WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Boeing has been awarded the contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s most sophisticated fighter jet yet, dubbed the F-47, beating out competition from Lockheed Martin for a program worth more than $20 billion.
Here is a comparison of key U.S. Air Force fighter jet programs:
F-47 NEXT GENERATION AIR DOMINANCE
The F-47 will replace Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor with a crewed aircraft built to enter combat alongside drones.
The NGAD originated from 2014 studies by the Pentagon’s emerging technologies arm, known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The first of what the Pentagon is calling sixth-generation jets is expected to come into service in the 2030s.
NGAD was conceived as a “family of systems” – a crewed fighter jet supported by unmanned aircraft – to counter adversaries such as China and Russia.
Boeing’s engineering and development contract is worth more than $20 billion. The aerospace company could receive orders worth hundreds of billions of dollars over several decades.
F-35 LIGHTNING II
Lockheed Martin’s F-35 is the U.S. Air Force’s most advanced fighter, combining stealth capabilities, high maneuverability and advanced data capabilities to perform a variety of roles. The fifth-generation fighter’s complex sensors allow it to operate as part of a networked force, rather than just as a standalone aircraft.
The Air Force picked Lockheed Martin’s design over Boeing’s in 2001. It entered service in 2016. More than 1,100 have been delivered globally, with nearly 2,500 on order for U.S. military branches alone and hundreds more slated for allies.
The Air Force has more than 300 F-35s and plans to buy 1,763. The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps also fly F-35s. In addition to the U.S., 19 countries fly F-35s, and more than 1,130 of the fighters have been built since production began in 2006.
Operators: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Korea, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
F-22 RAPTOR
The Air Force ordered the F-22 to be an air superiority fighter with a “first-shot, first-kill” capability. The military ordered fewer than 200 of the fifth-generation fighters, which entered service in 2005 and flew their first combat mission in 2006. It is highly maneuverable and has stealth capabilities. It can fly faster than twice the speed of sound, or roughly 1,530 mph (2,460 kph).
The F-22 was designed by Lockheed Martin with Boeing as a subcontractor, and beat out a design by Northrop Grumman and McDonnell Douglas.
Despite its role as an air superiority fighter, the F-22 had its first air-to-air kill on February 3, 2023, when it downed a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of North Carolina. The rest of its combat strikes have been against ground targets.
The U.S. is the only country that flies the F-22.
F-16 FIGHTING FALCON
Designed in the early 1970s as an air superiority fighter, General Dynamics’ F-16 Fighting Falcon has evolved into a multi-role fourth-generation fighter. More than 50 years after the F-16’s first flight, the Air Force operates more than 800 significantly upgraded versions of the aircraft.
The plane was designed by General Dynamics, which later sold its aircraft manufacturing programs to Lockheed Martin. Roughly 4,600 F-16s had been built when production stopped in 2019. The plane is still in service in more than 25 countries: Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Egypt, Greece, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S. and Venezuela. It was formerly flown by Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.
Ukraine started flying the F-16 in 2024 in its war against Russia.
F-15 EAGLE/STRIKE EAGLE
The Air Force flies two versions of Boeing’s F-15 – a single-seat air superiority fighter and a two-seat strike and interdiction fighter. The plane first flew in 1972. The U.S. military’s latest version, the F-15EX, entered service in 2024. It can fire missiles from a greater distance than previous versions and has upgraded radars, sensors and networking capabilities.
The U.S. operates nearly 300 F-15s of all versions. More than 1,500 have been built.
The F-15 has seen considerable combat service in the Middle East for several countries. During the 1991 Gulf War, F-15s were credited with almost all of the 39 Iraqi aircraft shot down by the U.S. in air-to-air combat. It has also seen combat in service with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Various versions of the plane are also in service with Japan, Qatar, Singapore and South Korea.
(Reporting by Mike Stone, Dan Catchpole and Joe Brock; Editing by Rod Nickel)
