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Washington — President Trump on Friday announced that the U.S. Air Force is moving ahead with a sixth-generation fighter jet known as the F-47, with Boeing being awarded the contract to manufacture the new aircraft.”At my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet,” the president said alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an Oval Office announcement. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it. And it will be known as the F-47.”Boeing and Lockheed Martin had been in competition to build the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter, as the U.S. looks to stay ahead of China when it comes to air defense technology. The president said the F-47 is “the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,” calling it “virtually unseeable” with “unprecedented power” and excellent maneuverability. Mr. Trump said a “an experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation.” “America’s enemies will never see it coming, hopefully we won’t have to use it for that purpose, but you have to have it,” Mr. Trump said. “And if it ever happens, they won’t know what the hell hit them.”
The president said a new F-47 fleet will be built while he’s in office. He told reporters he can’t say how much the jets cost “because it would give away to some of the technology.” Hegseth said the F-47 “sends a very direct, clear message to our allies, that we’re not going anywhere, and to our enemies, that we will be able to project power around the globe, unimpeded, for generations to come.” “We’ll ensure that the USA continues to dominate the skies,” Mr. Trump said. Hegseth later declined to respond to a reporter’s shouted question about whether the fighter jet is named after Mr. Trump, the 47th president.
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Kathryn Watson
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
