Key Points and Summary – The U.S. Air Force’s next-generation F-47 fighter, the centerpiece of its NGAD program, is a “stealth++” marvel with a 1,000-nautical-mile combat radius.
-However, the current plan to procure only 185 of these expensive jets to replace the F-22 is raising serious questions. Low numbers are what many consider a significant problem with the F-22 program, and it appears the F-47 could face a similar fate.
-The strategy relies on supplementing this small manned fleet with over 1,000 uncrewed “loyal wingmen” drones.
-Critics worry that in a high-casualty war against a peer adversary like China, this emphasis on quality over quantity could prove to be a dangerous, and potentially fatal, miscalculation.
The F-47 Numbers Debate Heats Up
The F-47 sixth-generation fighter, the winner of the Next-Generation Air Dominance fighter, “is moving forward with $3.5 billion in funding following President Trump’s March 2025 decision to proceed with Boeing’s development,” an Air Force official told Air and Space Forces, a magazine. That person also said that the jet is the “first manned sixth-generation fighter.”
Budgetary documentation from the Pentagon shows that the F-47 is moving to the prototyping phase from advanced technology development and prototyping, and has received a funding boost of $1 billion in 2025. “We did make a strategic decision to go ‘all-in’ on F-47,” the Air Force official said.
To retain the United States’ qualitative edge in the air, it will seemingly have to go all-in on the new jet — the current fleet of F-22 Raptors isn’t getting any younger.
But how many should the Air Force actually build?
F-22 Raptor
The Raptor fleet is currently the stealthier fighter jets in American service — or in any country’s service, for that matter.
But they’re expensive.
Not including the costs of maintenance, the program’s recurring costs, or research and development into the fighter’s advanced stealth features, the price for one jet is a whopping $140 million. When other program costs are factored in, the number increases even further.
One significant factor in the F-22’s rather high per-airframe cost is the earlier-than-expected shuttering of the Raptor production line. Instead of spreading costs over a 400-plus F-22 fleet, total Raptor program costs were spread over a comparatively paltry 190-airplane fleet, driving up costs.
A Numbers Game
Just how many of the advanced, sixth-generation air superiority fighters will the United States Air Force ultimately acquire?
It is still anybody’s guess — but it will almost assuredly be more than the current number of F-22 Raptor fighters.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, in May, General David Allvin, the U.S. Air Force chief of staff posted a graphic detailing several aspects of the fighters currently in service with America’s flying branch: the F-15E(X), the F-16, the F-35A, F-22 Raptor, the upcoming F-47, and the two collaborative combat aircraft that will fly alongside manned platforms in the future: the YFQ-42A and YQF-44A.
The infographic details several aspects of the aircraft, including operational timeframes, mission profile, and top speed, as well as a basic assessment of its stealth capabilities for the stealthy aircraft. Intriguingly, the information also lists quantity, and for the F-47, it gives a baseline: 185+
That number is significant. There are currently 185 F-22 Raptor air superiority fighters in service with the U.S. Air Force, a number that can’t be increased thanks to a shuttered production line. And it is those low numbers that make the F-22 Raptor a challenge for the Air Force, especially if a war with China or Russia were to erupt.
F-22 Fate for the F-47 NGAD?
However, the number of F-47s the Air Force will ultimately fly is still unquantifiable — it is possible that not even the Pentagon knows that number for sure.
When queried by the press during the Oval Office meeting announcing Boeing’s contract award, President Donald Trump didn’t divulge much information. “We can’t tell you the price, because it would give away some of the technology and some of the size of the plane; the President said, add that [it’s a] good-sized plane.”
General Allvin gave more insight into the F-47.
“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 general said.
He also added that “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.”
Bring on the CCA
However, when or if the number of F-47s increases, so too will the number of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA). As it stands now — at least according to General Alvin’s infographic — each F-47 will have just over five CCAs at its disposal. Given their attritable nature, more will almost certainly have to be built over the 1,000 baseline number.
General Allvin’s comments regarding the F-47’s sustainability may be a nod to a streamlined, less finicky production process compared to earlier stealth fighters. Those coatings that absorb enemy radar and prevent it from bouncing back to adversary radar receivers, giving away a jet’s position, have become much more robust since the F-22’s days.
Images that circulated online made waves when they showed F-22s with disintegrating stealth coatings on their fuselages, a notoriously difficult medium to work with. The F-35’s stealth coatings are, in contrast, baked in and require less labor to maintain compared to the F-22.
Given the F-47’s classification as a sixth-generation fighter, and General Allvin’s infographic, the F-47’s stealth capabilities are greater than those of its predecessors, even the F-22, and presumably “cheaper” from a maintenance standpoint.
But how many will ultimately be acquired for the U.S. Air Force remains, for now, a mystery.
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.
Hypersonic Weapons In-Depth
Russia’s Hypersonic Missiles Summed Up in 4 Words
Pingback: A new ‘Super’ F-22 is about to be revealed – Morning Overview