The F-47 is “something the likes of which nobody has seen before,” the US president has said
US President Donald Trump has said he has awarded Boeing the contract to build the Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet.
The state-of-the-art aircraft will be named the F-47, Trump, the 47th US president, announced at the Oval Office on Friday.
“At my direction, the US Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet, number six, sixth generation, nothing in the world comes even close to it,” he said.
According to the president, the jet has been in the works “for a long period of time” and “will be the most lethal aircraft ever built.”
The program was previously known as Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), with the Air Force acknowledging that it had flown a full-scale prototype of the jet during Trump’s first presidency.
The F-47 “flies with drones. It flies with many, many drones, as many as you want. It is a technology that is new, but it does not fly by itself. It flies with many drones, as many as you want, and that is something that no other plane can do,” Trump said.
“After a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America’s top aerospace companies, the Air Force is going to be awarding the contract for the next generation air dominance platform to Boeing,” he announced.
Boeing beat Lockheed Martin for the deal. After the announcement, Boeing shares rose by 5%, while Lockheed’s fell by nearly 7%.
The F-47 is intended to replace the F-22 Raptor, a crewed aircraft designed to enter combat alongside drones, which is produced by Lockheed.
“We have given an order for a lot [of F-47s]. We cannot tell you the price,” Trump said.
Earlier this month, Lockheed Martin was also eliminated from the competition to build the US Navy’s next-generation carrier-based stealth fighter jet, amid the Pentagon’s discontent with delays in upgrading its F-35s, according to Reuters.
Boeing has also been under fire in recent years due to flaws discovered in its aircraft, leading to safety concerns and investigations. The company’s defense and space projects have been troubled by repeated cost overruns and delays. It has also faced a prolonged workers’ strike over insufficient wage increases.
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Last month, Trump slammed Boeing for the cost overruns and delays with the production of the next presidential plane. “We are getting a new Air Force One, if Boeing could ever finish the damn thing,” he said.
