Boeing Wins $20 Billion Contract for Navy's First Sixth-Generation Carrier Fighter

The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a contract worth over $20 billion to develop its first sixth-generation carrier fighter, known as the F/A-XX.

This decision follows Boeing's selection in March 2025 to build the Air Force's F-47, making it the sole builder of crewed sixth-generation fighters in the U.S.

The contract covers full-scale development and includes several test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems, and weapons integration work.

Boeing will produce the F/A-XX to augment and eventually replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler in the 2030s, with the new fighter flying alongside the carrier-based F-35C and controlling Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), uncrewed wingmen.

The award ends over a year of uncertainty surrounding the program, which was put on ice by the Pentagon in mid-2025 due to concerns about the U.S. industrial base's ability to support two next-generation fighters at once.