Washington: The US Air Force’s F-47 programme has begun its engineering and manufacturing development phase and will fly in the coming years, a service official said.
The programme, described as “extreme teaming” with industry partners, entered the phase with “unprecedented maturity,” Gen. Dale White, director of Critical Major Weapon Systems, said in a keynote address at an event in Dayton, Ohio.
The engineering and manufacturing phase includes maturing, integrating and testing all parts of the F-47. It will produce a small number of test aircraft for evaluation and includes priced options for low-rate initial production. White did not specify the number of test aircraft being produced.
The first Boeing F-47 is on track for its first flight in 2028. The Air Force plans to buy at least 185 F-47s, matching the size of the F-22 Raptor fleet it intends to replace.
“The F-47 will fly in this administration,” White said during his speech at the Life Cycle Industry Days, hosted by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Centre. White, who also acts as direct reporting portfolio manager to the deputy defence secretary, is tasked with managing weapons systems, such as the F-47 and B-21 programmes.
In March 2025, President Donald Trump announced that the force will proceed with development of sixth-generation Boeing F-47s under the Next Generation Air Dominance programme, or NGAD, intended to replace the F-22 Raptor.
“In terms of all of the attributes of a fighter jet, there’s never been anything even close to it, from speed to manoeuvrability, to what it can have, to payload,” Trump said at the time, insisting that the aircraft will be built and in the air during his administration. “And this has been in the works for a long period of time,” he continued. “America’s enemies will never see it coming.”
NGAD is a “family of systems” that includes the F-47 and Collaborative Combat Aircraft designed to achieve air superiority. The F-47’s modular design is intended to accommodate emerging technology and integrate long-range strike capabilities to counter threats in contested environments. The F-47 programme was allotted $3.45 billion in fiscal year 2026 funding and over $5 billion in the fiscal 2027 budget request.
