Navy’s $100B Dogfight: One Flops, One Wins

The U.S. Navy says it will finally pick the company that builds its next stealth fighter jet by August 2026, ending more than a year of delay on one of the biggest weapons deals in military history.

Story Snapshot

Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the last two companies competing to build the Navy’s F/A-XX fighter jet.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle says the Navy plans to announce a winner in August 2026.
Lockheed Martin was cut from the race in March 2025 after its design failed to meet Navy requirements.
Congress boosted funding for the program by nearly $900 million after budget fights nearly stalled it.
The winning jet will replace the aging F/A-18E/F Super Hornet starting in the 2030s.

Two Companies Left Standing

The F/A-XX program will build the Navy’s first sixth-generation carrier fighter jet. It is meant to replace the Super Hornet, a plane that has flown off carriers for decades. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are the only two companies still in the running. Lockheed Martin, despite its long history building stealth jets, got cut from the competition in March 2025 after its design fell short of Navy standards.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cleared the Navy to move forward with picking a winner back in October 2025, according to Reuters. That approval came after months of holdups tied to Pentagon budget reviews. Even after getting the green light, the Navy still needed more time to sort out funding and program oversight before it could commit to a final choice between the two remaining companies.

A Decision Delayed Again and Again

Admiral Caudle told reporters in April 2026 that the Navy now expects to name a winner in August. That timeline has slipped repeatedly. At one point, the program was so unsettled that the Pentagon’s top acquisition office took direct control of it, elevating F/A-XX to the department’s highest priority list for weapons buys. That level of oversight shows how much is riding on getting this pick right.

Money troubles nearly sank the program last year. Reports said the Pentagon considered gutting F/A-XX funding to focus resources on the Air Force’s own next-generation fighter instead. Congress stepped in and added $897 million to the Navy program for fiscal year 2026, a twelve-fold jump from the previous year’s budget. That funding surge signals lawmakers want the Navy to keep its own separate stealth jet program alive, even as costs pile up across multiple military branches.

What Each Company Brings to the Table

Boeing points to its work building the Air Force’s F-47 fighter and argues that having one company build jets for both branches would save money and share technology. Northrop Grumman says its sixth-generation design will be able to punch through the toughest enemy defenses and strike targets anywhere in the world. Neither company’s actual design specs have been made public, so much of the public debate centers on funding and timing rather than side-by-side performance details.

Admiral Caudle added a pointed warning during recent remarks. He said one of the two remaining companies “really can’t deliver in the timeframe we need it,” without naming which one. That comment adds real pressure to a contest where both companies have already invested years and enormous sums of money preparing their bids, with no public confirmation yet of which one has the edge.

US Navy is announcing the winner of the F/A-XX this month (hopefully Northrup Grumman wins it- it's between them and a presumably Navalized ver. of the F-47 from Boeing who also makes the F-18 which production is winding down next year.)

— Ryan Johnson×͜× (@McgregorJonryan) August 8, 2026

The stakes go beyond one contract. The winning design will shape how carrier-based air power works for decades, at a moment when the Pentagon says it needs to stay ahead of fast-growing Chinese military capabilities in the Pacific. Taxpayers and sailors alike have watched this program slip past deadline after deadline, a pattern that fits a broader frustration many Americans share about a government struggling to deliver big projects on time and on budget.

For now, both Boeing and Northrop Grumman wait on a Navy decision that has already been pushed back more than once. Whether August 2026 holds as the real deadline remains to be seen, given the program’s track record of delay. What is clear is that the Navy has narrowed its choice to two companies, and the outcome will decide who builds American carrier airpower for the next generation.