$20B-plus F/A-XX award: Boeing will build the Navy's sixth-generation carrier fighter

The money

The Pentagon’s Sept. 29 announcement gives one number: “more than $20B for the full-scale development phase” ^[1]. It does not say how much was obligated at award, what contract type the Navy used or how many test aircraft are included, and Boeing told Air & Space Forces Magazine that technical and program details are classified ^[1, 3]. USNI News, which described the deal as an estimated $20 billion, noted that the Navy has said little in recent years about the program’s requirements or cost and only recently disclosed what it was asking for ^[2].

Where does F/A-XX money come from?

Three streams feed the program, and they have different rules.

• Reconciliation. Section 20007 of Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, appropriated $750 million to “accelerate the FA/XX aircraft,” available until Sept. 30, 2029 ^[5]. The same air superiority section put $400 million toward F-47 production, $678 million toward the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and $100 million toward MQ-25 production ^[5].
• FY2026 appropriations. Congress approved $1.7 billion for F/A-XX in FY2026, according to USNI News, citing Pentagon budget documents ^[2].
• FY2027. Neither the House-passed H.R. 8800 nor the Senate Armed Services Committee’s S. 4784 lists F/A-XX by name in its public procurement tables ^[6, 7]. Both bills do carry the Super Hornet line the new jet is meant to succeed: $49.1 million requested for F/A-18E/F in Aircraft Procurement, Navy, which the House matches and the Senate raises to $97.1 million with a $48 million add for an infrared search and track (IRST) capability ^[6, 7].

What the stopgap allows

FY2027 began Oct. 1 under H.R. 6500, which funds projects conducted in FY2026 at the rate set by the FY2026 Defense Appropriations Act ^[8]. Section 102 bars Pentagon funds in the stopgap from new production of items not funded for production in FY2026, from production-rate increases and from starting any program element or subprogram that had no FY2026 funding ^[8]. Because F/A-XX had FY2026 money, by USNI’s account, it does not appear to be a new start under that test, but the stopgap does not raise its spending above the FY2026 rate ^[2, 8]. The authority lapses Dec. 11, 2026, unless Congress acts sooner ^[8].

The programs

The Pentagon says F/A-XX will “augment and eventually replace” F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers beginning in the 2030s, operating alongside the F-35C ^[1]. It describes the aircraft as interoperable with manned and unmanned platforms such as CCA ^[1]. The Navy has said the jet “must have longer range and greater speed, incorporate passive and active sensor technology, and possess the capability to employ the longer-range weapons programmed for the future,” as quoted by The Aviationist ^[4]. The unmanned MQ-25A Stingray tanker, also built by Boeing, is part of the same future air wing, though its development has faced production delays, USNI News reports ^[2].

The requirement is old. The Aviationist traces it to 2008, with a formal request for information in 2012, and reports that an award had been described as imminent several times since March 2025, most recently with a selection expected by the end of August 2026 ^[4]. In 2024, then-director of the Navy’s air warfare division Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly said the program was on track for a Milestone B decision by the end of fiscal 2025, according to the same outlet ^[4].

Range is the attribute Navy officials have stressed. Donnelly said in April 2025 that F/A-XX would likely fly more than 25 percent farther than current Navy fighters before refueling; the Super Hornet’s combat range is roughly 1,275 nautical miles, Air & Space Forces Magazine reports ^[3]. Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute told USNI News that “the range constraints are significant” for a carrier jet, which must also fit the ship ^[2].

Which drones will F/A-XX control?

The Navy has four naval CCA designs under contract, from General Atomics, Boeing, Anduril and Northrop Grumman, with Lockheed Martin developing a ground control system, according to USNI News ^[2]. The Navy issued a request for information for additional CCAs in September ^[2]. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in April that “the CCA concept is all part of our sixth-generation concept” ^[2]. The Air Force’s own CCA timeline is covered in our brief on its 500-drone goal.

Can Boeing St. Louis carry both fighters?

That is the open industrial question. Boeing builds the F-47, F-15EX and T-7 in St. Louis, and a secure manufacturing facility there is still under construction, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine ^[3]. On the same day as the F/A-XX announcement, the Pentagon awarded Boeing $2.38 billion for 22 more F-15EX fighters, the magazine reports ^[3]. Boeing’s broader F-15 contract vehicle was the subject of our August brief.

Steve Parker, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in the company’s statement: “Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly” ^[3, 4]. Analyst J.J. Gertler told Air & Space Forces Magazine that shared work with the F-47 could speed the Navy jet, then asked: “Do they have the people to be able to produce this [F/A-XX] aircraft quickly?” ^[3].

The politics

The announcement leaned on speed. Michael P. Duffey, Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, called the jet “a crucial, non-negotiable investment” and said the department is “joining forces with Boeing to field these capabilities rapidly” ^[1]. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the award “marks a new era for the U.S. Navy” ^[1].

Capacity shaped the choice, by the CNO’s own account. Caudle said earlier in 2026, as quoted by USNI News, that “one of the contractors who would make this plane for us is in a place where they really can’t deliver in the timeframe we need it” ^[2]. He did not name the company in that quote ^[2]. He had also argued that the Navy could not wait: “If I don’t start building that immediately, you’re not going to get it for some time,” he said, according to The Aviationist ^[4].

Congress has funded the program without writing much about it in public. The $750 million reconciliation line carries no conditions beyond its purpose and its Sept. 30, 2029, availability date ^[5]. The House bill’s one Super Hornet-related provision looks backward rather than forward: Section 133 of H.R. 8800 requires annual reports, starting by March 1, 2027, on moving F/A-18E/F aircraft into the Navy Reserve to replace its F-5s ^[6]. Whether F/A-XX development money is fenced, cut or added in conference cannot be read from the public tables, because the program is not listed there ^[6, 7].

Next milestone

The CR runs to Dec. 11, 2026, and FY2027 defense appropriations and the NDAA conference on H.R. 8800 and S. 4784 remain unfinished ^{[6, 7, 8]}. The Pentagon has given no date for a first test aircraft and no count of how many the development contract buys ^[1].