DAYTON, Ohio — The U.S. Air Force's Boeing F-47 next-generation fighter remains on schedule for its first flight in 2028, according to a senior Air Force official, as the aircraft advances into a key stage of development under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program.
Speaking at the Life Cycle Industry Days conference in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday, Gen. Dale White, director of Critical Major Weapon Systems and the Pentagon's direct reporting portfolio manager for major defense programs, said the F-47 has entered the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase with what he described as "unprecedented maturity."
"The F-47 will fly in this administration," White said, referring to the timeline outlined in the fiscal year 2027 budget request.
F-47 Enters Engineering and Manufacturing Development
The EMD phase focuses on maturing, integrating and testing the aircraft's systems before production. White said the program is benefiting from "extreme teaming" with industry partners. The phase will produce a small number of test aircraft for evaluation, although he did not disclose how many. It also includes priced options for low-rate initial production (LRIP), establishing a path toward future manufacturing.
The Boeing F-47 is the crewed fighter component of the Air Force's broader NGAD "family of systems," which also includes Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) designed to operate alongside the fighter during future missions.
Air Force officials have said the F-47 features a modular design that allows new technologies to be integrated over time while supporting long-range strike operations in contested environments. Earlier Air Force information states the aircraft is intended to provide air superiority, with a combat radius greater than 1,000 nautical miles and speeds above Mach 2.
Air Force Plans to Buy 185 Aircraft
The Air Force plans to procure at least 185 F-47 fighters, roughly matching the size of the F-22 Raptor fleet that the new aircraft is intended to replace.
President Donald Trump announced Boeing's selection for the program in March 2025, officially moving forward with the NGAD fighter effort.
At the time, Trump said:
"In terms of all of the attributes of a fighter jet, there's never been anything even close to it, from speed to maneuverability, to what it can have, to payload. America's enemies will never see it coming."
More Than $5 Billion Requested for Development
The F-47 program received approximately $3.45 billion in fiscal year 2026 funding. The fiscal year 2027 budget request includes more than $5 billion for continued development, representing a 65% increase over the previous year's funding.
Budget projections indicate that research and development spending is expected to peak at around $5.25 billion in 2028 before gradually declining in subsequent years. Including previous allocations, total funding for the program is approaching $8.5 billion.
Boeing began manufacturing the first F-47 airframe in late 2025. Air Force leaders have previously stated that experimental work on technologies supporting the aircraft had already been underway for several years before the formal development contract was awarded.
White's remarks reaffirmed that the 2028 first-flight schedule remains unchanged as the Air Force continues engineering, manufacturing and flight-test preparations for its next-generation air superiority fighter.
In addition to the F-47, White oversees a defense portfolio valued at nearly $250 billion, including the B-21 Raider bomber and the Sentinel and Minuteman III strategic missile programs.
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