Boeing vs. Northrop: Who Won the F/A-XX 6th Generation Fighter Contract?

Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s decision on the sixth-generation F/A-XX carrier-based stealth fighter is delayed, fueling widespread speculation. Boeing and Northrop Grumman, both seasoned manufacturers, are the final competitors.

-Evaluation criteria include stealth technology, speed, maneuverability, drone compatibility, and advanced AI-enabled networking capabilities. The Navy prioritizes interoperability with drones and existing aircraft, along with sophisticated onboard analytics to deliver time-sensitive data.

-Despite expectations, the decision has stalled, potentially due to the complexity of assessing diverse technologies. Ultimately, the chosen platform will profoundly impact U.S. naval aviation, shaping capabilities in the Indo-Pacific and beyond in an era of intensified global threats.

F/A-XX Is the U.S. Navy’s Future in the Sky

The Pentagon, the Navy, the aerospace industry, and much of the world closely watch the US Navy’s ongoing source selection for the 6th-Gen F/A-XX carrier-launched fighter. Due to the program’s secrecy, little information is available. It was supposed to occur days ago according to some solid reporting. So why the delay? 

The F/A-XX Fighter: When Will We Know? 

Weapons developers, the defense community, and the public anticipate the expected announcement, and some might wonder why the decision is taking so long. The program is expected to move into Milestone B and transition to the well-known Engineering, Manufacturing, and Design (EMD) phase at some point this year, and only Boeing and Northrop Grumman remain alive in the competition.

Boeing is famous for the F/A-18 Super Hornet and was, of course, just selected for the Next-Generation Air Dominance F-47 6th-gen Air Force plane. Northrop is known for building the F-14 Tomcat.

Both companies have extensive experience engineering carrier-launched fighter jets, and both vendors are doubtless quite experienced with stealth technology.

It may be that Northrop has an edge with stealth technology, given its role in generating a new era of stealth technology with the B-21 and its history of building the first-ever stealthy carrier-launched drone demonstrator years ago called the X-47B. 

Extensive Evaluation

Navy and defense evaluators will examine key performance specs such as speed, stealth effectiveness, thrust-to-weight ratio, fuel efficiency, aerial maneuverability, and lethality, yet there is an entire universe of less prominent yet equally significant additional capabilities that Navy decision-makers will analyze.

Requirements and proposal analysis for a program of this magnitude are extensive and detailed, as they often involve computer simulations, design model experimentation, and careful examination of performance parameters.

The process is quite intense, as the evaluation carefully weighs each offering’s technological attributes and areas of advantage against determined requirements. Requirements are painstakingly developed as Pentagon weapons developers seek to identify what’s referred to as “capability gaps” and then seek to develop technologies and platforms capable of closing those capability gaps by solving a particular tactical or strategic problem. 

Navy developers likely envision a 6th-generation, carrier-launched stealth fighter as a platform capable of closing or addressing many capability gaps.

While little is known about the program for security reasons, the intent is likely to combine F-22-like speed and maneuverability with a new generation of stealth ruggedized for maritime warfare and carrier deck operations. Carriers are now being configured with special unmanned systems headquarters areas designed to coordinate drone take-off and landing.

(Dec. 7, 2024) LT Steven Holcomb, attached to the Gunslingers of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 105, operates a F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck during flight operations, Dec. 7, 2024. USS George H.W. Bush is in the basic phase of the Optimized Fleet Response Plan conducting flight deck certification.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jayden Brown)

This station requires deconflicting air space, accommodating wind and rough sea conditions, and ensuring a successful glide slope onto a carrier deck.

As part of a 6th-gen family of systems, the F/A-XX will be expected to control drones from the cockpit, conduct manned-unmanned teaming operations, and take-off-and-land in close coordination with drones.  

Networking & AI 

Boeing and Northrop have extensive drone-engineering experience and mature AI-enabled technologies. The Navy is likely closely looking at networking technologies. Each vendor platform must conduct secure data collection, analysis, and transmission to ensure time-sensitive combat information exchange.

This requires interoperable transport layer communication technologies to interface with one another in the air in real-time.

For example, the platform best able to successfully gather and analyze time-sensitive threat information from otherwise disparate sensor sources, likely enabling AI at the point of collection, will be best positioned to prevail in a competitive down-select.  

The F/A-XX will not only need to connect with each other but also network successfully with F-35s and 4th-generation aircraft and ship-based command and control.

This connectivity will likely require gateway applications. These computer technologies are engineered to translate time-sensitive data from one transport layer to another.

Key targeting data may arrive via a radio frequency (RF) data link. At the same time, other information comes from GPS, and a third source of incoming data transmits through a different frequency or wireless signal.

How can this information be organized and analyzed collectively to a complete, integrated picture and delivered instantly as needed at the point of attack?

This is where AI-enabled gateways come in, and the vendor most successfully navigates these technological complexities will likely prevail. 

About the Author: Kris Osborn 

Kris Osborn is Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.