Key Points and Summary – The U.S. Navy and Air Force are on a collision course over funding for their respective sixth-generation fighters.
-While the Air Force’s F-47 NGAD program has strong White House support and a massive budget, the Navy’s F/A-XX is being starved of cash, receiving only a tiny fraction of the funds needed for development.
-Top naval officers are pushing to award a contract and move forward quickly before the program is killed by budget cuts.
-This creates a high-stakes race where the more expensive F-47 could squeeze the life out of the Navy’s critical F/A-18 replacement.
Is There Enough Room in the Budget for the F/A-XX and the F-47 NGAD?
While some in the defense world question whether the U.S. Navy should continue with the new sixth-generation F/A-XX fighter program, naval brass is moving forward with the contract award before the Department of Defense and Congress can change their minds.
The Donald Trump administration is already betting ample money, time, and resources toward the Air Force’s F-47 NGAD.
This sixth-generation wonder bird could cost as much as $300 million per unit and be in development for years.
The Navy Is Jumping Up and Down in Support of the F/A-XX
Meanwhile, the Navy is saying “me too” about its F/A-XX: the ultra-stealth, fast, and AI-enabled new jet.
The maritime branch aims to replace its aging F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet fighters.
Still, concerns have been raised about the F/A-XX’s limited range, which may have only a 25 percent larger combat radius than the Super Hornet after refueling. This is not enough to keep aircraft carriers out of the range of Chinese anti-ship missiles that could send an American flat-top down to Davy Jones’ locker.
Naval acquisition honchos can’t wait to start work on the F/A-XX and will need to select a defense contractor soon to bootstrap the program.
“We’re awaiting downselect of which prime is going to win the contract and that kind of stuff,” Vice Admiral Daniel Cheever, Naval Air Forces commander, said to Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Tailhook Symposium. “That’s a pretty high-up decision, there’s a lot of stakeholders,” he added, emphasizing, “We’re excited, once they do downselect, to move out on it.”
Why Is the F/A-XX Needed?
The F/A-XX is expected to have better stealth capabilities than the F-35 and F-22, both highly radar-evasive aircraft.
The F/A-XX will have ample ground strike capability to help the U.S. Marine Corps’ amphibious operations in the Indo-Pacific. The next-generation airplane could also deploy anti-ship hypersonic weapons.
This would enable carriers to have two stealthy airplanes on board, providing better strike capability in a multi-threat environment.
We Know What the F/A-XX Could Look Like
Northrop Grumman, seizing on the momentum of the program, has even released an artist rendering of its version of the F/A-XX. This has some wondering if Northrop could become the prime contractor. Northrop is in a hot competition with Boeing. The Boeing defense subsidiary has already been awarded the F-47 prime contract.
Mission Requirements Have Been Validated
Meanwhile, the Navy has a “validated requirement for carrier-based sixth-generation aircraft,” Admiral Daryl Caudle, the candidate to be the next Chief of Naval Operations, said during his Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing in July.
“It is critical that we field that capability as quickly as possible to give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win against a myriad of emerging threats,” Caudle said in written testimony.
Admiral Caudle was confirmed as CNO last month, so that is seen as a boost to the F/A-XX. But can Caudle navigate Washington, DC, well enough to keep Congress interested in funding the program?
So far, that is going to be difficult. The Navy received only $74 million for the F/A-XX in FY2026. That is enough for the maritime branch to award the program to a prime contractor, but getting the research and development quickly underway will be difficult with such a low number.
Build a Winning Coalition that Includes the White House
It will be Caudle’s job to get more stakeholders involved in drumming up support for the Navy to acquire the F/A-XX.
There is always the chance that the new stealth warbird could get cancelled. Plus, the White House doesn’t seem to be a massive fan of the Navy’s sixth-generation fighter.
Trump’s national security team has made it clear that the Air Force’s F-47 NGAD will be the priority. Developing both programs together could delay the F-47.
They could share the same engines, design, and stealth coating, but the new CNO could be overruled by Trump himself, who is a great admirer of the Air Force’s NGAD fighter.
The Navy’s approach is to move as quickly as possible with the development of the F/A-XX until a red light from Congress or the Commander-in-Chief halts it. This will be a difficult decision for everyone involved, especially the proponents of unmanned warfare who believe expensive next-generation human-flown airplanes should be replaced by drones.
However, the F/A-XX could feature a manned-unmanned teaming capability that pairs it with a drone to conduct more effective intelligence and reconnaissance operations, as well as fire more missiles at ground and sea targets.
This would create expensive software and hardware, though, and increase the overall cost.
The first step for the F/A-XX is to select a contractor and find a proposal that can keep the price tag as low as possible while offering the most significant number of features. The Navy would love to have two stealth airplanes flying from carriers, and there may be room enough for the F-47 and the F/A-XX.
This will be a race to see which one can arrive first for active duty, and we’ll watch to see if there is budget space for both programs. The one with the worst cost overruns and schedule slips could get cancelled.
About the Author: Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for US Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former US Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
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