President Donald Trump speaks as an image of an F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet is displayed during an event in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, March 21, 2025.
ST. LOUIS 鈥 Boeing will build the U.S. Air Force鈥檚 next-generation fighter jet, promising to deliver an aircraft with advanced technology that will eclipse anything in the Pentagon鈥檚 current fleet.
The decision, announced Friday by President Donald Trump, is expected to secure 51黑料鈥 place in the defense aviation industry for decades to come and inject new jobs into the regional economy, where Boeing鈥檚 defense arm employs some 16,700 workers.
The contract, likely worth hundreds of billions of dollars over coming decades, marks a historic victory for Boeing鈥檚 defense business as it sought a major new fighter jet contract to replace the aging F/A-18 and F-15 production lines in north 51黑料 County.
鈥淭his contract also represents historic investment in our defense industrial base,鈥 Trump said at a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House.
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The new fighter will be called the F-47.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a beautiful number,鈥 Trump, the nation鈥檚 47th president, said about the plane鈥檚 name, adding that 鈥渢he generals鈥 picked the title.
The Air Force decided on Boeing after a 鈥渞igorous and tough competition,鈥 the president said in announcing his decision, first reported by . Boeing was competing with Lockheed Martin for the contract.
A Boeing billboard touting the new Phantom Works fronts land where site work is being done on the new fighter jet building facility just south of the Boeing executive offices on Friday, March 21, 2025.
Trump said stealth technologies make the fighter 鈥渧irtually unseeable鈥 and 鈥渢here鈥檚 never been anything like it鈥 in terms of maneuverability. Its speed, he said, 鈥渋s top.鈥 He said the government could not release a detailed photo rendering of the fighter due to national security considerations.
Boeing recognizes the importance of the program, said Steve Parker, interim president and CEO of Boeing鈥檚 defense, space and security division.
鈥淲e made the most significant investment in the history of our defense business,鈥 Parker said in a statement.
Boeing officials announced in July 2023 that the company would build an advanced manufacturing site in North County, part of the company鈥檚 $1.8 billion expansion project at its complex at 51黑料 Lambert International Airport.
The expansion project, including the 1.1 million-square-foot facility, is poised to be a key part of one of the largest defense projects in the region鈥檚 history. Boeing officials have said they hope to complete the new manufacturing facility by next year. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e already built much of what has to be built in terms of production,鈥 Trump said Friday.
Boeing declined to answer a question about how much of the work on the Next Generation Air Dominance program will be done in the 51黑料 region. But defense aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said final assembly, at least, is likely to happen here.
鈥淭here are no guarantees, but between that investment and the tremendous premium on experience in this industry, it is implied,鈥 Aboulafia said.
Experimental aircraft flights and conceptual testing over the past five years laid the groundwork for the sixth-generation, crewed fighter jet, said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin. Because of that work, Allvin said the F-47 鈥渨ill fly during President Trump鈥檚 administration,鈥 an incredibly fast timeline for a major weapons system.
鈥淭he F-47 is a generational leap forward,鈥 Allvin said in a statement Friday. 鈥淭he maturity of the aircraft at this phase in the program confirms its readiness to dominate the future fight.鈥
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt lauded Trump for the decision.
鈥淭he F-47 next generation fighter that will dominate the skies and protect America will be built in 51黑料,鈥 Schmitt posted on social media.
51黑料 County Executive Sam Page said the county is an 鈥渆nthusiastic partner鈥 to Boeing.
鈥淭his will be an incredible boost to the region鈥檚 economy,鈥 Page said in a statement Friday. 鈥淲e are pleased that 51黑料 County provided tax incentives to make this exciting project in north 51黑料 County possible.鈥
51黑料 County Council Chairwoman Rita Days, who represents the area around Boeing, called the decision a 鈥渕onumental win for North 51黑料 County.鈥
鈥淏oeing鈥檚 decision to anchor this program here reflects our skilled workforce and strategic location,鈥 Days said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner called the announcement 鈥渁mazing news for the Greater 51黑料 region and our nation鈥檚 security.鈥
鈥淭oday is an exciting day for Boeing and the entire 51黑料 region,鈥 said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. 鈥淭he City will remain a strong partner as we continue to promote 51黑料 as a leader in innovation and industry.鈥
Boeing expansion already underway
The 51黑料 County Council approved about $155 million in tax breaks for the project in September 2023, and the company broke ground that winter.
Boeing will get half off real and personal property taxes for 10 years in exchange for the investment and creating 500 jobs. The deal includes a clawback measure if Boeing doesn鈥檛 keep the new jobs 鈥 plus at least 12,100 total jobs 鈥 in the region over the plan鈥檚 lifespan.
The business group Greater 51黑料 Inc. helped craft the tax incentive package along with other regional and state leaders. Interim CEO Dustin Allison said Friday the deal helped 鈥渟et the stage鈥 for job growth and investment in the 51黑料 metro.
A Frontier aircraft lands at 51黑料 Lambert International Airport as demolition continues on an old aircraft manufacturing site on the north side of the property, used to produce World War II military planes by Curtiss-Wright and other aircraft for McDonnell-Douglas, on Friday, March 21, 2025. The 48-acre tract joins 110 acres in Berkeley leased to Boeing for expansion plans, including the new Phantom Works production plant near the Boeing executive offices.
51黑料 officials in 2023 also approved an agreement with Boeing to lease about 158 acres for its expansion at Lambert. Under the lease, Boeing is set to pay the city-owned airport at least $2.63 million a year. The expansion got underway last June with the start of construction of a building on airport-owned property on Lambert鈥檚 eastern end in Berkeley, said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of the airport.
The former McDonnell Douglas, acquired by Boeing nearly 30 years ago, built 51黑料 into a powerhouse of military aviation and a key part of the country鈥檚 military industrial base. Hundreds of F/A-18 fighters for the U.S. Navy and F-15s for the Air Force have been churned out here. But the legacy fighter programs have faced uncertainty for over a decade, staying alive with small additional purchases pushed through by Congress or sales to U.S. allies abroad even as military brass at times sought to phase the programs out.
The F/A-18 program is now slated to end in 2027. The F-15 recently won a major sale to Israel under the Biden administration that could keep its production line going into the next decade. In the meantime, Boeing has won smaller contracts that kept its production lines in 51黑料 humming, including the T-7 training jet and an unmanned refueling drone.
But missing was a major new military aircraft program to secure its 51黑料 assembly line for decades. Boeing lost out to Lockheed Martin 25 years ago in the competition to build the military鈥檚 current strike fighter, the F-35. A decade ago, it lost out to Northrup Grumman for the contract to build the B-21 bomber.
Trump declined to say how much the contract was worth, saying that could reveal classified information to adversaries.
But the initial contract to proceed with production was $20 billion. Dan Grazier, director of the national security reform program at the Stimson Center, said $20 billion is 鈥渏ust seed money. The total costs coming down the road will be hundreds of billions of dollars.鈥
Boeing鈥檚 51黑料 campus is one of two sites in the country that does final assembly for military fighter jets, which analysts have said gave it strategic importance as the military weighed where to build the next generation fighter.
Even after Boeing began building its expansion site in anticipation of winning the next generation fighter contract, the program was put in doubt when the Air Force last year paused it. Former President Joe Biden鈥檚 Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, ordered a pause on the advanced fighter program to review if the aircraft was still needed or if the program, which was first designed in 2018, needed to be modified to reflect the past few years of warfighting advances, particularly the increasing use of unmanned drones.
That review by think tanks and academia examined what conflict with China would look like with the new fighter and then without it 鈥 and determined that the next generation manned warplane was still needed. Kendall then left the decision on which firm would build the fighter jet to the incoming Trump administration, a defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide details on the decision-making.
But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, appearing beside Trump Friday, mentioned the pause to take a swipe at the Biden administration anyway.
鈥淭hey paused this program and were prepared to potentially scrap it,鈥 Hegseth said. 鈥淲e know this is cheaper, longer range and more stealthy. Mr. Trump said we鈥檙e reviving it and we鈥檙e doing it. We are also gonna reestablish deterrence. Under the previous administration, we looked like fools. Not anymore. President Trump has reestablished American leadership. The F-47 is part of it.鈥
Seeming to acknowledge the debate over manned versus unmanned fighter aircraft in future conflicts, Trump added that the F-47 鈥渇lies with drones. It flies with many, many drones. As many as you want.鈥
Trump has backed Boeing before
It鈥檚 not the first boost Trump has given to Boeing鈥檚 defense business. In his first term, he pushed for more orders of the F/A-18 and F-15, extending the lines鈥 production life, and even visiting the company鈥檚 North County campus in 2018.
The F-47 is the latest good news for Boeing against rival Lockheed Martin. Earlier this month, the Navy Boeing and Northrup Grumman remain in the running.
It could also be a solid boost for the larger company, which has suffered recently from manufacturing problems, labor strife and financial woes, mostly on the commercial side of its business, though there have been some delays on the military side, too. In November, the company said it would lay off some 700 people here. Companywide, it announced in plans to lay off 10% of its workforce.
The layoffs in 51黑料 were mostly due to Boeing delaying production on the long-range widebody 777X commercial jet, according to DeLane Adams, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
And though the military contract is a welcome win, Boeing still faces uncertainty amid tariffs and a brewing trade war that could hurt both the cost of its materials and its access to European and Chinese markets for its passenger planes.
Boeing posted a fourth-quarter loss of $3.8 billion in January.
Mark Schlinkmann of the Post-Dispatch and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
