During a press conference at the White House on March 21, President Donald J. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Air Force would proceed with the production of the F-47, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter jet platform.
Intended to eventually replace the Air Force’s fleet of F-22 Raptors, the NGAD platform is a network-connected family of systems — including a stealth fighter jet component, drone technology, and others — that simultaneously interact to ensure air superiority.
The NGAD program was initiated in 2020, aiming to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet to succeed the F-22 Raptor. In the summer of 2024, concerns over escalating costs prompted the Air Force to pause the program and reassess its requirements for future air superiority. The final decision on the program’s direction was deferred to the incoming administration.
According to former U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall, who left office on January 20, the NGAD, as originally envisioned, could cost three times as much as an F-35—potentially up to $300 million per aircraft.
Following the pause in the program, the Air Force began a revamp of its NGAD design and future air superiority concept to figure out a way to more affordably counter a major adversary such as China.
Earlier, in September 2022, US General Mark D. Kelly, the head of Air Combat Command (ACC), revealed that China is busy developing an answer to the U.S. Air Force’s NGAD. He stated that he expected the highly secretive Chinese efforts to yield the same kind of air combat ‘system of systems’ that the Air Force is pursuing, including a sixth-generation manned fighter jet.
Indeed, on December 26, 2024, China unveiled its sixth-generation fighter jet, tentatively named the Chengdu J-36, during its maiden flight.
Not much is known about the J-36 except that it features broad-spectrum stealth and, like the NGAD, is a system of systems, positioning China ahead in the global stealth race.
The tailless delta planforms of the new Chinese fighters give them the highest possible multispectral radar stealth.
F-47 (NGAD) Capability Focus
When 6th generation fighters were first proposed, their defining features were unambiguously defined, based on advances in traditional fighter aircraft technologies – materials, electronics, and engines. The defining features included
- Broad Spectrum Stealth
- Next-Generation Power Plants
- Directed Energy Weapons.
- Unified electronic warfare system
- Optional Manning depending on the nature of the mission
Broad-Spectrum Stealth
Broad-spectrum stealth refers to the ability to minimize radar detectability across a wide range of frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum. Traditional stealth aircraft, such as fifth-generation fighters, are primarily optimized to evade detection by high-frequency (centimetric) radars, commonly used in fire-control and targeting systems.
Until now, broad-spectrum stealth technology has only been implemented in strategic bombers like the B-2 Spirit and the upcoming B-21 Raider, both designed for deep-penetration missions in heavily defended airspace.
Fifth-generation fighters, such as the J-35, J-20, F-22, and F-35, feature aerodynamic surfaces on the rear fuselage for control and stability. The tail surfaces reflect metric and decimetric radar waves, compromising stealth. Aircraft designers attempt to minimize radar reflections by angling the tail surfaces.
The F-22 Raptor is shaped to be highly stealthy against centimetric wave radars but less so against metric and decimetric radars. The F-35 Lightning-2 is claimed to have better multispectral radar stealth than the F-22.
Next Generation Engines
Next-generation turbine-based power plants will feature enhanced electrical power generation capability to power sensors, communications systems, directed energy weapons, actuation systems and accessories, and the usual array of avionics.
Scope Creep
Since then, rapid strides in machine learning and AI-based decision-making have now shifted the goalposts.
Collaborative combat with drones that can penetrate denied airspace is now considered an essential feature of sixth-generation air combat systems.
Other “scope creep” sixth-generation features include:
Inflight Software Updates
The feature will allow upgrades of software that controls the hardware. Advances in software architecture now facilitate updates that don’t interfere with fighters’ ability to fly; you can remove software bugs or unlock new capabilities while the fighter is on a mission!
Radio Photonic Radar
They use pulsating lasers instead of radio crystals to generate and process near-perfect sine wave transmissions and reflections. As a result, they are able to use smaller antennas to transmit wide-band UHF signals that defy RF LO shaping. The returned signal can be processed to an extent where it produces a 3D image of the target, not unlike an optical image
Multispectral Optical System
Multi-spectral optical systems operating in various ranges – the laser, infrared, ultraviolet, and in the optical band – will supplement the radio-photonic radar.
NGAD Collaborative Combat
Current generation drones serve as eyes and ears or as guided weapons. They have to be piloted from the ground. Because of the autonomy built into them, CCAs will be able to execute directions given by a pilot just as a formation pilot executes directions given by the formation lead.
CCA DRONE
CCAs will provide capabilities such as magazine depth (weapon truck), battlespace surveillance, and communication relay.
Following the announcement at the White House, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Gen. David W. Allvin, issued a press release stating that the ability of NGAD’s fighter jet component to interact with drone technology will allow more lethality and modernized capability than in previous weapons systems.
“[NGAD] is allowing us to look into the future and unlock the magic that is human-machine teaming,” Allvin said. “We’re going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare with this.”
In the past, it has been reported that the US Air Force wants to see a fighter pilot be able to go into battle accompanied by as many as five drones under his or her limited control, ready to fire weapons, gather intelligence, jam communications, or serve as decoys.
Cost Reduction
General Allvin also said that the stealth fighter component of the NGAD, now named F-47, will cost less than the F-22. It will be more adaptable to future threats and “have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, be more sustainable, supportable, and have higher availability than our fifth-generation fighters.”
General Allvin’s characterization of the F-47 as being more sustainable and supportable most likely alludes to the Air Force’s desire to avoid the mistakes that plagued past programs like the F-35.
The Air Forces wants access to all the sustainment data it will need from Boeing, the contractor building the F-47.
In May 2023, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stated, “We’re not going to repeat what I think frankly was a serious mistake that was made in the F-35 program” of not obtaining rights to all the fighter’s sustainment data from contractor Lockheed Martin.
Kendall explained that when the F-35 program was launched, an acquisition philosophy known as Total System Performance was in favor. Under this approach, a contractor that won a program would own it for its entire lifecycle.
“What that basically does is create a perpetual monopoly,” Kendall said.
Timeline
During his announcement of the NGAD program, President Trump stated that an experimental version of the sixth-generation fighter jet has been secretly flying for almost five years.
Though no costs or timelines for NGAD production were released during the press conference, the president said a fleet of F-47s would be “built and in the air” during his current administration.
Conclusion
Based on the tone of President Trump’s NGAD announcement and the fact that the US has so far focused more on developing sixth-generation fighter combat capability rather than fielding it, China’s current lead in next-generation air company will likely be short-lived.
Historically, President Ronald Reagan secured victory in the Cold War through an aggressive defense technology strategy, most notably the “Star Wars” initiative.
Similarly, President Trump appears to be pursuing global dominance not through prolonged conflicts or proxy wars but by deterring adversaries with overwhelming military superiority—ensuring peace through strength rather than bloodshed.
- Vijainder K Thakur is a retired IAF Jaguar pilot, author, software architect, entrepreneur, and military analyst.
- VIEWS PERSONAL OF THE AUTHOR
- Follow the author @vkthakur
