The F-22 Raptor has defined American air dominance for a generation, but the aircraft that is now moving from concept to factory floor is built to fight in a very different sky. The Boeing F-47, centerpiece of the Next Generation Air Dominance program, is being designed not just to edge out the Raptor in performance but to reshape how the United States controls contested airspace. Where the F-22 is a lone apex predator, the F-47 is intended as the brain of a networked kill web that reaches hundreds of miles beyond the jet itself.
That shift in design philosophy, combined with major gains in range, sensing and teaming with autonomous systems, is why senior officials are already describing the F-47 as the aircraft that will replace the F-22 at the top of the U.S. Air Force inventory. If the program delivers on its promises, the Raptor’s unmatched dogfighting pedigree will matter less than the F-47’s ability to see first, shoot first and survive deep inside the most dangerous air defenses on the planet.
From contract to factory: how the F-47 left the drawing board
The clearest sign that the F-47 is more than a PowerPoint fighter is the money now committed to it. The Air Force has formally awarded a major contract for the Next Generation Air Dominance platform, identifying the F-47 as the manned centerpiece of that effort and locking in Boeing as the industrial lead on the program, according to an Air Force announcement. That decision cements the jet as the successor to the F-22 in the service’s long term force structure and signals that the design has matured enough to justify full scale development.
Analysts who have tracked the program note that the Air Force’s choice of Boeing, and the designation F-47, capped a long competition that weighed cost, risk and industrial capacity as much as raw performance. One detailed Summary and Key analysis of the Numbers Question around the program describes how the Air Force expects the 47 series aircraft to secure air superiority through the 2030s even if the total buy remains relatively small. In that framing, the F-47 is less a mass produced workhorse and more a specialized tool for the most demanding missions, with other platforms filling in behind it.
Production, timelines and the 2028 flight milestone
Program timelines are often where ambitious aircraft stumble, but senior leaders are already tying their reputations to specific milestones for the F-47. Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin used his keynote at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference to confirm that Boei production of the sixth generation fighter is underway and that the jet is set for a first takeoff in 2028, according to remarks reported from that Air, Space and appearance. Tying the program to a specific year for first flight is a strong signal that the design has cleared key technical gates and that the service expects hardware, not just prototypes, to be in hand soon.
Those comments align with separate confirmation that the first F-47 airframe is already being assembled and is expected to fly in 2028, with officials describing it as the first tangible product of the Next Generation Air Dominance effort at NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., during a keynote address in Sep, as detailed in an Allvin focused report. A separate account By Stephen Losey notes that the first 47, Boeing’s successful pitch for the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter aircraft, is being built to replace the F-22 Raptor in front line squadrons, underscoring that the Raptor’s days as the top air superiority platform are numbered once the new jet enters service By Stephen Losey.
Range and reach: the 70% edge over the F-22
Where the F-22 was optimized for short, violent bursts of air combat relatively close to friendly bases or tankers, the F-47 is being built for a much larger battlespace. The Air Force has said explicitly that the new fighter will have a 70% better combat radius than the F-22, a leap in unrefueled reach that fundamentally changes how far American pilots can push into defended airspace before turning back, according to early performance details shared with Defense One. That 70% figure is not a marginal tweak, it is the difference between needing a vulnerable tanker orbit just outside enemy missile range and being able to operate independently deep inside it.
A separate technical summary from The Air Force, cited through an aerospace industry association, reinforces that the F-47 is expected to fly some 70 percent farther without refueling than today’s F-22s, giving commanders far more flexibility in how they position scarce stealth assets in a conflict with a peer adversary 70 percent. In practical terms, that means a smaller fleet of 47 series jets can cover more targets, more often, than a larger number of Raptors, which is one reason planners believe a few hundred F-47s, properly supported, can shoulder the most demanding missions even as legacy fleets age out.
Brain of a “family of systems,” not a lone wolf
The most radical break from the F-22 is not in the F-47’s aerodynamics but in its role as a command node for other aircraft. Boeing has described the sixth generation fighter as the centerpiece of a new family of systems, with the crewed jet acting as a flying command center that directs a swarm of autonomous Collaborative platforms in contested airspace, according to a company statement introducing the 47 concept to the public Collaborative. That vision turns the fighter from a single weapon into the quarterback of a distributed formation of crewed and uncrewed assets.
Strategists who have examined the Next Generation Air Dominance architecture argue that this approach is the only way to keep ahead of rapidly improving Chinese and Russian air defenses. One assessment notes that the F-47 will likely never number more than a few hundred aircraft, and that its use will be narrowed to the most contested airspace where it can benefit from a constellation of cheaper systems designed to produce at larger scales, a concept that treats the 47 as a scarce but decisive asset rather than a mass produced frontline fighter Jan. In that construct, the F-22’s model of a relatively numerous, all purpose air superiority fleet gives way to a tiered force where the F-47 leads and other platforms follow.
Design, performance and the industrial base behind the jet
Even with much of its design still classified, enough has emerged to sketch the F-47’s basic contours and industrial footprint. Public technical references describe The Boeing F-47 as a planned American air superiority aircraft under development by The Boeing for the United States Air Force, with the USAF specifying a top speed above Mach 2 and a stealth profile tuned for survival against the latest sensors American. That performance envelope, paired with the extended range already disclosed, suggests a jet that can sprint into and out of danger while still carrying the sensors and weapons needed to manage a complex air battle.
On the factory side, Boeing has secured a contract worth about $20 billion to kick off low rate initial production of the 47 series, with The Boeing using its St. Louis facility, which had been underutilized since F-15 production scaled down, as the primary assembly site for the new fighter Louis. That decision not only anchors the program in an existing aerospace hub but also helps preserve critical skills and supply chains that might otherwise have atrophied, a factor that matters as much for long term sustainment as for initial deliveries.
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