The F-47 program is part of the USAF's Next Generation Air Dominance initiative, which aims to replace the aging F-22 fleet.[6][7] The initiative envisions a "family of systems" approach centered on a fast, long-range, stealthy sensor-shooter crewed fighter aircraft called the Penetrating Counter-Air (PCA).[5][8][9] In 2014, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the Aerospace Innovation Initiative to build X-plane prototypes for developing and maturing next-generation fighter aircraft technologies; the DARPA demonstrators would serve as full-scale flight demonstrators for the PCA, with Boeing first flying its demonstrator in 2019.[10][11] While the PCA was initially expected to operate without needing support from uncrewedcollaborative combat aircraft (CCA), advances in automation technology has increased their role in the USAF force structure, and the PCA is now expected to be accompanied by CCAs that can carry additional munitions or perform supporting missions.[12]
The winner of the NGAD development contract was to be chosen in 2024, but the Secretary of the Air Force paused the program in May 2024 after its projected cost soared, putting the price of each fighter at three times that of a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The service launched an internal study to judge whether the program could furnish air dominance amid rapid advances in aviation and air-defense technology, particularly by America's adversaries.[13][14] In early March 2025, USAF leaders said the study had concluded that NGAD was necessary. "Bluntly, what this study told us, we tried a whole bunch of different options, and there was no more viable option than NGAD to achieve air superiority in this highly contested environment," Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, director of Air Force force design, integration, and wargaming, said at the Air & Space Forces Association Warfare Symposium in Colorado.[15]Kenneth Wilsbach of the Air Combat Command (ACC) added that the U.S. would need crewed sixth-generation aircraft to counter Chinese sixth-generation aircraft.[16][17]
President Trump speaking with Air Force officials on the announcement of the F-47 program in the Oval Office
On 21 March 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the program would move ahead, that its centerpiece aircraft would be called the F-47, and that the engineering and manufacturing development contract, worth more than $20 billion, would be awarded to Boeing.[5][18]
According to the US Air Force, the number "47" was chosen because "[i]t 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."[6][19][20]
This contract is expected to revitalize Boeing's military aviation division, especially its fighter production line in St. Louis, Missouri.[21]Defense One reported that Boeing has invested heavily in its defense division with the aim of returning it to profitability.[22]
The program has been flying X-planes—experimental aircraft meant to prove out design and technological elements—since 2020,[18][23]Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin said in a statement, adding that the F-47 is slated for first flight by the end of Trump's term in early 2029.[24][14]
Design
The details about the F-47's design remain classified. The air superiority fighter jet will have "significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters"—that is, the F-22 and F-35.[25][26] He also said it would "cost less" than the F-22, be acquired in larger numbers, be "more adaptable to future threats," and "will take significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy."[24][14] It is anticipated to have a top speed around Mach 2 and to operate with drone swarms.[6][25]
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