(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Boeing gets contract to develop our newest fighter, the sadly-named F-47. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-03-21

Today, Trump announced that the $20B contract for further development of our newest manned jet fighter will go to Boeing, who can certainly use the business. See his yap, for example, on Forbes. Boeing was a huge supplier of our defense, going back to their first fighter in 1924, then later the Stearman biplane trainer to the still-flying 70-year old B-52 bombers, with lots of B-17’s, B-36’s and other excellent aircraft along the way. They built over 125 different models, including numerous commercial and military aircraft such B-707’s, Dreamliners, B-747’s (including Air Force One), helicopters, the Space Shuttle, and the spacecraft Starliner (um, uh, yeah).

This latest fighter is a “sixth generation” (F-35 was fifth, F-15 fourth, etc.) and little is defined yet. However, it will be flown by a human, who will be in more of a management role than a Tom-Cruise-type stick & rudder pilot has done, with lots of help from automated systems, leaving more time to evaluate the airspace, control a multitude of accompanying drones, etc. It is reported to have faster flight capability, around Mach-2, vs Gen-5 which was more focused on maneuvering. The fat nose implies strong radar and sensing capabilities. The elimination of vertical stabilizer “tails” will aid that speed and help stealth invisibility. Trump says the enemy will never see it coming, but of course, he’s too stupid to understand that that only applies at night.

Engines will be decided between GE and Pratt, with a rumored engine third air passage (vs currently direct and bypass) to improve range performance. It is hoped that a planned “stealth tanker” plane can accompany the fighters into the fringe of the danger zone rather than further back; this will reduce the need for greater on-plane fuel storage.

Development will likely take 8-10 years, at which point the plane will be added to “augment” our fleet of Air Force F-22’s. See Tomcat pilot Ward Carroll and an aviation expert for more details here. If you have to ask the cost, you probably can’t afford it; but probably several hundred million per plane.

I think it’s great that we are planning ahead so that we maintain our air superiority in any future conflict. And while the heroes of Ukraine have shown us (and the Russians), that swarms of drones can handle a lot of the dangerous work of battle, there is still a place for a real human in air battles of the future.

Now, about that name. It should NOT be called the F-47 to honor Himself. For one thing, that is too close to the magnificent P-47 that helped defeat the Nazi dictator in WWII. And I apologize if my suggestion is too close to the rugged F4-U of Pappy Boyington fame that pushed back the Japanese, or the heavy “double-ugly” F-4 Phantom that served so well in Vietnam.

But if we must name a plane after the draft-dodging Trump, it should be called the 4F.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/21/2311798/-Boeing-gets-contract-to-develop-our-newest-fighter-the-sadly-named-F-47?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.