Boeing’s F-47 sixth-generation fighter

 US official declares F-47 sixth-gen fighter scheduled to fly in 2028 as production begins 

Boeing’s developmental sixth-generation F-47 fighter will take to the skies in 2028. US Secretary of the Air Force wishes China good luck in gleaning useful intel about fighter from image released. US President said the F-47’s experimental X-planes had been tested in secret over the past five years, with the first flight reportedly occurring in 2019. The US has started manufacturing its F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet and plans for it to be flying in 2028, a senior US Air Force official announced, three weeks after China showcased its new fighter jets during its Victory Day military parade. During his keynote address at the 2025 Air, Space and Cyber Conference, US Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin said Boeing had started production of the F-47. The airframe was selected to deliver the USA’s first-ever sixth-generation fighter soon, beating out Lockheed Martin in the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) competition. Since then, scant details have emerged about the highly classified programme other than a few renderings, which deliberately reveal very little about the new manned fighter. However, the USAF’s top officer now confirms that assembly work is already underway on the initial F-47 example, with a first flight planned three years from now.

US announced that Boeing would make the jets to replace the F-22 fighters under the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme. The new sixth-generation fighter jet would “ensure dominance into the future”, along with other components of the NGAD system “after years of work, hundreds of test hours, thousands of man-years in the lab”. “We [have] got to go fast. I got to tell you, team, it’s almost 2026. The team is committed to get the first one flying in 2028,” Allvin said. “In the few short months since we made the announcement, they [Boeing] are already beginning to manufacture the first article.” The US Air Force has previously said that the F-47 was expected to make its maiden flight before the end of Trump’s term of office, which ends in January 2029. While graphics released by the US Air Force and Boeing suggest it has a tailless design with a combat radius exceeding 1,000 nautical miles (1,850km) and a speed exceeding Mach 2, the F-47’s specific design and other details are highly classified. “I expect some of the Chinese intel analysts are spending a lot of time looking at this picture. Good luck trying to dig something out of there. Pretty careful about that,” US Secretary of the Air Force said. When he announced Boeing’s selection as the winner of the Next Generation Air Dominance contract, David Allvin revealed that two competitive prototypes had been secretly flying for five years, accruing “hundreds of hours” of flight time. Boeing is likely able to progress that fast because the company has already been flying an experimental F-47 concept for several years.

The previously unacknowledged test campaign included the development of new technologies and the evaluation of concepts for employing the experimental sixth-generation designs. Boeing is also well positioned to rapidly scale-up production of the new jet. In recent years the airframe has invested nearly $2 billion in a classified production facility in St. Louis, Missouri intended to support unspecified “future combat aircraft programmes”. Although not specifically tied to the NGAD programme, the massive investment was widely seen as intended to help Boeing secure the USAF sixth-generation development contract which has now become the F-47. The fighters are expected to feature improved stealth, weapons, avionics and hypersonic capabilities. They are also expected to incorporate artificial intelligence and quantum computing, as well as manned-unmanned teaming for drones to fly alongside them, known as collaborative combat aircraft (CCA). Two designs have been selected for the CCA programme by the US Air Force: Anduril’s YFQ-44A, also known as “Fury”; and General Atomics’ YFQ-42A. The Fury is expected to make its first flight soon. 

Allvin’s announcement came as the US and China are racing for air superiority. Speaking at the annual Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) conference near Washington, DC, Allvin revealed video footage of Boeing chief executive Kelly Ortberg announcing the F-47 win to Boeing workers arrayed before him on an unspecified factory floor in St. Louis. Boeing assembles all of its tactical aircraft in the greater St. Louis area, including the F-15EX, F/A-18E/F, and EA-18G fighters, the T-7A trainer jet, and the MQ-25 autonomous refueller. The classified aircraft production site is located in that same complex, which also houses the headquarters of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. SCMP Plus is a new premium news platform that gives you an all-inclusive edge to stay ahead of China. On 3 Sep, during the military parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, China unveiled its own carrier-based fighter jets. Very little is concretely known about the F-47 or the USAF’s concept for integrating sixth-generation aircraft into its existing fleet, other than the new design will fill an air superiority role. Despite that lofty price tag, the Pentagon and administration of President Donald Trump say they are “all in” on the F-47, potentially at the expense of the US Navy’s less mature sixth-generation development effort. “We did make a strategic decision to go all-in on F-47,” one Pentagon official said earlier. Service leaders have long positioned the NGAD jet as the nucleus of a “family of systems” which includes legions of uncrewed support platforms known as Collaborative Combat Aircraft.

Unlike the USAF’s current air superiority fighter, the fifth-generation Lockheed F-22, the F-47 is not expected to be a pure dogfighter, but will combine the latest stealth technology with advanced threat sensors to command and control the fight for air superiority. Senior USAF officials have previously stated that each frontline NGAD aircraft is expected to cost on the order of multiple Lockheed F-35s, with a likely price tag of around $200 million per aircraft. Speaking at the AFA event, Allvin affirmed the USAF plans to move quickly on fielding the new jet. These included new variants of the J-15 series, such as the J-15T, which is equipped to work with an electromagnetic catapult launch system, as well as the upgraded J-15DH and J-15DT electronic warfare aircraft. The event also showcased the J-35, China’s second fifth-generation fighter jet, which will be based on the country’s latest aircraft carrier, the Fujian. As per the reports available, the J-15T, the J-35 and the carrier-based KJ-600 early warning and control aircraft had completed catapult launch and landing tests on the Fujian. China has reportedly been developing its sixth-generation fighter jets. Photos and videos which have circulated online suggest that two types of advanced fighters, dubbed the J-36 and the J-50, feature three engines and a tailless design.