with its stealth technology and hypersonic flight without afterburners, it was created in a different era—before drones began to play a key role on the battlefield.
AO.
