Boeing will build the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX, its next-generation carrier fighter. Boeing announced the award on September 29, 2026. Axios reported that the contract is worth more than $20 billion, while Boeing described it only as a multi-billion-dollar contract. The aircraft is intended to replace the Navy’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet, but its design details remain classified.
Who won the Navy’s F/A-XX contract?
Boeing was selected to produce the F/A-XX, which Boeing calls the Navy’s first sixth-generation platform. The award was announced September 29, 2026. Boeing’s announcement says the contract is worth multiple billions of dollars; Axios reported a value of more than $20 billion. That larger figure is secondary reporting, not a cost disclosed in Boeing’s release.
In the reported final contest, Boeing prevailed over Northrop Grumman. Lockheed Martin had earlier been eliminated, according to Axios. Before the award, USNI News reported that Boeing and Northrop Grumman were the two contractors believed to remain in contention.
What is the F/A-XX fighter for?
F/A-XX is a Navy carrier-based fighter program intended to replace the F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet. Axios says it is also intended to complement the F-35. USNI News described a transition aboard carriers during the 2030s, but that is a reported planning horizon, not a confirmed service-entry date.
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The Navy has also discussed the future carrier air wing in terms of greater reach, stealth, MQ-25A Stingray unmanned refueling, and collaborative combat aircraft. Those are broader system-level concepts discussed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, as reported by USNI News; they should not be read as confirmed features of Boeing’s undisclosed F/A-XX design.
What is known—and what remains classified?
Boeing says: “The technical and programmatic details of F/A-XX remain classified under U.S. national security and export laws.” Its award announcement establishes the contractor and broad role, but does not provide a public technical specification.
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Consequently, the winning aircraft’s range, speed, configuration, stealth characteristics, weapons, engine, crew arrangement, delivery milestones, and cost breakdown are not established by the cited public announcements. No independently published F/A-XX unit-cost figure is provided in these sources; figures associated with the separate Air Force NGAD program are not F/A-XX cost data. The Congressional Research Service’s NGAD overview concerns that separate program.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How the selection timeline unfolded
On April 20, 2026, USNI News reported that Caudle expected a downselect in August. He said, “I think you’re going to see a downselect on this in August. I think that’s the month that they have committed to making the decision on the program.” That was a forecast, not the award announcement: Boeing announced its selection on September 29.
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The dates show that the expected decision timing shifted. The public announcement confirms the selection, but does not itself establish when the aircraft will enter service.
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