Boeing is going through one of the most complex periods in its recent history. The reputation of the aerospace giant has been harmed by a series of operational and financial problems that have accumulated in recent years. Its commercial aviation division, responsible for the development and manufacture of airplanes such as 737 Max, has been especially hit: The 2018 and 2019 accidents marked a turning pointto which new foci of concern have been added, Like delays in production or strikes in their plants.
Its defense and space division has not been left out either. Starlliner ship’s setbacks have not only revealed the technical difficulties of the program, They have become a public humiliation for the company. To this are added other deficit projects that have drained resources, further deepening the crisis. In the midst of this panorama, Boeing has just received a new opportunity to recover prestige and demonstrate that it is up to its own name: The contract to develop F-47.
An airplane that can mark a before and after for the US (and for Boeing)
The Air Force defines the F-47 as the first sixth generation hunting of the United States. Only that already places it in the center of all eyes. Integrated in the program Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)is called to replace F-22 Raptor with improvements in stealth, communication and fire power. In addition, it is designed to operate next to the next fleet of pentagon drones, known as collaborative combat aircraft (CCA), conceived to carry the missions not manned to the next level.
Although so far there has been little of the project, the budgetary figures published last year reveal that the Air Force plans to allocate up to 20,000 million dollars in research and development of the NGAD until 2029. But everything seems to indicate that this figure will be only the beginning. If we take as reference to Lockheed Martin F-35, The most expensive combat plane in historyit is reasonable to think that the new sixth generation hunting will require an even greater investment throughout its useful life.
But the F-47 is not a plane that Donald Trump’s administration has taken from the sleeve from one moment to another. It is an initiative that, as we suggest above, has been circling for some time, although in a very discreet way. The NGAD combat aircraft program evolved from the plans for what was originally called a penetrating counterattack platform (PCA), which publicly emerged publicly mid -decade of 2010. Unlike other programs, the Air Force has decided to maintain a very low profile.
The great defense contractors of the United States, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, participated in the bidding process. Northrop retired in 2023, leaving the contest between Boeing and Lockheed. Now he is official: Boeing has been the great winner. The data is not less, since Lockheed was the one who developed the F-22 Raptor, the hunt that this new model seeks to replace. In addition, Boeing will put the firm on this plane: its most successful models, the F-15, the F/A-18 and the EA-18, were inheritance of McDonnell Douglas.
As we said, there are few confirmed data on the technical specifications of the future F-47. However, A Congress report stressed The urgency of developing a sixth generation hunt to maintain aerial superiority Facing China’s military advancewhich already has the J-20 and J-35and work in an even more advanced model. The new American plane should not only be overcome in weapons systems, but also in scope, a key capacity to operate in the Pacific Ocean, where F-22 Raptor shows limitations.
Conceptual images | United States Air Force
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