XPost: sci.military.naval, soc.history.war.misc, alt.war.world-war-three
XPost: seattle.politics, alt.economics

from
best to go to citation to see graphics - business insider https://www.businessinsider.com/f47-ngad-6th-generation-stealth-fighter-jet-concept-2025-3

See the competing F-47 stealth fighter jet concepts from Boeing,
Lockheed, and more that led to the Air Force's NGAD
By Lauren Frias
An artist rendering of an F-47 fighter jet emerging from a hangar, with
the US flag hung above it.
An artist rendering of the US Air Force's sixth-generation fighter, the
F-47. US Air Force
Mar 25, 2025, 4:14 PM PT

Share
SaveSaved
Boeing won the $20 billion contract to develop the US Air Force's
sixth-gen stealth fighter, the F-47.
The designation is a nod to the P-47 fighter, the Air Force's founding
year, and the 47th president.
See the competing NGAD fighter designs proposed by Boeing, Lockheed
Martin, and Northrop Grumman.
Boeing is set to develop the US Air Force's highly anticipated
sixth-generation stealth fighter, poised to replace the F-22 Raptor and
play a leading role in the Air Force's future fleet.

The sixth-generation combat aircraft is a central component of the Air
Force's secretive and costly Next Generation Air Dominance, which seeks
to fly the future fighter, designated the F-47, alongside autonomous
drone wingmen known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

Though never officially confirmed, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman competed for the $20 billion contract. Northrop Grumman dropped
out of the running in 2023, leaving Boeing to battle it out with
Lockheed Martin's dominance of the stealth fighter force.

Boeing's successful bid
An artist's rendering shows a gray, futuristic-looking fighter jet
flying among the clouds.
An artist rendering of an early version of Boeing's proposed design for
the Air Force's sixth-generation stealth fighter. Boeing
President Donald Trump announced on Friday that Boeing had been selected
to develop the future combat aircraft, which would be designated the F-47.

The designation is a deviation from typical naming conventions because
it was previously used for the World War II-era fighter the P-47.

The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. David Allvin, said the designation
was a nod to the P-47 escort fighter of World War II, as well as the Air Force's founding year, 1947, and the "pivotal support" of the 47th US president, Donald Trump, in developing the aircraft.

Winning the $20 billion NGAD contract is set to serve as a much-needed
boost not only to Boeing's waning defense unit but also to recoup losses
from the KC-46 tanker and new Air Force One aircraft.

Steve Parker, the interim president and chief executive of Boeing
Defense, Space, & Security, said the company made "the most significant investment in the history of our defense business" after being tasked
with designing, building, and delivering the sixth-generation fighter to
the Air Force.

"We are ready to provide the most advanced and innovative NGAD aircraft
needed to support the mission," Parker said in a statement.

The US Air Force's next-gen stealth plane
An artist rendering of a gray, futuristic-looking jet in the sky.
An early concept artist rendering of the Air Force's sixth-generation
fighter. US Air Force
The pursuit for America's next-generation platforms began more than a
decade ago in the early 2010s.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency launched a study in 2014
to explore strategies to maintain the US's edge in air superiority. It
found that simply developing sixth-generation combat aircraft wouldn't
be enough to ensure air superiority against US adversaries, instead
urging a "family of systems" across multiple domains, including air,
space, and cyberspace.

Air superiority is when a nation's aircraft can fly at minimal risk from
other aircraft and surface-to-air missiles. The US's longtime edge in
achieving this is increasingly threatened by the proliferation of air
defense missiles and China's aircraft buildup, including two types of
stealth fighters.

Building upon DARPA's findings, the Air Force launched its own study,
Air Superiority 2030, that laid the groundwork for its NGAD program,
which envisioned creating a future hybrid fleet of crewed and uncrewed
aerial systems.

As one of the Air Force's most sensitive and highly classified programs,
few details were publicly known about the NGAD program.

In September 2020, Will Roper, the acquisition chief of the Air Force at
the time, officially confirmed that the service had test-flown a
prototype of its next-gen fighter. This was the first public
acknowledgment of the top-secret program, which he said he hoped would
garner "greater credibility" on the program's progress.

By 2023, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman appeared to be in
the running to develop the NGAD platform, floating designs for it in promotional materials for their future projects — a common practice
among US military aircraft manufacturers.

Northrop Grumman — the lead contractor for the B-2 Spirit and B-21
Raider stealth bombers — was also in the running to build the NGAD
aircraft but dropped out of consideration as the prime developer in
2023, instead intending to support other bids as a supplier.

Early concept designs
An artist rendering of the internal design of a fighter jet.
A video promoting Boeing Phantom Works' coming projects appears to show
a concept rendering of the next-generation platform. Boeing Defense/X
Art renderings of the NGAD fighter show little more than the jet's sleek exterior and wings, disclosing few details about the aircraft's final
design.

But concept designs released by the three competing legacy combat
aircraft contractors could give an idea of what the F-47 could look like
when it takes to the skies.

In a promotional video released by Boeing Phantom Works in 2023, a brief rendering of a 3D model stealth plane showed assembling mid-flight to
showcase the digital design capabilities to streamline the development
of innovative aircraft.

The hypothetical stealth aircraft appears to feature a flat, tailless
cranked wing design with two engines.

A fighter jet upset
An artist rendering of a jet flying above the clouds at sunset with
another of the same jet flying behind it.
An artist rendering of Lockheed Martin's proposed design for the Air
Force's sixth-generation stealth fighter. Lockheed Martin
Before Boeing was selected to build the F-47, Lockheed Martin had a
monopoly on the Air Force's combat aircraft production, leading some to
believe that it would be the prime contractor of the NGAD platform.

Following the fighter jet upset, Boeing's share price jumped 3% to $5.28
a share on Friday, adding $4 billion in market value. Lockheed's stock meanwhile dropped about 5.4% to $27.04 a share, an estimated $6 billion
loss in market value.

"While disappointed with this outcome, we are confident we delivered a competitive solution," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

Boeing has long been a major player in the military aerospace sector,
including developing the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets and the KC-46
aerial tanker.

But unlike competitors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman,
which secured domestic contracts for the F-22 Raptor and B-2 Spirit
stealth aircraft respectively, Boeing's long-term defense production
largely relies on foreign acquisition and international defense sales.

Boeing and Lockheed previously faced off to develop the fifth-generation multirole fighter as part of the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter
program. Lockheed's X-35 beat out Boeing's X-32, entering production as
the F-35 Lightning II.

Lockheed's NGAD design
An Instagram story from Lockheed Martin of a black screen with a white
outline of a jet.
Lockheed Martin posted an aircraft outline on its Instagram story that
appeared to resemble an NGAD-like planform. Lockheed Martin/Instagram Lockheed's hint at its NGAD concept proposal was a lot more subtle. In
2023, Lockheed's Skunk Works division posted a black-and-white aircraft
outline on its Instagram to celebrate its 80th anniversary.

Despite the lack of details in the cryptic post, the planform appears to resemble a tactical aircraft design, probably related to the Air Force's
NGAD program.

Lockheed further pointed to its bid for participation in the NGAD by
releasing another promotional video later that year that seemingly
referred to the Air Force's pursuit of a hybrid fleet. The video
features crewed and uncrewed systems flying in formation, with
Lockheed's F-35 surrounded by futuristic uncrewed aerial vehicles.

Northrop Grumman withdraws NGAD bid
A still from a video of aircraft in a hangar, with one that looks like a fighter jet in the foreground. There is a US flag flying above it.
A 2021 video released by Northrop Grumman featured concept renderings of
its future aircraft projects, including what appeared to be a
next-generation fighter jet. Northrop Grumman/YouTube
Northrop Grumman was also competing to be the prime contractor behind
the Air Force's NGAD aircraft. The company hinted at its interest in participating in the NGAD program in a 2021 promotional video that
appeared to include a tailless stealth fighter in a hangar with historic
and futuristic aircraft.

But Northrop Grumman's bid to build the NGAD fighter was cut short after
it pulled out of consideration in 2023, CEO Kathy Warden announced.

Warden added that the company was "responding to other bidders' request
for proposal as the supplier, that's particularly in our mission system portfolio."

The Navy's next-gen fighter is up for grabs
An artist rendering of a jet flying in the sky with missiles.
An artist rendering of an early version of Northrop Grumman's design for
the Air Force's sixth-generation fighter. Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman was selected to build the B-21 Raider, the Air Force's
first sixth-generation stealth bomber, as part of the service's Long
Range Strike Bomber program.

The company unveiled the stealth bomber in late 2022, and the aircraft
took its maiden flight in November 2023.

Northrop Grumman is still in the running against Boeing to develop the
Navy's next-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, which aims to replace the
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.

Steep ambitions, steep price tag
An artist rendering of a jet emerging from clouds.
An artist rendering of the US Air Force's sixth-generation fighter, the
F-47. US Air Force
The NGAD's steep ambitions to revolutionize the US air superiority
mission come with an equally steep price tag. In 2018, the Congressional
Budget Office estimated that the NGAD airframe alone could cost up to
$300 million each.

The then Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, said in 2023 that he
anticipated the unit cost to be "too expensive to be purchased in large numbers," disclosing the service's plan to team each NGAD with two CCAs.

From 2022 to 2024, Congress allocated $5.1 billion to develop
NGAD-related technologies, which included a "strategic pause" in the
program because of high project costs. In 2025, the Biden administration requested $2.75 billion to build an NGAD platform, which could skyrocket
to an estimated $5.72 billion by 2029.

'China is a threat today'
An F-22 jet flying with mountains behind it.
An F-22 flying over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. US Air Force photo by
Airman 1st Class Paige Weldon
Kendall emphasized the pressing need for the NGAD "family of systems"
amid evolving threats by US adversaries, especially after the Pentagon truncated the procurement of F-22 jets from 750 to 187 in 2009.

"NGAD will include attributes such as enhanced lethality and the ability
to survive, persist, interoperate, and adapt in the air domain, all
within highly contested operational environments," Kendall said in May
2023. "No one does this better than the US Air Force, but we will lose
that edge if we don't move forward now."

The urgency is also spurred in part by China's increasingly
sophisticated long-range air defense and electronic warfare systems as China-Taiwan tensions contribute to growing militarization in the
Indo-Pacific.

The F-47 is expected to operate closely with two new uncrewed fighters, so-called "loyal wingmen" that are capable of flying missions too
dangerous for a pilot in the cockpit.

Defense analysts argued that in a war scenario with China, the F-22's
limited range and payload capacity would be ill-suited for the terrain, consisting of islands spread hundreds of miles apart, leaving the fleet vulnerable to attack during refueling efforts.

"China is not a future threat; China is a threat today," Kendall said
during a 2024 keynote address.

"I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is
not," he added. "But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and
will continue to do so."

Recommended video
US Air Force
Donald Trump
Boeing
More
Read next

See the Anduril and General Atomics drones the US Air Force just marked
as the first-ever uncrewed fighter jets

First US sixth-gen fighter jet will be the F-47, Trump says, and Boeing,
not Lockheed, is going to build it

Trump's F-47 decision is upsetting Lockheed's dominance in the stealth
fighter game

A US Air Force general says more than just new fighters and bombers is
needed to win the next war
Business Insider

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)