New York:  The Pentagon has chosen Boeing to build the US Navy's next-generation fighter jets in a contract valued at $20 billion, officials announced Tuesday.

The contract is to produce F/A-XX aircraft or "strike fighters" under the "Next Generation Air Dominance Program," a Pentagon statement said, adding that the new jets would replace the legacy Super Hornets fleet beginning in the 2030s.

The announcement marks the second time Boeing has been selected by the Pentagon during the second Trump administration for a sixth-generation weapons system. In March 2025, Trump announced the US Air Force chose the storied aerospace giant to build a new stealth fighter.

"Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly. We are ready and able to build multiple concurrent future combat aircraft franchise programs," said Steve Parker, head of Boeing Defense, Space & Security.

"The F/A-XX platform represents a crucial, non-negotiable investment in America's national security and long-term air combat capabilities," said Pentagon undersecretary Michael Duffey. "We are joining forces with Boeing to field these capabilities."

Boeing said construction was continuing at its "secure manufacturing" facility in St. Louis, which the company said is the largest of its kind in the United States.

"The technical and programmatic details of F/A-XX remain classified under US national security and export laws," it said.

Boeing was competing for the contract with Northrop Grumman.

"For F/A-XX, Northrop Grumman offered a highly survivable, digitally advanced sixth-generation fighter to the US Navy," Northrop said Tuesday. "We look forward to receiving additional information about their selection."

- Boost for troubled Boeing -

At a May 2026 hearing, Admiral Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, told a US Senate panel that the next-generation system needed to "extend the reach, survivability and lethality" expected to work with unmanned systems.

"Failure to field next-generation carrier aviation capability on schedule will introduce risk to air superiority, strike reach and the long-term viability of carrier-based operations in contested environments," Caudle said.

Winning the massive contract marks a boost for Boeing, which has struggled to rebuild its reputation following two deadly crashes in 2018 and 2019 involving its 737 MAX commercial jets, and a near-catastrophic 2024 Alaska Airlines flight in which a fuselage panel blew out mid-air.

Several subsequent problems combined to help send the company into a multi-year slump.

Boeing has staked its recovery in large part on MAX production growth, and it has been headed towards certification of the new 737 MAX 10, the largest version of the jet.

But US air safety regulators recently delayed certification until they could determine that a new glitch in the plane's automated navigation software poses no safety risk.

Shares of Boeing slid 6.9 percent Monday after news broke of the certification pause.

The US Navy contract follows a Monday announcement by NASA that the US space agency was planning new missions using Boeing's Starliner spacecraft, the first since the vessel's botched test flight left two astronauts stranded for months at the International Space Station.

Shares of Boeing rose about two percent in after-hours trading Tuesday, while Northrop Grumman dropped 3.6 percent before recovering to about 1.2 percent down.


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