President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a joint press conference Friday—not about the judicial coup’s stymying of Hegseth’s military transgender ban, or an update on smashing the Houthis in the Barbary Wars 2.0—but to unveil the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter Jet. Unexpected, but perhaps fitting, coming on the heels of the Top Gun-esque video clips that traversed X throughout the week. The first big announcement of something inspirational.
For those surprised by the news, three questions may provide insight. Why do we need a jet vs something else, or nothing? Why Boeing? And, why do we need it now?
Why do we need a jet? The short answer: the jet’s been a long time coming. The NGAD program originally came from a Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) study in 2014 into modernizing for the 2030s. The Air Force announced the request for bids in May 2023. A Biden spokesman might’ve given Friday’s announcement last year, except the Biden administration paused this effort in July 2024, citing money concerns. But President Trump is about decisive action; the only options here are resume, or cancel.
With the $20 billion price tag, cancelling this program might have sounded like the more appealing option. We’re trying to save money, right? But that would be worse than Biden’s pause—it would signal total defeat. DOGE is finding the money. Peace through strength is not about saving more money. It’s about spending the money you’ve responsibly saved.
Some argue that the F-22 remains the best in class, obviating the need for another “best” jet. Not quite. Russia’s Su-57 sports a longer range than the F-22, as well as some other competitive characteristics.
So that settles it: we can’t retreat further than Biden, and we can’t leave the mantle of stealth supremacy to another country. Trump has picked up the crown and christened it with a “47.”
Why Boeing? Isn’t Boeing in rough shape with seemingly never-ending safety/quality issues, cracked KC-46 tankers, and the MAX7/MAX10 not yet certified?
The Air Force didn’t have much choice. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman are the main manufacturers of combat aircraft. Northrop withdrew from the competitive bid in July 2023—a move defense contractors sometimes make when they don’t think they’ll win a contract or have other priorities, among other reasons.
That leaves only Boeing and Lockheed. Boeing is not the lone defense prime with issues; Lockheed has its fair share of problems with the F-35.
It’s possible that the distinguishing factor in the Air Force’s decision was Boeing’s wild idea to commence construction on an NGAD production campus before the contract was awarded. Perhaps the commitment of purpose-built facilities provided assurance of a speedy timeline to deployment.
Why now? The contract was already paused; Trump could’ve chosen to resume any time. But, peace through strength generally dictates not waiting until there’s a problem. Thankfully, that accurately describes the present. Aside from that, there are some synchronicities of note.
As President Trump does yeoman’s work securing a ceasefire agreement between Putin and Zelensky, the F-47 signals “no funny business” to both sides. It also gestures to China, which suddenly renewed the space race in 2022 with secret grappling robot arms. The F-47 sends a dual, more overt message regarding China’s aggressive overtures toward Taiwan: to think twice about doing anything that requires our involvement.
Finally, the timing of this announcement is intriguing as the NATO countries seem intent to snatch WWIII from the jaws of peace, and recently threatened to cancel orders of our F-35 platform in retaliation for President Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. The F-47 serves as an understated flex in their direction as well.
President Trump affirmed that we’re no longer a country that delays. We’re charging ahead, in the way that only America can: “Maneuverability – never been anything like it. Its speed is top. America’s enemies will never see it coming.”
Vanessa Battaglia is a defense engineer with 14 years’ experience designing software, hardware, and airborne systems for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Special Operations Command, and the Federal Aviation Administration. She spent most of her time in the defense world at Raytheon, and lately writes for The Federalist and Human Events as well.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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