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WASHINGTON — Boeing has won an Air Force contract to develop the first ever sixth-generation fighter, dubbed the F-47, which is seen as critical to maintaining America’s air supremacy over China, President Donald Trump announced today.The aerospace giant’s victory in the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program is a game-changer for Boeing, whose defense business has suffered billions of dollars in losses in recent years stemming from a series of ill-performing fixed-price contracts. In particular, the win gives Boeing the opportunity to build a new fighter jet at a time when its F/A-18 line is nearing closure, a...

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following report was originally published on July 1, 2024 under the title “As Air Force deliberates sixth-gen fighter plans, much is at stake for Boeing,” at a time when the future of the Air Force’s Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) effort was in question. With today’s announcement that Boeing has won the NGAD contract to build the fighter jet now dubbed the F-47, Breaking Defense is reupping the story, as it gives insights into just how important winning this competition was for the future of Boeing’s defense arm.ST LOUIS, Mo., and WASHINGTON — It’s no secret that Boeing...

AFA 2024 — As the US Air Force reassesses its plans for a sixth-generation fighter jet, its top civilian said the service wants to get the price per plane down to F-35 levels, about a third of what it originally projected it would pay.The problem, analysts and defense industry officials told Breaking Defense, is that it may not be realistic or even possible without a complete reimagining of how fighters and drones will fight together in the future.While the Air Force has yet to set a final unit cost target for a manned Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, Air...

DAYTON, Ohio — After months of hinting at a disruption in the program, the US Air Force has formally decided to “pause” its effort to field a new stealth fighter, according to Secretary Frank Kendall. “We’re taking a pause there,” Kendall said today at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference here. “With the platform itself, we’re taking a pause. With the rest of the elements of the air dominance family of systems, we’re moving forward as fast as we can.” Kendall did not precisely specify how long the service’s plans to field the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter may...

FARNBOROUGH AIRSHOW 2024 — Amid a revolution in air combat, the head of the US Air Force said Saturday he’s “reasonably confident” America’s next-generation fighter aircraft will have a pilot, leaving the door open, however slightly, for a radical departure from a fully manned system. “I’m confident there’s going to be a sixth-generation fighter. I’m reasonably confident that it’s going to be crewed,” Kendall told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview over the weekend. That the Air Force is seemingly unsure whether the aircraft will need a pilot, and presumably a cockpit to house them, suggests the service may need...

How fares the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) project? The NGAD is designed to produce a new generation of fighter aircraft, replacing much of the Air Force’s legacy fleet and bringing a suite of new capabilities to the long-range strike mission. The NGAD was also supposed to revolutionize the defense industrial base (DIB) and change the way that the United States builds and buys fighter planes. But there are evidently some troubles. The Air Force seems to be backpedaling on its commitment to the NGAD, and the entire project appears to have left the DIB cold.

Forget the Chinese. There are days when the Air Force seems like its own worst enemy. After a decade of priority investment and confident endorsements from leaders, the Air Force is getting antsy about NGAD, the sixth-generation fighter plane planned to replace the F-22 as the centerpiece of air dominance. Just this week, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall expressed more concerns about the cost, the concept and the engine, capped off by hinting the Air Force is knee-deep in “trade-offs.” That’s a big risk. The service’s entire next-generation plan — Collaborative Combat Aircraft, the B-21 bomber, upgraded tankers and F-35s...

The U.S. Air Force has formally launched a competition to build its new fighter jet, the Pentagon’s first in two decades, with the winner to be selected next year. The acquisition strategy for the Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, aircraft “incorporates lessons learned from recent Air Force acquisition programs and will leverage open architecture standards,” the Air Force said in a statement released Thursday. “This approach will enable the government to maximize competition throughout the life cycle, provide a larger, more responsive industry base, and drastically reduce maintenance and sustainment costs.” This solicitation release “formally begins the source selection...

The Air Force on Tuesday revealed that it has secretly built and flown a prototype of its next-generation fighter jet, according to the service's top acquisition official. The jet, built as part of the Air Force's Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program, was first disclosed to Defense News on Monday. Air Force acquisition head Will Roper told the outlet that the service could now move the jet into production "pretty fast."