The U.S. will make the “most lethal aircraft ever built,” President Donald Trump announced earlier this month, forging ahead with a costly development just months after the future of the U.S.’s next-generation fighter program seemed in doubt.
Why It Matters
While there are several models of fifth-generation fighters, no country yet operates a sixth-generation jet.
The U.S.’s efforts to create a manned, sixth-generation fighter have been part of its Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. The U.K, Japan and Italy are jointly developing a sixth-generation aircraft under the Global Combat Air Programme, while France, Germany, and Spain are plugging away with the Future Combat Air System (FCAS).
Fifth-generation fighter jets, like the U.S.’s F-22, Russia’s Su-57 and China’s J-20, focus on capabilities like stealth. Next-generation aircraft will focus on being even harder to detect, but also integrating drones, artificial intelligence, and upgraded weapons.
The F-47 will have a “significantly longer range,” more advanced stealth capabilities and need fewer people to deploy it than fifth-generation jets, the air force said.
What To Know
Trump said the high-speed, stealth-focused aircraft, would be named the F-47. He is the country’s 47th president.
No official timeline has been unveiled for the replacement for the F-22, but Trump indicated that at least the first few F-47s would be “in the air” during his current stint in the Oval Office.
The Republican president said American aerospace giant Boeing would be awarded the contract after “rigorous and thorough competition between some of America’s top aerospace companies.” Trump also said a prototype of the aircraft had already been secretly flying for five years.
: The F-22 Raptor after refueling from the KC-10 Extender off the Queensland coast on July 17, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. : The F-22 Raptor after refueling from the KC-10 Extender off the Queensland coast on July 17, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. Chris Hyde/Getty Images
Back in July, then-Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Defense News that the NGAD concept needed to be rethought to pull down costs. The Air Force had paused development of the program in May 2024.
The Air Force said last week that the F-47 will comparatively cost less than the F-22 and “be more adaptable to future threats.” The administration did not provide an estimated price tag for the development of the jet, nor how much each aircraft would cost.
The administration, eyes fixed firmly on China, will likely hope the “historic investment” in the NGAD program will keep Washington ahead of Beijing. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it,” Trump said.
It will “dominate the most capable peer adversary and operate in the most perilous threat environments imaginable,” the air force said.
In recent days, fresh unverified footage widely circulated on social media appeared to show several test flights of Beijing’s little-known sixth-generation fighter, dubbed J-36, after initial clips purported to show the advanced jet late last year.
“The fact the F-47 announcement comes just three months after the first publicly viewed flight of what appears to be a new large stealthy aircraft from China is likely not a coincidence,” said William Freer, a research fellow in national security with the U.K.-based think tank, the Council on Geostrategy.
“History has shown peer competition is a great driving force for the U.S. to muster its technological and fiscal might to leapfrog its opponents,” Freer told Newsweek. “Either way, the J-36 and the F-47 are symbolic of how China and the U.S. are pushing ahead in the technology arms race.”
But there are very few publicly-available, concrete details about the F-47 and J-36. It is very difficult to directly compare the fighters at this point in their development, experts say. Much also hinges on the other infrastructure, tactics and assets operating alongside aircraft.
The U.S. has released some information about what it wants to achieve with the F-47, but visuals have been sparse, said Jacob Parakilas, research leader in defense, security and justice at the European arm of the RAND think tank.
There are some, relatively good quality images of the J-36, but scant official information from Beijing, Parakilas told Newsweek.
The J-36 is large and stealthy, tailored to the Indo-Pacific and the type of air defenses Beijing would be up against in a conflict in the region, Freer said. It is a “sizable” aircraft, Parakilas added, and fitted with three engines—rare for a tactical jet, he said.
The J-36’s size will mean it can store more fuel and travel further, plus carry bigger weapons that can then do more damage to a target from further away and transport more crew members, Parakilas said.
This does make it a more expensive aircraft to build and run, while pulling down its maneuverability and likely making it easier for an enemy to spot and target, Parakilas continued. China likely intends for the J-36 to travel unnoticed over large distances, coordinating and carrying out strikes against major targets, rather than engaging in aerial battles, he said.
The F-47, however, looks to only have a single pilot, “which suggests a strong emphasis on automating as many functions as possible to avoid overburdening the human on board,” Parakilas said.
While still very difficult to be sure at this stage, the F-47 appears to be smaller than the J-36, and likely to be more maneuverable but have a shorter range, according to Parakilas.
But overall, the two aircraft are probably designed with different functions in mind, he said.
Within the past decade, China’s aerospace sector became the main competitor to the U.S, pushing aside Russia, Freer said. There is also some speculation that Beijing’s fifth-generation J-20 is leaps ahead of Russia’s equivalent, the Su-57, he added.
“Almost nothing is known about the J-36 other than it is large and designed to be at least somewhat stealthy, perfectly suited to the long-ranges and capable air defenses China would have to contend with in an Indo-Pacific conflict.
Flying With Drones
“This plane flies with drones,” Trump said. “It’s a technology that’s new, but it doesn’t fly by itself. It flies with many drones, as many as you want, and that’s something that no other plane can do.”
Both the U.S. and China are deep into developing ways for drones to work with fighter jets, which could extend the range of sensors, be another way of carrying weapons, or “even just distract enemy forces long enough for the blow to fall,” said Parakilas.
Drone warfare has been revolutionized by the war in Ukraine, and all global militaries are looking for new ways to weave drones into their armed forces for a variety of roles, including reconnaissance and carrying out strikes.
Russia’s Programs
Moscow’s Su-57 jet—or Felon, in NATO parlance—is widely deemed a fifth-generation aircraft, but one that has been largely absent from the Kremlin’s war effort in Ukraine. In June 2024, Ukraine said it had struck an Su-57 on the tarmac of a Russian air base hundreds of miles over the border.
Russian state media has reported that sixth-generation jets, designed to work alongside drone fleets, are in development with Russia’s Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer, but few further details are available.
What People Are Saying
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday the F-47 “sends a very direct, clear message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere and to our enemies that we can, and we will, be able to project power around the globe, unimpeded, for generations to come.”
Air Force General David Allwin said: “We’re going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare with this.”
Trump remarked: “America’s enemies will never see it coming.”
