Can US edge China in 6th-gen fighter race or will cost, tech issues bring down the F-47?
US announcement of sixth-generation fighter raises new questions about delivery and feasibility amid soaring competition with China, analysts say
But, despite the American project’s assumed overall advantages in aerospace technology, questions hover over the aircraft’s delivery timeline and price tag.
On March 21, US President Donald Trump announced that the Pentagon had awarded a contract to Boeing to develop the US Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance future fighter jet (NGAD).
Trump said the jet would be equipped with “state-of-the-art stealth technologies” and multiple drone wingmen, known as collaborative combat aircraft.
As he made the announcement next to an image of the model jet, Trump said Boeing’s experimental X-planes for the F-47 had been tested in secret over the past five years, with the first flight reportedly taking place in 2019.
According to Reuters, a contract for F/A-XX, another branch of NGAD that is working on the US Navy’s next-generation carrier-based fighter jet, is also expected to be awarded to either Boeing or Northrop Grumman, in a bid to counter China’s increasing air and naval operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
NGAD is Washington’s procurement programme for sixth-generation fighter jets to replace Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor fifth-generation fighter jet.