Boeing has provided a new rendering for its F/A-XX proposal, and it’s remarkably similar to concept artwork that has already been released for its F-47, selected for the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) ‘fighter’ initiative. While it’s important not to read too much into declassified conceptual renderings of either of those aircraft, based on the artwork, the new art does, at least, correspond with Boeing’s previous hints that the F/A-XX and F-47 would incorporate significant commonality.
The new rendering of the F/A-XX proposal from Boeing was first shown at the Tailhook Symposium last week. The rendering was subsequently published by Aviation Week and is also seen at the top of this story. An F-47 rendering, for comparison, is seen below.
As we reported only earlier this week, Navy Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, commonly referred to as the service’s “Air Boss,” is still “eagerly awaiting” a decision on the F/A-XX down-select, despite the uncertainty now swirling around that program.
Like previous F-47 depictions, the new Boeing F/A-XX rendering obscures the aircraft in clouds but adds a Navy flattop below, befitting its role as a carrier-based tactical jet. The tail surfaces of the aircraft are fully concealed in clouds. Meanwhile, the aircraft’s ‘bubble’ canopy appears to be very similar to that presented in F-47 renderings. While the radome appears to be smaller and shorter than the notably wide one shown on the Air Force jet, this might be due to the viewing angle. Based on the angle of the wing leading-edge extension, it seems that the F/A-XX concept may well also include canard foreplanes.
As we discussed in an in-depth feature on the topic, canards were a surprising feature of the F-47 renderings that appeared once Boeing had been announced as the winner of the Air Force’s NGAD fighter program. In the F-47 renderings, the details of the canards are also deliberately obscured, but are clearly present.
Above all, canards are a feature that’s not immediately associated with an aircraft optimized for low observability (stealth), range, payload, and speed. Instead, this is a feature that’s normally included on tactical fighters on the basis of maneuverability.
First off, we should note that the new F/A-XX rendering might not include canards, and the degree to which the rendering may reflect the final Boeing design proposal remains open to question. There may also be some counter-intelligence work at play in the F/A-XX rendering, as well as those of the F-47, by pushing concept art that alludes to a prominent feature that the aircraft actually doesn’t have.
However, canards would be of particular benefit for a carrier-based aircraft like the F/A-XX. In this case, the foreplanes enhance low-speed maneuverability, which is especially important during carrier approaches and landings.
Since the tail is entirely hidden in the new F/A-XX rendering, we can’t comment with any degree of authority on this area. However, it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s widely assumed that the F-47 is a tailless design. Previous 6th generation naval fighter renderings from Boeing have also shown a tailless design. Such a configuration would help optimize stealth, although it would sacrifice some maneuverability. To mitigate this, Boeing may have opted to use thrust vectoring and/or canards for its F-47 and F/A-XX proposals.
Otherwise, based on what we already know about the F-47 and F/A-XX, the two aircraft are expected to offer somewhat different capabilities, over and above the carrier compatibility of the Navy jet. According to Aviation Week, the F-47 is presumed to use an all-new adaptive powerplant, the F/A-XX will use a derivative engine, Navy officials have said.
While the Navy previously said that the F/A-XX would be optimized for extended range and survivability, more recent comments suggest its range may only be 25 percent greater than existing tactical jets. This may also be dictated, in part, by the constraints of carrier operations.
There are meanwhile signs that the Air Force might have scaled back its range requirements for the F-47, with the original NGAD fighter having been pitched as a ‘cruiser’ type aircraft with very long endurance suited to Pacific operations. The Air Force now says that the aircraft will possess a combat radius of “1,000+” nautical miles, a significant advance over other fighters currently in the inventory, but not the kind of extended range that many had expected for the Air Force NGAD, especially considering the need to confront advanced enemy air defenses in the decades to come.
The new Boeing F/A-XX rendering appears soon after Northrop Grumman released a rendering for its own submission for the program, something that TWZ was first to report on.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman are understood to be the remaining contenders for F/A-XX.
The Northrop Grumman rendering notably doesn’t include canards, and its overall design appears to be heavily weighted toward stealth, including a flowing, almost organic design, with constantly changing radiused surfaces. Overall, the design has similarities to the passed-over YF-23. You can read more about it here.
Overall, however, Boeing’s new F/A-XX rendering seems to underscore previous affirmations from the company that it would not have a problem building both the Navy and Air Force next-generation fighters.
Earlier this summer, Steve Parker, Boeing Defense and Space CEO, said he didn’t see a problem with his company building both the F-47 and F/A-XX, stating that this had been part of the strategy all along.
Parker’s comments came in response to questions raised by Navy and Pentagon budget officials about the U.S. defense industry’s capacity to produce the two new highly-advanced tactical jets simultaneously.
In particular, Boeing has invested considerable sums in developing a new Advanced Combat Aircraft Assembly Facility in St. Louis, Missouri, which should have the potential to build both aircraft, if the company’s F/A-XX bid is successful. Building the two types in parallel would be made even easier if they were based, at least somewhat, on a core design, with a high degree of commonality.
As we noted earlier this week, the Navy was reportedly close to announcing the winner of the F/A-XX competition in March.
In June, however, the Pentagon announced as part of the rollout of its Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal that it was moving to complete initial development work related to F/A-XX, but then froze the program indefinitely. It reasoned that it wanted to avoid competition for resources that could affect the Air Force’s F-47.
“They [the Navy] haven’t made a decision yet. So that’s what the down-select is. We’re waiting for the decision, and I’m not the decision maker,” Vice Adm. Cheever told TWZ last week.
Overall, there remains uncertainty around the F/A-XX. In recent months, other senior Navy officials have voiced support publicly for pressing forward with the program. Members of Congress have also been making moves to keep F/A-XX moving ahead as planned in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2026 budget.
“The Navy has a validated requirement for carrier-based sixth-generation aircraft, and it is critical that we field that capability as quickly as possible to give our warfighters the capabilities they need to win against a myriad of emerging threats,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy’s top officer, wrote in response to a question about F/A-XX ahead of his confirmation hearing in July.
Not surprisingly, the Navy considers the F/A-XX as critical to ensuring its carrier air wings can continue to project power in the face of ever-growing threats, especially in any future high-end fight, such as one against China in the Pacific.
Ultimately, if the FA-XX program remains in purgatory, and the F-47 program meets its potential and planned timeline, the Navy could end up buying a navalized F-47 derivative with much lower risk and lower development cost. This might parallel the wait-and-see approach the Navy is taking with its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), compared to the Air Force (and, to a lesser degree, the Marine Corps). The Navy can capitalize on what is proven to work without investing major funds, but at the cost of waiting.
While we can’t say for sure how close Boeing’s new rendering will be to the company’s final F/A-XX submission, its appearance underlines the fact that the company is very much hoping to follow up its Air Force NGAD success with another sixth-generation fighter contract win, this time for the Navy.
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