They should just give it to Northrop unless they want these things to fall out of the sky.
US F/A-XX and F-X & NGAD - 6th Gen Aircraft News Thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Potentially a section piece of NG's F/A-XX
Very revealing intake duct position.
Set up looks like serial production set up for prototype. Honestly set up looks more like an assembly for a demonstrator. Red tool tray for scale. FAxx looks to be a small-ish fighter akin to F-35/ F-18 size if this is full scale prototype being constructed.
Set up looks like serial production set up for prototype. Honestly set up looks more like an assembly for a demonstrator. Red tool tray for scale. FAxx looks to be a small-ish fighter akin to F-35/ F-18 size if this is full scale prototype being constructed.
Guess they are not doing the back inlets?Potentially a section piece of NG's F/A-XX
We all know that Boeing projects timelines are always following schedules...
Bloomberg was leaked a recent letter sent to Congress by Pete Hegseth. He reiterated his opposition to moving forward with the carrier-borne F/A-XX program, due to fears that the U.S. DIB cannot successfully proceed with two concurrent 6th gen programs.
If Hegseth's assessment is correct, things look pretty bad for the U.S. China is on track to field a 6th gen fighter first, will be able to scale numbers at both Chengdu and Shenyang facilities, and may well face a U.S. force even more dependent on its WESTPAC MOBs than it is today.
Here's (paywalled, sadly).
If Hegseth's assessment is correct, things look pretty bad for the U.S. China is on track to field a 6th gen fighter first, will be able to scale numbers at both Chengdu and Shenyang facilities, and may well face a U.S. force even more dependent on its WESTPAC MOBs than it is today.
Here's (paywalled, sadly).
Hegseth Stands Firm With Opposition to Next-Gen Navy Fighter Jet
Pete Hegseth
Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg
Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated his opposition to Navy plans to develop its next-generation F/A-XX fighter jet, citing concerns about the defense industry's ability to develop two sixth-generation jets at the same time.
- Hegseth wrote in a letter to lawmakers that the Pentagon "strongly supports its original fiscal 2026 request reevaluating the F/A-XX program due to industrial base concerns of two sixth-generation programs occurring simultaneously".
- The Trump administration's support for the Air Force's next-generation jet, the F-47, has contributed to confusion and criticism over the development of the F/A-XX, with Senator Mitch McConnell writing that Pentagon "dithering" has delayed the program's development.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated his opposition to Navy plans to develop its next-generation F/A-XX fighter jet, arguing it will overlap with plans for a different aircraft that has President Donald Trump’s blessing.
In a previously undisclosed letter to lawmakers on Nov. 18, Hegseth said he remains concerned about the defense industry’s ability to develop two so-called sixth-generation jets at at the same time. Killing the Navy’s F/A-XX would be a blow to either or , which are competing to build the plane.
The Pentagon “strongly supports its original fiscal 2026 request reevaluating the F/A-XX program due to industrial base concerns of two sixth-generation programs occurring simultaneously,” Hegseth wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
Hegseth’s letter was the latest salvo in a back and forth between the Trump administration and Congress over developing new fighter jets. The Senate Armed Services Committee added $500 million in research funds to this year’s defense policy bill for the F/A-XX program, and lawmakers have disputed the notion that contractors can’t handle both programs.
But Trump has thrown his support behind the Air Force’s next-generation jet, the F-47, and announced plans in March to build it. In its own budget request for this fiscal year, the Navy asked for only $74 million to develop the F/A-XX, down from the $454 million it sought a year earlier.
Confusion around what to do next drew criticism from Senator Mitch McConnell, who wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial Wednesday that the Department of Defense was failing to make long-term investments in important programs.
“Pentagon dithering over the Navy’s sixth-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, has delayed its development and led to hundreds of millions in contract-extension costs,” McConnell wrote.
The F/A-XX would replace Boeing’s popular but aging F/A-18 Super Hornet. In June, the Pentagon said it opposed Congressional plans to shift funds into the program.
There is a slight possibility that the reason might be more personal. That Trump somehow sees f47 as his plane and that he was told that f47 has a chance of reaching service before chinese planes. (Misguided as it may be) And so there is incentive not to slow its development by anything, at all cost, to throw everything US has behind it.
Another (more likely?) theory is that current govt simply wants boeing to win f/axx as well. In which case its probably very much true boeing lacks staff to pull off two planes at once. Which is why navys plane is being postponed.
Another (more likely?) theory is that current govt simply wants boeing to win f/axx as well. In which case its probably very much true boeing lacks staff to pull off two planes at once. Which is why navys plane is being postponed.