US President Donald Trump announced on March 21 that Boeing has been selected to build the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, the F-47, a potential game-changer and major shake-up in the global air dominance sphere.

The new sixth-generation fighter will dominate the skies for decades to come, being unrivalled in all indicators of power, stealth, and lethality, meant as a direct and most forceful message to all enemies now and in the future.

The world’s first sixth-generation fighter will be faster, more maneuverable, and more stealthy than anything built to date, having been flying for years before this in test flights and operations.

These unmatched power and capacity signal the continuity of American hard power and air power's sheer dominance, meant to pierce through the air defence of all nations with both technological and conventional might that will outpace and outrival any other airpower in the world.

This NGAD project almost saw the end of the road under the Biden administration which threatened to scrap it due to costing issues, but Trump saw the importance of this and this was revived. During the pause under Biden, the Air Force conducted a thorough analysis on the programme, and it was concluded that the NGAD fighter was necessary to maintain air superiority in 2030 and beyond.

The F-47 is seen as the successor to the F-22 Raptors built by Lockheed Martin, but will be produced in greater volumes.

This will reinforce the combined superiority of the F-22s and the F-35s, which, if used in synergy, will overpower any other nation on earth. Combined with the entire arsenal of the Air Force comprising the F-15, the F-16, the F-18, the more lethal F-22, F-35, and now the F-47 send a direct, forceful, and much-needed deterrent message to all other players in the world.

The F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats than the F-22, and will have significantly longer range, more advanced stealth, and greater sustainability, which will require significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy, according to the Air Force.

Standout 'overpowering' features

One of the key standout features is the ability to coordinate and control Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), being able to fly with many other drones in the future of drone warfare, which will provide more lethality and modernised way of adaptability, in a new era of human-machine teaming.

The design and capacity of the F-47 as a sort of mothership, capable of controlling semi-autonomous wingman drones, remain the key edge in the battle with other competitors and the key advantage in separating the power capacity between this and the rest of the other up-and-coming jets.

In short, the F-47 is the future and leader of modern aerial warfare, and will pair with the F-35 to form a deadly, fearsome and most formidable air power the world has ever seen.

While the F-35 is a multirole, fifth-generation plane crafted primarily for air-to-ground and sensing, the F-47 has more capacity as an air-to-air fighter that can operate in contested environments, including the airspace near China.

The manned jet of the F-47 is expected to feature advanced stealth and artificial intelligence capabilities, where, when combined with drones in tandem, they are capable of penetrating air defense systems undetected.

As Trump stated: “We’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation. America’s enemies will never see it coming. Hopefully we won’t have to use it for that purpose, but you have to have it. And if it ever happens, they won’t know what the hell hit them.”

The F-47 will join the B-21 Raider in the Air Force’s sixth-gen fleet, where the B-21 itself is a distinctive feature and the most advanced bomber in the world. The F-47 will also have longer range than the F-22,which has a range of more than 1850 miles.

The longer range will enable the Air Force to cope with distances at the Indo-Pacific range and beyond, possibly covering the entire globe with minimal refuelling. The F-22 was limited to 186 production aircraft, while the F-47 would see production volume to be up to 250 aircraft.

Strategic warning to enemies

The timing of the announcement serves as a strategic two-pronged message to both Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other 'enemies' alike, that Washington especially under Trump will still hold the upper final card, and that despite attempts to close the power gap between the US and the chasers, the US remains supreme.

Secondly, it is meant as a message that force always remains an option to enforce norms and law and to protect America’s interests and survival, with enough sustaining resources, despite attempts to halt America’s rise through both the military and economic pacts and alternative channels. It is seen as a decisive win and edge in overpowering all the recent momentum and triumphs of China in key technological advantage, and is seen as a timely and stern reminder of who is calling the shots in the world of global politics and power.

The USAF needs a new aircraft with the needed range, speed, and stealth to operate over the Indo-Pacific region. China is the primary target for the US in going against China's most advanced weapon systems, including the Chinese version of their own 6th-gen fighter prototypes.

Boeing’s win for the contract boosted its credentials, against the rivals including Lockheed Martin. The former’s bid to create the X-32 demonstrator lost out to the F-35, but it is also building new F-15EX fighters for the Air Force and has past legacies including the P-51 Mustang, F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet, and EA-18 Growler.

The Lockheed-built F-35 remains the most combat-capable fighter jet in the world. It is also the most expensive weapons system in history, costing the Pentagon more than $1 trillion for about 700 aircraft.

The Pentagon plans to purchase hundreds more and fly them well into the 2080s, which will complement the F-47 for decades to come. The Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, also has credits for seeing this through and stated that the F-47 will be able to project power around the globe unimpeded for generations to come.

The unveiling of the F-47 is a key masterstroke of a move by Trump in pulling ahead of the game, especially with China, in the Indo Pacific. The F-47 is seen as truly the world’s first crewed sixth generation fighter, dismissing the claims by China and an apparent dig at Beijing which recently showed off several stealthy-looking aircraft deemed as the prototypes of sixth-gen fighters.

Complementing B-21 Raider

Apart from Boeing’s F-47 fighter, the US will boast of equally capable sixth generation capacity in Northrop Grumman’s B-21 Raider. It provides long range, high survivability and mission payload flexibility which will enable the US to penetrate the toughest defenses for precision strikes anywhere in the world.

The B-21 Raider is the culmination of more than three decades of strike and stealth technology. It is optimised for a high-end threat environment and capable of penetrating the anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) systems that await it.

The Raider will complement the F-47, which both carry exceptional stealth capacity. The Raider is capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear payloads and has similar capability for advanced long-range precision strikes that can target enemies anywhere in the world.

These future driven and powerful military assets are a testament to America’s continuous military dominance in the world, with unrivalled air power that will continue to last for the next century. Although much has been said and perceived about China’s growing military competition in closing the power gap, this move to unveil the ruthless and fearful F-47 and the other assets is meant to checkmate Beijing’s ambitions in the Indo Pacific and demoralise other enemies who still doubt America’s long-term military and economic resilience.

Trump’s consistent America First model and Peace through Strength mantra will ensure that the US still keeps the power gap at a healthy distance from the next rival, both in conventional and nonconventional terms, particularly on new warfare capacities, including space, cyber, quantum, and nano.

The naval power gap remains overwhelmingly in Washington’s favour for the next century, despite Beijing’s advantage in volume, and the air power dominance will follow a similar trajectory. The chasing pack, whether Moscow or Beijing or other rising powers in the so-called rise of the rest, will practically and realistically not find a decent opening to challenge this status quo of sheer hard power supremacy, if at all. 

(The author is a Kuala Lumpur-based strategic and security analyst. Views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at collins@um.edu.my)