US Navy's new fighter jet threatened by funding dispute, sources say
At the heart of the conflict is the F/A-XX program, intended to replace the Navy's aging Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab F/A-18 Super Hornet fleet with a new carrier-based stealth fighter to be fielded in the 2030s.
The Navy had been expected to announce a winner as early as March in a deal that could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars to the winner over its lifetime, but a funding dispute threatens to derail that timeline.
While the Navy wants to move forward with awarding a contract, some Pentagon officials are seeking to delay the program by up to three years, the people said, citing concerns about engineering and production capacity.
In March, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a contract to make F-47 fighter jets, its version of a 6th generation stealth fighter to replace the 5th generation F-22. The Air Force has said it planned to buy more than 185 of the planes.
Boeing and Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), opens new tab remain in competition for the Navy contract, while Reuters reported in March that Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab had been eliminated from the contest.
A three-year delay for the Navy would effectively cancel the program as it is currently defined, the people said, because contracts and pricing would expire during that time making a new competition almost inevitable.
The Navy declined to comment. A Pentagon spokesperson said it did "not comment on internal communications and pre-decisional or deliberative information."
The fight over F/A-XX funding highlights broader questions about the future of naval aviation and the role of aircraft carriers in confronting China. Delaying the program could leave the Navy without a modern fighter capable of operating from carriers in the 2030s and beyond, potentially undermining the fleet's ability to project power in contested environments.
China has already made test flights of advanced J-50 and J-36 fighters that it calls 6th generation - the same jet a forward deployed U.S. Navy would encounter.
"America can't do much with its aircraft carriers in 30 years if it doesn't invest in a next-generation fighter for the Navy," said a U.S. official. "Faster decision-making, extended operational reach, integration with autonomous systems, and maximum lethality are key to the future of air combat, especially in the Indo-Pacific," the official added.
The official and the other people declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is making a push to revamp what the Pentagon buys and how it does so for items ranging from software to jets.
Trump adviser Elon Musk has panned crewed fighter jets, calling them "obsolete" as the age of drone warfare dawns. But some defense experts say enemy jamming systems may best the autonomous vehicles, making a human crew necessary in warfare.
The Navy currently has around 128 F/A-18 planes that have been in service since the mid-1990s.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's cost assessment office plans to slash funding for the next-generation jet's development by shifting the $454 million that Congress provided for the F/A-XX in the fiscal year 2025 budget to other programs, according to two industry executives and a congressional aide familiar with the matter.
The Pentagon is separately preparing to ask Congress not to provide $500 million for the program which it had included in a pending reconciliation bill to help to accelerate the new jet's development, the three sources said.
The two separate funding reductions and the potential for a three-year delay to the contract award have not been reported previously.
These moves have sparked pushback from the Navy and key members of Congress. Lawmakers are telling the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense: "Don't you dare do this," an industry executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.
The Pentagon could still alter course on these efforts and adopt Congress' funding guidance, the congressional aide said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
11 minutes ago
- Reuters
US factory orders rebound in May on strong aircraft demand
WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - New orders for U.S.-manufactured goods surged in May on strong demand for aircraft and business spending on equipment appeared to be strong halfway through the second quarter. Factory orders increased 8.2% after a downwardly revised 3.9% drop in April, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders rebounding 8.2% after a previously reported 3.7% decline in April. They increased 3.2% on a year-on-year basis in May. Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2% of the economy, remains constrained by President Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs on imported goods. An Institute for Supply Management survey on Tuesday showed anxiety over trade policy among manufacturers in June, with manufacturers variously describing the business environment as "hellacious" and "too volatile" for long-term procurement decisions. Trump sees the tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, a feat that economists argued was impossible in the short term because of labor shortages and other structural issues. Commercial aircraft orders soared 230.8%. That reflected at least 150 aircraft from Qatar Airways placed with Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab during Trump's visit to the Gulf Arab country in May. Orders for motor vehicles, parts and trailers rose 0.8%. Orders for computers and electronic products increased 1.5%, while those for electrical equipment, appliances and components rose 0.7%. Machinery orders gained 0.4%. The government also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, rebounded 1.7% in May as estimated last month. Shipments of these so-called core capital goods rose 0.4%, revised down from the 0.5% reported last month. Non-defense capital goods orders jumped 49.5%. They were previously reported to have accelerated 49.4%. Shipments of these goods dipped 0.1% instead of being unchanged as previously reported.
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
First immigration detainees arrive at Florida center in the Everglades
The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press. ' People are there,' Press Secretary Jae Williams said, though he didn't immediately provide further details on the number of detainees or when they arrived. 'Next stop: back to where they came from,' Uthmeier said on the X social media platform Wednesday. He's been credited as the architect behind the Everglades proposal. Requests for additional information from the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is building the site, had not been returned early Thursday afternoon. The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to a Trump administration official. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation. The facility is expected to be expanded in 500 bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds by early July. Environmental groups and Native American tribes have protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred. It's also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154 and 177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred. DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent — and naming it after the notorious federal prison of Alcatraz, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It's another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and 'guarded' by alligators wearing hats labeled 'ICE' for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. _____
The Independent
15 minutes ago
- The Independent
Condé Nast raises eyebrows with barebones post for Anna Wintour's Vogue job on LinkedIn: ‘Hiring a head of editorial'
It's now been a week since legendary American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour shockingly announced that she was stepping down and seeking a replacement to fill her Manolo Blahnik snakeskin boots. While Wintour has noted that she will remain as Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director of Vogue, speculation has run wild over who will take over her day-to-day duties at the U.S. publication. Remarkably, as the names of potential successors continue to be debated, the company has also publicly announced the listing for a new Head of Editorial Content at American Vogue on the job-hunting social media site LinkedIn. 'Condé Nast is hiring a Head of Editorial Content for U.S Vogue,' the bare-bones LinkedIn post, which was first listed earlier this week, reads. 'If you are interested, please reach out by email with your resume to condenast@ Though it is now a generally accepted practice for media companies to post their openings – even for top editorial positions – on LinkedIn, the fact that Condé Nast is doing that to find a replacement for Wintour seems noteworthy, at least on the surface. It may also suggest that the fashion giant may not have actually whittled down the list of candidates to fill that position and is now casting a wider net. At the same time, the company hasn't made an official job listing on LinkedIn; instead, it has merely noted that the position is open and provided an email address to express interest. Still, Conde's method for looking to replace the driving force behind the Met Gala has led to eyebrows being raised. 'Applying for Anna Wintour's old job through LinkedIn is so based,' one LinkedIn user noted, while another snarked: 'crying this was posted on LinkedIn.' Meanwhile, despite the LinkedIn listing, a bevy of names at both Conde Nast and abroad have been tossed around as the next face of the magazine that Wintour turned into a fashion powerhouse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the betting favorite to land the job is Architectural Design editor Amy Astley. 'Simply put, she's been killing it at AD, showcasing the homes of Hollywood A-listers, a list that recently includes Kendall Jenner, Michael Shannon and Lenny Kravitz,' THR noted, adding: 'The job feels like Astley's if she wants it.' Others who have been floated as taking the mantle are Vogue fashion director Tonne Goodman, British Vogue head of editorial content Chioma Nnadi, The Cut's editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner, and Instagram director of fashion partnerships Eva Chen. The stunning revelation from Wintour, meanwhile, left many of her employees in a state of shock last week. After the 75-year-old – who was the inspiration for the diabolical lead character of The Devil Wears Prada – shared the news in a staff meeting, one employee told The Daily Mail: It was like finding out that God is stepping down from being God.
