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 — Boeing will build the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet, promising to deliver an aircraft with advanced technology that will eclipse anything in the Pentagon’s current fleet.
The decision, announced Friday by President Donald Trump, is expected to secure ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ place in the defense aviation industry for decades to come and inject new jobs into the regional economy, where Boeing’s 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’s 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 ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.
“This contract also represents historic investment in our defense industrial base,†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.
“It’s a beautiful number,†Trump, the nation’s 47th president, said about the plane’s name, adding that “the generals†picked the title.
The Air Force decided on Boeing after a “rigorous and tough competition,†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 “virtually unseeable†and “there’s never been anything like it†in terms of maneuverability. Its speed, he said, “is top.†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’s defense, space and security division.
“We made the most significant investment in the history of our defense business,†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’s $1.8 billion expansion project at its complex at ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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’s history. Boeing officials have said they hope to complete the new manufacturing facility by next year. “They’ve already built much of what has to be built in terms of production,†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 ºüÀêÊÓƵ region. But defense aerospace analyst Richard Aboulafia said final assembly, at least, is likely to happen here.
“There are no guarantees, but between that investment and the tremendous premium on experience in this industry, it is implied,†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 “will fly during President Trump’s administration,†an incredibly fast timeline for a major weapons system.
“The F-47 is a generational leap forward,†Allvin said in a statement Friday. “The maturity of the aircraft at this phase in the program confirms its readiness to dominate the future fight.â€
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt lauded Trump for the decision.
“The F-47 next generation fighter that will dominate the skies and protect America will be built in ºüÀêÊÓƵ,†Schmitt posted on social media.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Executive Sam Page said the county is an “enthusiastic partner†to Boeing.
“This will be an incredible boost to the region’s economy,†Page said in a statement Friday. “We are pleased that ºüÀêÊÓƵ County provided tax incentives to make this exciting project in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County possible.â€
ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council Chairwoman Rita Days, who represents the area around Boeing, called the decision a “monumental win for North ºüÀêÊÓƵ County.â€
“Boeing’s decision to anchor this program here reflects our skilled workforce and strategic location,†Days said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner called the announcement “amazing news for the Greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ region and our nation’s security.â€
“Today is an exciting day for Boeing and the entire ºüÀêÊÓƵ region,†said Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. “The City will remain a strong partner as we continue to promote ºüÀêÊÓƵ as a leader in innovation and industry.â€
Boeing expansion already underway
The ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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’t keep the new jobs — plus at least 12,100 total jobs — in the region over the plan’s lifespan.
The business group Greater ºüÀêÊÓƵ Inc. helped craft the tax incentive package along with other regional and state leaders. Interim CEO Dustin Allison said Friday the deal helped “set the stage†for job growth and investment in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ metro.
A Frontier aircraft lands at ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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’s eastern end in Berkeley, said Rhonda Hamm-Niebruegge, director of the airport.
The former McDonnell Douglas, acquired by Boeing nearly 30 years ago, built ºüÀêÊÓƵ into a powerhouse of military aviation and a key part of the country’s 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 ºüÀêÊÓƵ humming, including the T-7 training jet and an unmanned refueling drone.
But missing was a major new military aircraft program to secure its ºüÀêÊÓƵ assembly line for decades. Boeing lost out to Lockheed Martin 25 years ago in the competition to build the military’s 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 “just seed money. The total costs coming down the road will be hundreds of billions of dollars.â€
Boeing’s ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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’s 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 — 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.
“They paused this program and were prepared to potentially scrap it,†Hegseth said. “We know this is cheaper, longer range and more stealthy. Mr. Trump said we’re reviving it and we’re 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.â€
Seeming to acknowledge the debate over manned versus unmanned fighter aircraft in future conflicts, Trump added that the F-47 “flies with drones. It flies with many, many drones. As many as you want.â€
Trump has backed Boeing before
It’s not the first boost Trump has given to Boeing’s defense business. In his first term, he pushed for more orders of the F/A-18 and F-15, extending the lines’ production life, and even visiting the company’s 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 ºüÀêÊÓƵ 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.
Recent high-profile aviation incidents have reignited concerns over airline safety, but does this mean flying has become more dangerous? While the risk of fatal crashes remains historically low, a troubling rise in near misses suggests growing safety challenges. Despite two alarming incidents in early 2024—a runway collision in Japan and a Boeing 737 Max 9 mid-air emergency—commercial aviation remains statistically safer than ever. In 2023, there were only two fatal crashes, both involving small domestic aircraft, with no deaths on international passenger jets. Compared to the 148 lives lost per hour in road accidents, flying remains the safest mode of transportation. However, a recent investigation by The New York Times found that near misses between aircraft are occurring more frequently, particularly on runways. In a single year, the FAA recorded around 300 incidents where planes came dangerously close to colliding, some just seconds away from disaster. Notable cases include a private jet nearly striking a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in San Diego and a Southwest pilot aborting a landing to avoid a Delta aircraft in New Orleans. The rise in these incidents is partly due to increasing air traffic and human error in high-pressure airport environments. Runway incursions—where aircraft mistakenly enter active runways—have become a growing concern, with experts warning of “disturbing†global trends. Unlike mid-air accidents, which are rare, runway incidents have led to fatal crashes, such as the 2020 Pegasus Airlines disaster in Istanbul. Compounding these issues, turbulence has increased by 55% in the last 50 years due to climate change, making flights bumpier and posing injury risks. While turbulence itself doesn’t crash planes, severe jolts can throw unbelted passengers into the air. Air travel remains extraordinarily safe, but the increase in near misses and runway hazards highlights vulnerabilities in the system. Without continued vigilance, improved technology, and stricter safety protocols, these warning signs could lead to future disasters.
