A recent Northrop Grumman video montage includes a brief clip showing an aircraft fuselage section that does not readily appear to be from any design the company has developed or is otherwise involved in the production of, at least that is publicly known.
Northrop Grumman released the video, seen below, last week, which it said highlighted the company’s achievements in the third quarter of 2025. The fuselage section is seen briefly, starting at 0:30 in the runtime.
TWZ subsequently reached out to Northrop Grumman to ask the company if it could identify the fuselage section seen in the video and provide any additional information.
“Across a range of current and future platforms, Northrop Grumman invests in facilities, manufacturing and research and development,” a Northrop Grumman spokesperson said in response. “These investments benefit the spectrum of aircraft and aircraft capabilities we produce now, as well as future efforts.”
The fuselage has the look of one that belongs to a tactical jet design. There is a clear space visible on the left side for an air intake. The rear ends of two serpentine ducts seen protruding from the rear indicate that the right side is a mirror image of the left. There are also additional clips showing intake ducting in production, starting at 0:33 in the video’s runtime, but whether they are directly related to the fuselage section is unknown.
The forward end of the fuselage section seen in the video is also shaped in a way that points to a nose section mold line that would feature a tactical jet-style cockpit and canopy, or possibly a satellite communications system for an uncrewed design. It could be something else entirely, as well.
What it doesn’t appear to be is the center fuselage section for any of the three variants of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which Northrop Grumman produces. There is extensive visual documentation of its production line for those fuselage sections, none of which directly aligns with what is seen in the third-quarter highlights video.
Northrop Grumman has also been involved in the production of fuselage sections for Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets in the past, but that also does not match up with what is seen in the recently released video.
One would imagine that if the fuselage seen in the highlights video was related to an established production line that it would be possible to readily confirm that, too.
Northrop Grumman certainly has aircraft designs that have yet to be disclosed, because they are highly classified, like its submission for the Navy’s F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter competition, or the company has simply chosen not to do so yet. Its subsidiary Scaled Composites, a ‘bleeding edge’ boutique aircraft design house, is particularly well known for building one-off or otherwise extremely limited-production experimental prototypes that are not always announced to the public immediately.
Just this week, Aviation Week disclosed the existence of a new drone from Scaled Composites, known currently only as Project Lotus. The uncrewed aircraft was reportedly spotted out in the open during the day at the firm’s rapid prototyping facility in Mojave, California, pointing to a design that is not classified, though it has also clearly not been officially unveiled.
“The Lotus UAS design in some ways resembles features of the newly revealed Lockheed Martin Project Vectis, with a long, slender fuselage positioned forward of the leading edges of the wings, capped by a nose with swept-back edges leading to a slender point,” according to Aviation Week. “In many other respects, the Lotus and Vectis designs diverge. Unlike the engine inlet mounted low at mid-fuselage for the Vectis aircraft, the Lotus inlet sits high atop of the extreme aft section of its fuselage. The Lotus also sports sharply canted tails, breaking from the tailless-configured Vectis.”
“Our investments prioritize production at speed and scale, without sacrificing performance or capability. The Northrop Grumman team has generated step-change advancements in production speed, weight and parts reduction, and overall cost efficiency,” Northrop Grumman told Aviation Week in response to its queries for more details about Project Lotus. “These advancements benefit the spectrum of autonomous capabilities we produce at Northrop Grumman for U.S. and international customers.”
You can read more in detail about Lockheed Martin’s Vectis design, which was unveiled in September, here. TWZ has separately reached out to Northrop Grumman for more information about Project Lotus.
There is also the possibility that the fuselage section seen in the highlights video is a test article that is not related to any aircraft, but is instead tied to work to develop advanced design and/or production methods. Also visible in the clip is what looks to be another component in a jig of some kind, both of which look to be computer-generated renderings. This, in turn, might point to some kind of augmented reality arrangement, something Northrop Grumman is known to employ in the design and production of aircraft, including the B-21 Raider stealth bomber. The company’s response to our queries about the fuselage section did highlight investments the company has made in “facilities, manufacturing and research and development.” Again, though, if this were the case, one would imagine it would be relatively easy to confirm.
Whatever the case, the still-unidentified fuselage section does also reflect the other half of the statement provided, that the aforementioned investments have been fueling Northrop Grumman’s work on “aircraft and aircraft capabilities we produce now, as well as future efforts,” including ones we have yet to learn about.
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