How Fast Can the New Boeing F-47 ‘NGAD’ Fighter Fly?

Summary – The F-47 NGAD is billed as America’s sixth-generation “flying supercomputer,” pairing stealth, AI and loyal-wingman drones with the B-21 bomber.

-Yet its projected Mach-2-plus top speed raises hard questions in an era of hypersonic missiles and rival next-gen fighters from China and Russia.

-Boeing must juggle thrust, weight, and cost—especially with unit prices flirting with $300 million and two adaptive engines, GE’s XA102 and Pratt & Whitney’s XA103, competing to power the jet.

-Washington can prioritize sensors and teaming, but if the F-47 isn’t significantly faster than today’s fighters, its survivability and claim to “air dominance” are at risk.

It’s safe to say many United States Air Force pilots, aerospace engineers, battle planners, and old-fashioned civilian aviation enthusiasts are excited about the F-47 NGAD. This warbird will be ultra-stealthy with radar evasion capabilities never seen before.

It will be a “flying super computer” with artificial intelligence in the cockpit. It should be able to control a flight of drones that serve as “Loyal Wingmen” for better combat power and survivability.

Many Questions Must Be Answered

But what about speed? Can the sixth-generation jet outrun adversarial airplanes and air defense interceptors?

Will it have an unmanned version that is slower or faster than the manned version? And how agile and maneuverable will it be? It would need to have better thrust and acceleration to outmaneuver enemy airplanes.

MACH 2-plus May Not Be Fast Enough

The F-47 NGAD should be capable of flying at least Mach 2. That is not eyebrow-raising fast, but it is respectable. This speed translates to at least 1,550 miles per hour. But its stealth capability may mean that the exact speed doesn’t matter.

Or Boeing may decide to provide it with a higher speed with more powerful engines. Despite the added engine capacity, more advanced features could make it heavier and less maneuverable. There would be trade-offs to achieve better thrust and velocity.

Boeing Is Placing This Airplane On a Quick-Build Plan

The Air Force expects the F-47 to have a rapid development cycle. We could see the NGAD fly sometime between 2026 and 2029. This timeframe seems optimistic. The forthcoming warbird with experimental systems on board—aspects of quantum computing that may not even be invented yet. It will need to integrate with the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA)—specifically, the Loyal Wingman drones mentioned above.

Two prototype CCAs are currently being tested, but fully autonomous drones flying as “little buddies” from a manned aircraft is a challenging engineering feat that could require additional years of testing and evaluation.

There may be some expense issues. Last year, during the Biden administration, the NGAD was estimated to cost $300 million a unit. That raised concern, so the Air Force placed the program in operational pause. In March of this year, President Donald Trump took it upon himself to champion the NGAD, and he deemed it the F-47.

NGAD. Image Credit: Creative Commons

He also announced that Boeing would be the manufacturer.

Can the F-47 Outfox Hypersonic Missiles?

Perhaps Boeing would want a faster F-47. I have often described the NGAD as an airplane that would approach MACH 3. Speed still matters in the aerial combat game if that is the Air Force’s objective. China and Russia could have hypersonic interceptor weapons fired from surface-to-air missiles. The F-47 needs to have more speed to counter those missiles. Obviously, the NGAD will not be able to fly faster than MACH 5, but it still needs to be powerful enough to make evasive maneuvers and utilize its stealthiness to sneak by.

Additionally, China and Russia are developing their own sixth-generation aircraft. Since the Air Force already publicized the speed of the F-47 at MACH 2-plus, it stands to reason that Chinese and Russian engineers and designers are saying, “We can beat that speed.” The F-47 needs to be a great dogfighter as well, and high speeds and acceleration would be necessary.

One aspect of the F-47 would be its mission to escort the new B-21 Raider bombers. This dynamic would give the Air Force two highly stealthy next-generation airplanes. Since the B-21 is subsonic, the F-47 would have no problem flying by its side.

Boeing has its work cut out for it. There are many items on the F-47 wish list, and high speed for the NGAD may have to take a back seat to manned and unmanned teaming, as well as artificial intelligence and innovative new stealth coatings.

Two F-47 Engines Are Competing

The good news for the F-47 program is that it is in a two-engine competition. The one that could push out the most speed may win. This is the Next-Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) program, which is already facing delays. The engines, designated as the XA102 and XA103, are being developed by GE Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney.

Cost will be a factor in the competition, of course, but the Air Force could choose the one that could produce the most speed. Additionally, to complicate matters, the NGAD could become a heavy aircraft with all its features, which could make it slower, despite having the most powerful engine.

Pilots will want a more powerful engine, of course, with increased speed. This will become apparent during testing when the airplane is finally assembled and evaluated. We should give the Air Force time to keep all of these new systems within price estimates. Three hundred million dollars a piece is too expensive, and Boeing may want to choose a less costly engine – even one that does not achieve a speed approaching Mach 3.

Velocity will matter in this decision-making calculus. We are entering the era of hypersonic missiles, and the F-47 needs to be a hot rod for improved survivability.

Let’s see if Boeing can deliver an airplane that is much faster than MACH 2. This could be a difference maker on whether the F-47 can thrive in battle and achieve absolute air dominance.

About the Author: Dr. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.

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