Boeing won a contract March 21 to develop a next-generation combat aircraft for the U.S. Air Force that will spearhead future air wars and throw a lifeline to the company’s struggling military aviation business.
The White House announcement came after a tumultuous competition between
Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the prized rights to build the aircraft that is meant to anchor the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems.
“It will be known as the F-47, the generals picked a title,” President Donald Trump said. “It’s something the likes that no one has seen before.”
During the Oval Office announcement ceremony, Trump displayed a poster showing the first glimpse of the F-47 design, revealing a forward fuselage and sharply swept back wings but no further design features.
The Air Force wants a new aircraft with the range, speed and stealth to operate effectively over the vast Indo-Pacific region and against some of China’s most advanced weapons systems, including current and future stealth fighters and surface-to-air missile systems. The requirements dictate an aircraft with performance that defies familiar categories for combat aircraft, such as a fighter or bomber. But
Boeing’s future aircraft is expected to feature supersonic speed and perhaps a lack of vertical control surfaces, along with a large structure to carry all fuel, sensors and weapons internally.
The cost-plus contract award for NGAD also offers a reprieve for a defense and space business within
Boeing that has reported over $18 billion in reach-forward losses on fixed-price military and NASA programs since 2014, including $5 billion in new charges from 2024 alone. Despite the losses,
Boeing invested heavily to win the NGAD contract, including starting construction nearly two years ago on a new factory in St. Louis to produce the aircraft.
The development deal could sustain for several more decades
Boeing’s historic combat aircraft production line in St. Louis, which dates back to the first flight of the FH-1 Phantom in 1945, reached peak output with the F-4 Phantom II and continues today with the F-15EX Eagle II. If the NGAD contract can stay on track,
Boeing gains the opportunity to revitalize its defense engineering and operations, advancing on the digital engineering and manufacturing practices pioneered by the T-7A Red Hawk trainer and MQ-25 Stingray, an uncrewed, carrier-based aerial refueling aircraft.
Boeing’s victory also prevents a Lockheed monopoly on Air Force fighter production after the end of the decade, with future U.S. orders for the F-35A still uncertain under the new Trump administration.
The NGAD award will reverberate in the defense industry beyond the crewed aircraft market. The aircraft is expected to feature the winner of the Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion program—either GE Aerospace’s XA102 or Pratt & Whitney’s XA103. Both feature a new, three-stream architecture that increases bypass flow in cruise mode to reduce fuel consumption by more than 20%. The capabilities of the NGAD also will influence requirements for the Air Force’s proposed family of Collaborative Combat Aircraft, which are expected to operate alongside NGAD aircraft on some missions, expanding options for sensors and weapons.
The award also provides clarity after months of uncertainty for the NGAD program. The Air Force’s former leadership under the Biden administration came within days of awarding the NGAD development contract last June but decided instead to reanalyze the requirements and proposed costs of the new aircraft. By the end of December, the Air Force’s military leadership had concluded that having the NGAD aircraft would make winning future air campaigns significantly easier.
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