The build of Boeing‘s [BA] F-47 sixth generation fighter is underway, as the U.S. Air Force targets 2028 for first flight, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference on Monday.
Boeing Phantom Works’ advanced composites/coatings plant is up and running for the F-47, and, Boeing hopes, for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX, if the company wins the competition, according to an official with knowledge of the F-47 program.
That 2028 date is conservative, and $400 million in the fiscal 2025 reconciliation act for F-47 production acceleration and the more than $3 billion likely for the plane in a final fiscal 2026 appropriations law could accelerate that first flight, the official said.
In March, the Air Force chose Boeing to begin engineering and manufacturing development for the F-47 sixth generation fighter, as the company beat Lockheed Martin [LMT] for the service’s Next Generation Air Dominance program (Defense Daily, March 21).
“We gotta go fast, and I’ll tell you, team,” Allvin told a packed auditorium on Monday. “It’s almost 2026. The team’s committed to getting the first one flying in 2028. In a few short months after we made the announcement they are already beginning to manufacture the first article.”
