Trump says Boeing will build the new generation of fighter jets, the F-47 : NPR

President Trump has announced that Boeing will build the U.S. Air Force’s next generation of fighter jets.

“They will have unprecedented power,” Trump said on Friday, adding that “America’s enemies will never see [them] coming.”

Trump is the 47th U.S. president and the jet is being called the F-47.

“The generals picked a title, and it’s a beautiful number,” Trump told reporters from the Oval Office. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it.”

Known as the Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, the F-47 will join a legacy of high-performance jets, though little is known about its exact specifications, appearance or capabilities. Trump teased that the sixth-generation fighter aircraft would be “virtually unseeable” on radar.

Although details on the contract’s cost remain unclear, early estimates suggest development costs will exceed $20 billion, according to The Associated Press, while the final price tag would be in the hundreds of billions, The War Zone reported.

“We’ve given an order for a lot. We can’t tell you the price,” Trump said.

The announcement is a big win for Boeing, which has struggled to recover from a series of public relations crises and operational setbacks. The company’s reputation has taken a hit after 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, a door plug blowout in 2024, and longstanding problems with its KC-46 refueling tanker program.

The F-47 will be built at a Boeing manufacturing space in St. Louis, according to St. Louis Public Radio.

Boeing’s stock rose by about 5% on Friday, shortly after Trump’s announcement.

Its largest competitor, Lockheed Martin, saw its shares drop nearly 7%.

Lockheed Martin produces the F-35 jet, which still forms the backbone of the Air Force’s air combat capabilities. But the F-35’s have faced criticism — notably from Trump ally Elon Musk, who has called the F-35 an “expensive & complex jack of all trades, master of none.”

Musk has instead called on the U.S. Department of Defense to invest more in drone technology in lieu of stealth jets.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the new warplanes would send a strong message about America’s commitment to remaining a global leader in military aviation.

The new fighter jet, he said, “sends a very clear, direct message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere.”