АНУ-ын Тэнгисийн цэргийн хүчин F/A-XX шинэ үеийн сөнөөгч онгоц бүтээх тендерт Boeing компанийг ялагчаар тодруулснаа албан ёсоор зарлалаа.
Пентагон өнгөрсөн онд тус хөтөлбөрийг тодорхойгүй хугацаагаар зогсоох шийдвэр гаргаж байсан ч Конгрессын дэмжлэг болон тэнгисийн цэргийн командлалын шаардлагын дагуу төслийг үргэлжлүүлэхээр болсон юм. Boeing компани 2025 оны гуравдугаар сард Lockheed Martin-ыг шалгаруулалтаас хассаны дараа Northrop Grumman-тай өрсөлдөж байв. Шинэ сөнөөгч онгоцны төсөл нь АНУ-ын Агаарын цэргийн хүчинд зориулсан F-47 хөтөлбөртэй үйлдвэрлэлийн хувьд ижил төстэй талуудтай бөгөөд Boeing компани нь өмнөх туршлага, нийлүүлэлтийн сүлжээгээ ашиглах давуу талтай юм.
Тэнгисийн цэргийн удирдлагын зүгээс F/A-XX сөнөөгч онгоцыг Хятад, Орос болон Иран зэрэг улсын эсрэг сөрөг хүчин чадлыг хадгалах, агаарын давуу талыг хангах зайлшгүй шаардлагатай зэвсэглэл хэмээн тодорхойлж байна. Ялангуяа Ираны агаарын довтолгооноос хамгаалах системд АНУ-ын нисэх онгоцууд өртөж байгаа нөхцөл байдал нь үл үзэгдэгч технологи бүхий дэвшилтэт сөнөөгч онгоцны хэрэгцээг улам бүр нэмэгдүүлж байгааг албаныхан онцолжээ.
Тус хөтөлбөр нь ирээдүйд нисгэгчгүй онгоцуудтай хоршин ажиллах (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) болон тэнгисийн цэргийн нисэх онгоц тээгч хөлөг онгоцны агаарын бүрэлдэхүүнийг шинэчлэх цогц төлөвлөгөөний нэг хэсэг юм. Пентагоны зүгээс хоёр өөр төрлийн шинэ үеийн сөнөөгч онгоцыг зэрэг үйлдвэрлэх нь батлан хамгаалах аж үйлдвэрийн салбарт ачаалал үүсгэж болзошгүй гэсэн болгоомжлолыг илэрхийлж байсан ч ийнхүү эцсийн шийдвэр гарлаа.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
After blowing past a self-imposed August deadline, the U.S. Navy has finally announced Boeing as the winner of its F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter competition. F/A-XX has become one of the most hotly anticipated U.S. defense procurement decisions in recent memory after the Pentagon tried to shelve the program indefinitely last year.
Boeing had been competing against Northrop Grumman for the F/A-XX contract. An earlier down-select reportedly eliminated Lockheed Martin back in March 2025.
As mentioned, the Pentagon had moved to freeze the F/A-XX program in June 2025. Three months earlier, Boeing had won a separate U.S. Air Force competition to produce what is now called the F-47. U.S. military officials had argued that the U.S. industrial base lacked the capacity to support work on two next-generation fighters simultaneously.
Congress subsequently intervened to keep the F/A-XX program running, but its future had remained very murky until earlier this year. In April, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Daryl Caudle said that a winner of the competition would finally be announced in August. Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao both publicly committed to that same timeline later that month. There had been concerns that the program might have slipped back into limbo after that deadline came and went. Adm. Caudle told Aviation Week‘s Brian Everstine that he himself was no longer aware of when this decision might come on the sidelines of the Tailhook Association’s annual convention last month.
Just two weeks ago, Air Force Gen. Dale White, the service’s Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Critical Major Weapon Systems, reiterated concerns about industrial capacity in response to a question about potential challenges in building F/A-XXs at the same time as F-47s. White also acknowledged that these concerns were “not unique” to F/A-XX and F-47.
In this context, Boeing’s win today is perhaps unsurprising. The company will be able to leverage design work it has already been doing in relation to the F-47 program, as well as relevant production experience and supply chains. TWZ had previously highlighted similarities between what was seen in a rendering the company released of its F/A-XX proposal and official renders of what it is building for the Air Force. We still have yet to learn just how closely related the two designs are.
It is also worth noting here that Boeing previously pushed back publicly on the assertion that it was not ready to meet Air Force and Navy needs at the same time.
Regardless of any industrial base considerations, top Navy officials have been consistently vocal about the need for F/A-XX, even after the Pentagon’s move to put the program on ice last year. The service has presented the next-generation fighters as essential for staying ahead of top global competitors like China and Russia, as well as smaller adversaries, such as Iran.
“I know these things are expensive, and I know the defense industrial base is compressed, but we have got to figure out how to walk and chew gum here with aircraft,” CNO Caudle said in January, just weeks before the start of major combat operations against Iran. “The folks that used to be not in [the] headspace that I needed a stealth aircraft of this level to fly a mission into their country, will gain capability that the F-18 [F/A-18E/F Super Hornet] will not match against.”
“This is an ever-evolving theme, and when you’ve got partnerships … well coupled with each other across China and Russia and Iran and North Korea, and terrorist groups that are getting that kit from all of those through back-channel ways, our ability to fly with impunity with our existing airframes is fleeting,” he added at that time. “So, if I don’t start building that [F/A-XX] immediately, you’re not going to get it for some time.”
The conflict with Iran, where U.S. crewed and uncrewed aircraft have now been lost to that country’s air defenses, adds a certain weight to Caudle’s comments here.
The selection of Boeing for F/A-XX also comes now as the Navy is making new moves regarding other aspects of its future carrier air wing plans. In particular, the service is increasingly solidifying its vision for new carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones. Acting as airborne controllers for advanced drones has long been understood to be a key mission for the Navy’s forthcoming sixth-generation crewed fighters.
This is a developing story.
Contact the author: joe@twz.com
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