Just six months after President Donald Trump announced on 21 March that Boeing had secured the contract for the Air Force’s first sixth-generation fighter, manufacturing of the initial airframe has begun. “In the few short months since we made the announcement, they are already beginning to manufacture the first article,” Allvin said. “We’re ready to go fast. We have to go fast.”
Allvin highlighted the F-47’s rapid progress while urging the Air Force to accelerate modernisation, including the development of semi-autonomous collaborative combat aircraft to fly alongside the F-47 and other fighters. He also pointed to continued work on the B-21 Raider stealth bomber, with a second prototype recently rolled out.
“We’re following through on ensuring and advocating for the readiness that we need to be able to fight today to demonstrate we can pop the jab, and we can put them on the canvas,” Allvin said, referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, the July strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The mission used 125 aircraft, including seven B-2 bombers, F-16s, F-22s and F-35s, supported by KC-135 and KC-46 tankers.
China remains the Pentagon’s main focus, with Air Force officials noting the F-47’s combat radius will exceed 1,000 miles, nearly double that of the F-22. Allvin has said the service plans to acquire more than 185 of the aircraft, with U.S. assessments warning China could attempt an operation against Taiwan by 2027.
“We’re paying attention to tomorrow. Plan’s sort of in place. I’m ready to keep moving,” Allvin said. “…There’s a lot of change going on right now. And it’s perfectly natural to say, let’s catch your breath a bit. Let’s sort of take stock of things. But in this environment, with the consequences on the other side of it, we have to beware of the familiar. Be cautious about the warm blanket of the comfortable. Because you know what? That may not be good enough. That just may not be good enough because the adversary is not taking a knee. … When the President asks tonight, next week, next year, next decade, ‘Can you still do that?’ We have to be able to say, ‘Hell yes we can.’”
Source: Air and Space Forces Magazine.
