Key Points and Summary on F/A-XX – A major funding battle has erupted between the U.S. Navy and the White House over the future of naval aviation. The Trump administration has officially prioritized the Air Force’s F-47 sixth-generation fighter, arguing the U.S. industrial base cannot support the simultaneous development of the Navy’s F/A-XX program.
-In a direct challenge, the Navy has placed a $1.4 billion request for the F/A-XX on its “Unfunded Priorities List,” asking Congress to override the Pentagon.
-This high-stakes tug-of-war jeopardizes the replacement for the Navy’s aging F/A-18 fleet and the future of America’s air power at sea.
F/A-XX Fighter Debate Is Just Getting Started
Trouble is brewing between the United States Navy and Air Force.
The U.S. Navy is requesting that Congress allocate additional funds for its future sixth-generation fighter, the upcoming F/A-XX.
Still, this additional funding could jeopardize the rollout of the U.S. Air Force’s upcoming sixth-generation fighter, the F-47.
The White House explained the funding tug-of-war in stark terms.
This administration “strongly supports reevaluating the F/A-XX program due to industrial base concerns of two sixth-generation programs occurring simultaneously,” the White House wrote in its statement.
“Awarding the F/A-XX contract as written is likely to delay the higher-priority F-47 program, with low likelihood of improving the timeline to field a Navy sixth generation fighter.”
Sixth-Generation Fighter Drama
While the U.S. Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter has a name and a builder, its counterpart in the United States Navy, the upcoming F/A-XX, does not.
The Pentagon has not yet awarded the F/A-XX contract to either of the aerospace firms in the running, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Further complicating matters is the risk that the U.S. Navy’s fighter could jeopardize the roll-out of the F-47.
The United States Navy requested an additional $1.4 billion in funding, which would support the F/A-XX program as part of its Unfunded Priority List. This list, essentially a wish list, is submitted by the service branches to Congress and lies outside of official budgetary requests.
“This additional funding will enable Navy to award the 6th Generation Strike Fighter contract to industry,” the U.S. Navy explained in its letter to Congress. “Navy’s 6th Generation Strike Fighter aircraft is a critical component of both the future Carrier Strike Group (CSG)” and the “air wing of the future.”
The Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter: the F-47
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth both announced Boeing’s F-47 contract award and winning of the Next Generation Air Dominance award from the Oval Office to great fanfare.
Although the F-47 supposedly bears the name of the P-47 Thunderbolt, a fighter from the Second World War that served as a fighter-bomber and later as a ground-attack aircraft. 1947 was also the year that the Secretary of Defense reorganized the Army Air Forces into the United States Air Force. And of course Donald Trump is currently serving as the 47th President of the United States.
What the F-47 will look like is also a mystery. Although several computer-generated images of the new fighter have been released, they are fragmentary and could be intentionally misleading to conceal the fighter’s characteristics.
Show Me the Money
The cost of the F-47 and the F/A-XX is still a matter of debate and is unlikely to be known concretely anytime soon.
Still, the top Airman, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin has alluded to the fact that he anticipates the F-47 to cost less than the airplane it replaces, the F-22 Raptor.
General Allvin said that “compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats – and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory.”
“The F-47 will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters. This platform is designed with a “built to adapt” mindset and will take significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy,” General Allvin added.
Lots of New U.S. Military Platforms Coming Soon…
It’s not just the F-47 and the F/A-XX that America’s aerospace companies will have to built — the upcoming B-21 Raider, an advanced stealth bomber and spiritual as well as techbnological successor to the Cold War-era B-2 Spirit bomber, has not yet entered mass production, though the U.S. Air Force would like to see it in service sometime next year, in limited numbers.
Another project in the running for funding is the Navy’s DDG(X), a frigate slated to replace the older Ticonderoga-class cruisers and the Arleigh Burke-class frigates that currently form the backbone of the Navy’s surface fleet.
Engines Issues for F-47?
Another challenge for the U.S. Air Force is the turbulence currently being experienced by the Next Generation Air Propulsion program. Both GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney are designing and building advanced engines that will power the F-47.
However, both engine makers are facing a two-year delay and will not complete their engines before 2030, despite previous design schedules indicating a completion date of 2027.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Air Force told Breaking Defense that “The updated schedule in the budget documents reflects supply chain challenges encountered by the program.”
What Happens Next?
But with several advanced — and presumably expensive — sixth-generation aerospace projects in the pipeline, keeping projects on schedule and at budget could prove to be a significant challenge.
What this means for the future of the F-47, F/A-XX, and the other big-ticket items in development remains to be seen, though delays could very well be forthcoming in the future.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
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July 22, 2025 at 9:27 am
China is already developing 2 6th gen fighters. I bet the USA can if it wanted to.