U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff General David Allvin on November 12 confirmed that the F-47 sixth generation fighter is intended to make its first flight in 2028, which represents the most explicit public reference to the fighter program’s flight timeline by officials so far.
The fighter program had previously faced growing uncertainty regarding its future due to severe funding shortages affecting the Air Force, before the first flights of two separate Chinese sixth generation fighter designs in December 2024 were credited with spurring the new Donald Trump administration to strongly back the program.
The new support the F-47 program gained from early 2025 has come at the expense of the parallel program being pursued by the Navy, the F/A-XX, to develop a next generation fighter for its aircraft carriers.
U.S. Navy F/A-XX Sixth Generation Fighter Concept Art
While the Air Force has procured F-22 and F-35 fifth generation fighters in significant numbers, and is committed to procuring at least 100 B-21 next generation bombers, the Navy by contrast is heavily reliant on F-18E/F fourth generation fighters and has ordered only a small number of F-35s.
American Buddhist Net 