Boeing may have won the contest to build the F-47, but a new race has just started.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin pledged on March 21 that the F-47 would “fly during President Trump’s administration.” The F-47 has to move into high gear to achieve the first flight and make up for time after the Pentagon delayed the program in 2024.
Naturally, the real driver is China. China’s air forces constitute the most significant aviation force in the Indo-Pacific region, with 2,400 combat aircraft. China fields the most advanced SA-21 Russian surface-to-air missiles and HQ-19 produced by China on Chinese Navy ships.
Worse, the Pentagon knows China is working on an ultra-long-range air defense missile akin to the Mach 5 DF-17 ballistic missile, which has a range of 1,000 to 1,500 miles.
With the addition of improving Chinese space-based targeting, the skies of the Pacific have become a big problem. “There is a sense of urgency we are all operating under,” the Air Force’s program officer for fighters and bombers, Lt. Gen. Dale White, said as far back as 2023.
As the Pentagon put it, China’s goal is “the development of a future multi-domain kill-web designed to target penetrating counterair by coordinating across aircraft, sensors, and missiles.” No doubt China plans for the new, stealthy J-36 and J-50 planes that flew last year to become part of its deadly squad.
The F-47’s job is to break up those bubbles of Chinese dominance and erase the Chinese long-range kill chain. Collaborative combat aircraft and other elements of the next-generation family will “unlock the magic that is human-machine teaming,” Allvin said in the Oval Office briefing. And it can’t be done without the B-21 Raider bomber.
For all the excitement, the most prominent risk elements to the aggressive F-47 schedule come from engines, production performance, and program funding stability.
Advanced engines are critical for the F-47. During the Oval Office meeting on March 21, President Donald J. Trump said the F-47 will have the most power of any jet of its kind ever made. Trump also remarked that the speed of the F-47 “is top, over 2,” implying that the highly maneuverable fighter may have a key performance parameter speed of Mach 2. The United States Air Force has also said that the F-47 has more range than the F-22.
Mach 2 speed plus long range requires very advanced engines. Herein lies one of the biggest mysteries of the F-47 engine—or engines.
Advanced propulsion has long been a core requirement for next-generation air dominance. In the past, a new fighter was, in part, designed around the best new engine. For example, the F119 engine powering the F-22 was developed as a separate, competitive program. The Air Force has invested in adaptive engine technology for almost twenty years to sustain air dominance. The new engines add a third stream of air so the F-47 can produce bursts of supersonic speed and fly in long-range cruise mode.
These innovative adaptive cycle engines have long been touted as powerplants for the new F-47. In fact, one of the most significant hints that the NGAD program had survived the Biden years and was nearing award came Jan. 28, when the Air Force announced contracts for Pratt & Whitney and GE Aerospace to continue work on next-generation adaptive propulsion. As Pratt & Whitney described, the NGAD engine has “an adaptive architecture, enabling its components to actively adjust for optimized fuel efficiency, survivability, and power and thermal management, surpassing the capabilities of fourth- and fifth-generation engines.”
Obviously, the Boeing and Lockheed Martin demonstrators flew without the newest engines. That opens the question of how fast the XA102 and/or XA103 could be ready for the F-47. The GE Aerospace XA102 and the Pratt & Whitney XA103 completed their Detailed Design Review in February.
Next, there is the issue of production performance. “We’ve given an order for a lot. We can’t tell you the price,” Trump said. Recently, Boeing has experienced delays on a range of systems, including the Air Force’s KC-47 tanker and T-7 trainer.
However, Boeing Phantom Works has also produced and tested innovative aircraft such as the MQ-28 Ghost Bat and the X-45 for years. The MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueling and ISR drone will join the Navy’s carrier air wings later this year. Don’t forget the X-51 Waverider, an Air Force Research Lab scramjet hypersonic demonstrator that flew during 2010-2013. Despite the delay in the Next Generation Air Dominance program during 2024, the F-47 was designed for rapid acquisition.
Finally, nothing will rock the F-47 like funding instability. Budget woes were the reason cited for the long delays in 2024. The Air Force has clearly won over the White House and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who praised the F-47 as a “clear message that we will be able to project power around the globe unimpeded for generations to come” and called it a historic investment in American industry. “We know this is cheaper, longer range, and more stealthy,” Hegseth said.
Shown is a graphical artist rendering of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform. The rendering highlights the Air Force’s sixth generation fighter, the F-47. The NGAD Platform will bring lethal, next-generation technologies to ensure air superiority for the Joint Force in any conflict. (U.S. Air Force graphic)
However, the sustained support must come from Congress. For the F-47 to move fast, it must also win favor outside the secret rooms of the key defense committees. Overcoming the drone fans is essential. Here, Trump helped again, pointing out that the F-47 “flies with many drones, as many as we want.”
With the F-47, the Air Force has developed a dominant plane and teamed it with collaborative combat aircraft. The plan is to move at a scale and speed never seen before. Americans also need to accept that this fighter—which even President Trump concedes is expensive—is an essential investment for national security.
About the Author: Dr. Rebecca Grant
Dr. Rebecca Grant, Vice President of the Lexington Institute, is a national security analyst based in Washington, DC specializing in defense and aerospace research and national security consulting. She has researched and published hundreds of articles on national security and spoken at numerous forums. In addition, Dr. Grant has often appeared on television as an expert on national security for Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, and MSNBC and as a series regular on The Smithsonian’s Air Warriors. Dr. Grant also writes on China, Russia and other technology and national security topics for Fox News Opinion. Her military books include 75 Great Airmen (with Lt. Gen. Chris Miller), The B-2 Goes to War, and Battle-Tested: Aircraft Carriers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr. Grant graduated from Wellesley College and earned a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics, University of London.
