Boeing's Next-Generation Fighter Plane 47, Which Was Falling, Is 'Named' by President Trump as F-47
The next-generation fighter jet, the F-47, was named by President Trump as a 'manned aircraft supported by drones' that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars by Boeing, the fifth-largest U.S. military contractor, in the Oval Office.
The 47th President Trump personally announced the name of the new fighter jet as the F-47 to reporters in the Oval Office, saying, "We've got a lot of orders. We can't tell you the price."
Boeing shares rose 5% after beating Lockheed Martin on the day, while Lockheed, the maker of the F-35, fell nearly 7%.
The Next-Generation Air Superiority program is expected to replace Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor with a manned aircraft designed to be deployed in combat alongside drones, and while the design of the aircraft is kept strictly secret, it is likely to include stealth, advanced sensors, and cutting-edge engines. Reuters reported on the 22nd, citing three sources, that “President Trump has met with Lockheed CEO Jim Tichlett in recent weeks to discuss the F-35,” and that “Lockheed’s defeat is another blow to the Pentagon’s growing discontent over the delay in upgrading the F-35 fighter jet after Lockheed lost out on the Navy’s next-generation carrier-based stealth fighter.”
Reuters said, “The engineering and manufacturing development contract is worth more than $20 billion,” and that “Boeing’s victory means it will build the jet fighter and receive orders worth hundreds of billions of dollars over the life of the contract for decades.”
The U.S. Air Force realized an artist’s rendering of the F-47 fighter jet on the 21st after President Trump awarded Boeing a contract to build the U.S. Air Force jet fighter. “Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said in a statement. “We’ll have more F-47s, they’ll have much longer range, more advanced stealth, and they’ll be more easily supported.”
The U.S. Air Force’s NGAD is conceived as a “family of systems” centered around a sixth-generation fighter to counter adversaries like China and Russia, Reuters reported.
NGAD emerged from a 2014 study by the Pentagon’s emerging technology division, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The Pentagon’s sixth-generation jets are scheduled to enter service in the 2030s with their first production deployment.
NGAD is conceived as a “family of systems” to counter China and Russia, with a “manned fighter supported by unmanned aircraft.” Boeing's engineering and development contracts are worth more than $20 billion, and the revenue from these contracts could be in the hundreds of billions of dollars over several decades.
Musk, an advisor to the president, previously publicly announced the 'replacement of unmanned drones' with the 'uselessness of manned aircraft', and Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, rode the wave with the 'uselessness of military personnel', saying that 'drones and robots are the trend', but the Trump administration solidified the 'manned aircraft trend'.
Boeing's commercial operation crisis was caused by management difficulties as it tried to restore production of its best-selling 737 MAX jet to full speed after a series of accidents, and its defense operations were under severe pressure due to poor performance in aerial refueling tankers, drones, and training jets, and it was 'appointed' by Trump.
Lockheed announced an 'incomplete acceptance' in a statement that day, saying, "We are disappointed in this outcome, but we are confident that we have provided a competitive solution," and "We will wait for further discussions with the US Air Force." Reuters reported that “Lockheed can still protest the government’s award to Boeing, but the fact that Trump announced the contract at a high-profile press conference could make it less likely that the Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor will air its objections publicly.”
“This Boeing award would be a major boost to a company that has struggled with cost overruns, schedule delays and other Department of Defense programs,” TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer told Reuters.
Cost overruns on Boeing’s KC-46 aerial refueling tanker program have topped $7 billion in recent years, and another fixed-price contract to upgrade two Air Force One aircraft has already cost the top five U.S. defense contractors $2 billion.
Boeing’s passenger aircraft division has come under intense scrutiny following a series of crises, including a midair emergency in January 2024 when four key bolts were missing from a new Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9.
Boeing reported a $11.8 billion annual loss in January, its biggest loss since 2020, and it has not recovered from losses due to a series of problems in key business units and the aftermath of a strike that halted production of most of its jets.
Boeing was hit with a monthly production cap imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration early last year after a delivery race with Airbus.
The F-22 Raptor, the basis for the F-47, was ordered by the US Air Force as an air superiority fighter with a “first-strike, first-strike” capability, and fewer than 200 of the fifth-generation fighters entered service in 2005 and flew their first combat missions in 2006.
The F-22, the only F-series aircraft operated exclusively by the US, was designed by Lockheed Martin with Boeing as a subcontractor, outperforming designs by Northrop Grumman and McDonnell Douglas. The F-22 is highly maneuverable, stealthy, and can fly faster than twice the speed of sound, or about 1,530 mph (2,460 km/h).
The next-generation fighter jet introduced by South Korea and others, the F-35, is the most advanced fighter jet of the US Air Force, combining stealth, high maneuverability, and advanced data capabilities to perform various roles, and the complex sensors of the fifth-generation fighter allow it to operate as part of a networked force rather than as a standalone aircraft.
The US Air Force chose Lockheed Martin's design over Boeing's for the F-35 in 2001, and it began delivering it in 2016, selling more than 1,100 aircraft worldwide for more than $10 million, and about 2,500 aircraft have been ordered for the US military, and hundreds more are currently scheduled to be delivered to allies. Reuters reported that “the U.S. Air Force currently has more than 300 F-35s and plans to purchase 1,763,” and that “the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps also fly the F-35, and 19 other countries operate the F-35, and more than 1,130 fighters have been built since production began in 2006.”
The countries that currently purchase the F-35 are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multi-role 4th generation aircraft designed by General Dynamics in the early 1970s as an air superiority fighter, and more than 50 years after the F-16 first flew, production ended in 2019, and the U.S. Air Force operates more than 800 upgraded versions of the F-16. The F-16 was sold from the General Dynamics design to Lockheed Martin, and when about 4,600 aircraft were manufactured by the end of production in 2019, Korea became a supplier of original parts by reproducing the KF-21 fighter using its design.
The F-16 is operated by Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Venezuela. Previously, it was owned by Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway, and Ukraine received the European stock in the event of a war with Russia in 2024.
The U.S. Air Force operates two versions of Boeing's F-15: a single-seat air superiority fighter and a two-seat strike and interception fighter. The F-15 Eagle/Strike Eagle versions first flew in 1972, and the latest version, the F-15EX, will enter service in 2024 and can fire missiles from longer ranges than previous versions, and has upgraded radar, sensors and networking capabilities.
Reuters reported that “the U.S. operates nearly 300 F-15s of all versions, and more than 1,500 have been built,” and that “the F-15 has provided significant combat service to several countries and the Middle East, contributing to the downing of 39 Iraqi aircraft by the U.S. in air-to-air combat during the 1991 Gulf War, and is a mainstay in combat against Israel and Saudi Arabia, with variants of the aircraft also operating in Japan, Qatar, Singapore and South Korea.” <Reuters, ‘Biggest arms dealer who does not disclose prices in Korea will face obstacles, May 31, 2023>
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