- 'Virtually unseeable' -

Lockheed Martin, which was also in the running for the Air Force contract, said it was "disappointed with this outcome," but was "confident we delivered a competitive solution."

The NGAD effort was paused in 2024 over cost concerns -- a major focus of the Trump administration, which has tasked billionaire donor Elon Musk with slashing government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Congressional Budget Office estimated in 2018 that the NGAD airframe could cost up to $300 million apiece -- significantly more than various other aircraft currently in the US inventory.

In 2024, "officials cast doubt on whether the Air Force could afford to develop the NGAD alongside programs including the B-21 Raider bomber and the Minuteman III ICBM replacement," the Congressional Research Service said in a report earlier this year.

A senior Air Force officer said earlier this month that the service conducted a study following the pause, which concluded that "not only in the past, not only in the present but in the future, air superiority matters."

"What this study told us is we tried a whole bunch of different options and there is no more viable option than NGAD to achieve air superiority in this highly contested environment," Major General Joseph Kunkel told the AFA Warfare Symposium in Colorado.

The F-47 will replace the F-22 Raptor, which features stealth technology, a high degree of maneuverability and the ability to supercruise, or maintain supersonic flight without afterburners.

Little is known about the capabilities of the F-47, but Trump said the new jet will be "virtually unseeable" with unmatched maneuverability and power, and the ability to fly "with many drones, as many as we want, and that's something that no other plane can do."

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