The Trump Administration plans to concentrate its sixth-generation fighter development effort on the US Air Force (USAF), leaving an equivalent naval programme on life support for the immediate future.
That is according to a group of senior Pentagon officials, who provided FlightGlobal an overview of the president’s fiscal year 2026 defence budget request on 26 June. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.
Boeing’s F-47 air superiority fighter, being developed under the USAF’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, will receive $3.5 billion in funding in FY2026.
By contrast, only $74 million will be dedicated to the US Navy’s F/A-XX programme to develop a carrier-capable sixth-generation fighter.
“We did make a strategic decision to go all-in on F-47,” a defence official says.
“Our belief [is] that the industrial base can only handle going fast on one programme at this time, and the presidential priority [is] to go all-in on F-47 and get that programme right while maintaining the option for F/A-XX in the future,” the individual adds.
The $74 million assigned to the naval fighter programme will be used to finalise a design, with a final procurement decision left up to the secretary of the navy, secretary of defense, and ultimately the US president at a later date.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman are believed to be finalists for the F/A-XX competition, with the navy having eliminated a bid from Lockheed Martin earlier this year.
Speaking at the Paris air show earlier this month, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security Steve Parker pushed back on the notion that the US industrial base cannot support two sixth-generation development efforts simultaneously.
“Can Boeing do both? Absolutely,” Parker said of the F/A-XX and F-47 programmes.
Boeing’s F-47 design was selected as the winner of the NGAD competition in March, beating out a competing proposal believed to be from Lockheed.
Despite the retinue of advanced aerospace engineers on staff at Lockheed who are now not engaged in sixth-generation fighter development, the Trump Administration maintains there is not enough capacity within the US defence industry to pursue both efforts at full-rate.
“The navy’s F/A-XX programme will maintain minimal development funding to preserve the ability to leverage F-47 work, while preventing over subscription of qualified defence industrial base engineers,” a defence official says.
“The department is dedicated to sixth-generation capability,” another Pentagon official adds. “The F-47 is on path to be the leading agent of that.”
The Pentagon’s budget request requires approval from lawmakers in Congress, who often have other plans and priorities.
Congress has yet to pass a budget for FY2025, which concludes at the end of September, and are using a continuing resolution to extend the previous year’s budget as a stopgap.
Although the Pentagon’s fiscal year begins in October, Congress often delays passage of a full-year budget until the start of the following calendar year, particularly during election years.
