President Trump likes American fighter planes, and awarding the F-47 contract to Boeing for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance fighter puts U.S. back in the lead for dominant airpower.
President Donald Trump likes American fighter planes, and he’s just made the biggest fighter plane decision in almost 25 years. Awarding the F-47 contract to Boeing for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance fighter puts America back in the lead for dominant airpower.
« Nothing in the world comes even close to it », Trump said.
This is also Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s first major acquisition decision, and it’s a bold one. By moving swiftly, the Trump administration has corrected yet another inexplicable Biden-era slip that delayed a program decision last summer.
Word is that President Donald Trump was personally involved. He’s Making Airpower Great Again.
The U.S. has the stealthy B-21, a new, sixth-generation bomber, which first flew in 2023 and is now in low-rate production in California. Trump says the F-47 will be in the air « during my administration. » Next up? A brand-new Navy aircraft carrier fighter plane, which the Navy says they will announce later this year.
All this comes not a moment too soon. China has been investing in multiple sixth-generation designs, and flew not one but two advanced, new aircraft late last year. As I wrote Jan. 29, the Chinese J-36 and J-50 planes sent shockwaves through the Pentagon because their mission is long-range hunting and killing of American combat planes and ships.
Here are eight things to know about the F-47, the Air Force’s newest star.
The F-47 is fast. « Its speed is top, over 2 », Trump said on Friday. Wow. He’s implying a Mach 2 speed, twice the speed of sound.
The F-47 will have a pilot. Yes, Elon Musk has trash talked manned fighters for years, but that was before he knew about the F-47.
