Boeing wins $20 billion Navy F/A-XX fighter contract over Northrop

Boeing will build the U.S. Navy's F/A-XX next-generation carrier fighter, the Navy announced on 29 September 2026, selecting the company over rival Northrop Grumman. The contract is valued at more than $20 billion for the full-scale development phase, covering multiple test aircraft for ground, airworthiness, systems and weapons integration testing, according to the Navy's announcement.jpost.com+1

The award settles a competition that had been delayed for years and positions Boeing as the developer of the next generation of U.S. tactical combat aircraft. It comes less than 18 months after Boeing was selected to build the F-47 for the U.S. Air Force, announced in March 2025, giving the company two sixth-generation fighter programs in consecutive years.navalnews.com

What the award covers

The development contract funds multiple test aircraft used for ground, airworthiness, systems and weapons integration testing, the Navy said. The F/A-XX is expected to replace the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter and EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft beginning in the 2030s, and to perform long-range strike in heavily defended airspace as well as carrier air and missile defense.

Michael Duffey, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, called the F/A-XX "a crucial, non-negotiable investment in America's national security and long-term air combat capabilities." Steve Parker, chief executive of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said the company is "ready to execute this critical program" and that delivering both the F-47 and F/A-XX was always its plan.

Some Pentagon officials had expressed concern that Boeing could not handle two major fighter development programs at once. The award also follows a period in which the Pentagon tried to delay the contract over engineering and supply-chain capacity concerns, before Congress intervened with funding: $750 million in the 2025 tax-cut and spending law and an additional $1.4 billion in fiscal 2026, alongside $972 million in F/A-XX research and development funding in the fiscal 2026 defense appropriations bill.

How the delay unfolded

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in August that the slowed award timeline was putting more pressure on F/A-18 sustainment and requiring the F-35 program to improve its performance to bridge the gap until the sixth-generation fighter arrives. At a Senate hearing in May 2026, Caudle said the next-generation system needed to "extend the reach, survivability and lethality" expected to work with unmanned systems.

The Navy expects the F/A-XX to operate alongside unmanned systems, including the Boeing MQ-25 Stingray refueling aircraft and a future fleet of Collaborative Combat Aircraft. The service has said the design will use a derivative of an existing fighter engine rather than a new class of adaptive propulsion systems in development by the Air Force. Technical and programmatic details remain classified.

Northrop Grumman acknowledged the announcement, saying it had offered "a highly survivable, digitally advanced sixth-generation fighter" and that it looks forward to receiving additional information about the selection. The company can challenge the outcome. Lockheed Martin Corp was eliminated from the competition in March 2025 after Navy officials determined its design had not met required criteria.

What Northrop says next

Boeing shares gained about 2% in after-hours trading on 29 September 2026, while Northrop Grumman shares fell. The same day, the Navy awarded Boeing a separate $16.7 million contract to plan the shutdown of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Growler production lines in St. Louis, and the Air Force said it awarded Boeing a production contract for more F-15EX fighters.

Jeremiah Gertler, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Boeing had largely exited the fighter business before winning the F-47 and F/A-XX contracts, and asked how much F-47 design DNA would appear in the F/A-XX. The Navy plans to buy more than 270 Lockheed Martin F-35C jets to fly alongside the F/A-XX once it enters service.

First production F/A-XX jets are expected in the 2030s, while the Super Hornet fleet, in service since the 1990s, is expected to keep flying into the 2040s. The Navy has faced pressure to move quickly as China fields advanced combat aircraft, including designs Beijing describes as sixth-generation, raising the risk of operating without a modern carrier-based fighter in the 2030s and beyond.