Boeing wins $20B Navy fighter contract, its 2nd major stealth jet program

Boeing (BA) has been selected to develop the U.S. Navy’s next-generation carrier-based fighter, securing a contract worth about $20 billion and beating Northrop Grumman (NOC) in one of the Pentagon’s largest combat-aircraft competitions.

The award gives Boeing (BA) its second major sixth-generation fighter program in two years after the Air Force selected the company in 2025 to develop the F-47.

For investors, the F/A-XX win strengthens Boeing’s (BA) defense backlog and gives its St. Louis fighter operations a new source of work as production of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet winds down. The program ultimately could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars as it moves from development into production, with additional opportunities possible from foreign customers.

Boeing (BA) shares rose about 2.3% in extended trading Tuesday following news of the award. Northrop Grumman (NOC) shares fell about 3.5%.

The development contract covers test aircraft for the program, currently known as F/A-XX. The fighter is expected to become a central component of the Navy’s Next Generation Air Dominance system and eventually replace the Super Hornet. Plans call for greater range and stealth as well as the ability to operate alongside uncrewed aircraft and other carrier-based systems.

The award also represents a turnaround for Boeing’s fighter business. Before securing the F-47 and F/A-XX programs, the company faced the prospect of losing much of its fighter manufacturing work as existing programs matured. Boeing has been investing in facilities in the St. Louis area to support multiple advanced aircraft programs. Boeing’s defense unit had a $62 billion backlog at the end of the first quarter of 2025, before the F-47 award had been added to that figure.

The F/A-XX competition had faced delays amid Pentagon concerns about whether the U.S. defense industry had sufficient engineering and supplier capacity to develop two advanced fighters simultaneously. Congress continued funding the Navy program despite proposals to postpone it. Lockheed Martin was eliminated from the competition in 2025, leaving Boeing and Northrop as the finalists.

The program is intended in part to give Navy carrier air wings greater range and survivability as the U.S. focuses on potential conflicts in the Indo-Pacific. China has been developing increasingly sophisticated combat aircraft, putting pressure on the Pentagon to field new platforms capable of operating in heavily defended airspace.

Production F/A-XX aircraft are expected to enter service during the 2030s. The Navy also plans to acquire more than 270 F-35C fighters from Lockheed Martin (LMT), which would operate alongside the new Boeing aircraft. The existing Super Hornet fleet is expected to remain in service into the 2040s.