F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)

Overview

ASSESSMENT: The F-47 (Next Generation Air Dominance) is a CONVENTIONAL sixth-generation fighter with adaptive-cycle turbofan engines — NOT fusion-powered. Boeing won the NGAD contract March 2025. Lockheed Martin LOST but will incorporate NGAD tech into F-35 ('80% of sixth-generation capability'). First flight: 2028. $5B requested FY2027, $3.4B FY2026. Engine: Next Generation Adaptive Propulsion (NGAP) — GE XA102 or P&W XA103 — adaptive-cycle TURBOFANS, not fusion. 'Increase range, reduce thermal signature, boost onboard electricity generation.' DARPA: '10-year research arc culminated in the F-47.' X-planes flying since 2019/2022 (Boeing and Lockheed prototypes). CRITICAL CONTEXT: The F-47 is 'next-generation.' The Power & Plasma Team's job postings describe their work as 'GENERATION-AFTER-NEXT' — BEYOND the F-47. The orb platform (if it exists) would be generation-after-next, not the F-47. Lockheed losing NGAD is significant — if their prototype was conventional, their loss suggests Boeing had a better conventional design. But Lockheed's Power & Plasma Team is working on something BEYOND conventional. The F-47 timeline (service ~2035) is consistent with the Power & Plasma Team's '15-30 years in the future' timeframe — generation-after-next would be ~2045-2055.

Entity Type: Assessment — F-47 NGAD — Conventional, Not Fusion (Context) is an analytical assessment synthesizing multiple data points.

Source Documents

Intelligence derived from 5 source documents:

• DARPA — F-47 innovation timeline
• FlightGlobal — F-47 first flight 2028 (April 2026)
• Breaking Defense — Boeing wins NGAD (March 2025)
• FlightGlobal — NGAP engine designs (May 2026)
• FlightGlobal — Lockheed will not protest (April 2025)