Last week, the U.S. Air Force announced that it had awarded Boeing the contract to develop the sixth-generation family of aircraft.1, which will replace the air superiority guaranteed for twenty years by the F-22s Raptor.
The program is part of the NGAD (Next Generation Air Dominance) project, a system of systems intended to operate together with unmanned aircraft, with the ability Stealth improved, sensors and smart weapons.
All to be delivered by... the end of the decade!!!
"I am thrilled to announce that, at my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world's first sixth-generation fighter jet," the president said at a White House news conference. "Nothing in the world comes even close, and it will be known as the F-47."
Trump has made the aircraft a symbol: the number advertised refers to his forty-seventh presidency...
Does Boeing have the technical and organizational reliability to manage such a goal? Did the Pentagon grant it confidence or did it find itself without alternatives?
For a century, Boeing has been a symbol of quality, innovation, advanced manufacturing and, most of all, reliability. Ask any pilot…
In the military field, the curriculum of the famous "Seattle company" (in 2001 the headquarters first moved to Chicago, then in 2022 to Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia) boasts aircraft such as the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-29 Superfortress and the B-52 Stratofortress. The same worldwide success of the Jumbo, the 747, owes many of its extraordinary qualities to its previous participation in a military competition, the CX-HLS (Cargo Experimental, Heavy Logistic Support). However, it was won by the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy...
A reputation in free fall
For nearly a decade, after 346 victims (737 MAX 82), problems (7873), delays (777X4) and financial losses5, the company is however at the centre of an epochal crisis.
Last month, news broke of the suspension of deliveries of KC-46 tankers6 for structural cracks in the wings already detected upon delivery. We trust that, given the "familiarity" (now known) of the problem, the Italian Air Force KC-767As are monitored with the utmost attention.
Well, faced with so many criticisms and critical issues, the Pentagon entrusts Boeing with the keys to the F-47, its fighter of the future, its air supremacy. We are not simply talking about a new aircraft, we are talking about a new generation, the sixth, which today sees competition from numerous international programs (FCAS and GCAP, only for Europe and Japan), and will have to be used operationally after compressed development and production times, compared to traditional cycles.
In Italy we have a very long experience, not only of aid but also of scandalous "fattening" of questionable subjects, however, after the war started in 2022, incapable companies were removed from top military means.
Battles are won before they are fought: Is Boeing hiding a new “Manhattan technology” or does Donald J. Trump really like roulette? The outcome of today’s choices could long be remembered in military history.
A state bailout it is not fair the blatant risk of the lives of their own soldiers and the global confrontation on the horizon.
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_737_MAX_groundings Two fatal crashes (2018 and 2019) caused by a malfunction of the MCAS system, hidden from the pilots and the FAA
3 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/26/business/boeing-whistleblower-787/index.html Structural problems with the fuselage, manufacturing defects and delivery delays; repeatedly blocked by the FAA.
4 https://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/boeing-sospende-test-nuovo-777x-componente-difettoso-AF7JSUTD Program plagued by multi-year delays and testing problems, now expected to enter service after 2026.
5 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7erzxr9vpo Boeing has also accumulated more than $35 billion in operating losses since 2019.
6 https://breakingdefense.com/2025/03/air-force-pauses-deliveries-of-boein...
Photo: USAF (artist's impression) / The White House
