Boeing is now building the first F-47 next-generation fighter aircraft, and it is expected to be ready to fly in 2028, Air Force chief of staff David Allvin announced on Monday.
Allvin, who spoke at the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference on Monday, said Boeing quickly went to work on the sixth-generation fighter aircraft shortly after President Donald Trump announced it had won the contract in March.
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“In the few short months since we made the announcement, they are already beginning to manufacture the first article,” Allvin said, referring to the first test aircraft. “We’re ready to go fast. We have to go fast.”
The F-47 aircraft, previously referred to as the Next Generation Air Dominance, is set to replace the F-22 Raptor.
“It’s the platform that, along with all of the rest of the systems, is going to ensure dominance into the future. We’ve got to go fast,” he said. “I’ve got to tell you, team, it’s almost 2026. The team is committed to getting the first one flying in 2028.”
Allvin posted a graphic on social media in May that said the F-47 will have a combat radius of more than 1,000 nautical miles, while the F-22 has a 590 nautical mile radius. The Air Force intends to build 185 F-47s, roughly the size of the F-22 fleet.
“This is a historic investment in the American military, in the American industrial base, in American industry that will help revive the warrior ethos inside our military, which we’re doing, rebuild our military, which the previous administration did not,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at the time of Trump’s announcement. “They paused this program and were prepared to potentially scrap it.”
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Allvin, in his Monday address, also praised everyone working on the aircraft.
“Those aren’t people who just show up to work,” he said. “Those are people who are committed to do something great for the nation. And there are Americans on shop floors all across the country, in the labs, out on the flightlines doing the tests. They want to put together the dominance for the future.”