Boeing’s NGAD F-47 Fighter Might End Up with ‘Ferrari F-35’ DNA

Key Points and Summary – One month after Boeing won the USAF’s F-47 NGAD, Lockheed Martin surprised observers twice: it declined to protest and unveiled a “Ferrari” F-35 concept—a fifth-gen-plus upgrade leveraging NGAD tech.

-Thus far, Pentagon and JPO reactions are muted, and insiders note upgrade programs rarely mint generals, dampening enthusiasm inside the Air Force.

Shown is a graphical artist rendering of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform. The rendering highlights the Air Force’s sixth generation fighter, the F-47. The NGAD Platform will bring lethal, next-generation technologies to ensure air superiority for the Joint Force in any conflict. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

-The smarter play, sources say, may be folding “Ferrari” technologies into Boeing’s NGAD ecosystem and Collaborative Combat Aircraft, rather than replacing it.

-With Boeing signaling the F-47 could fly sooner than expected, a design freeze looms, narrowing Lockheed’s window to secure a partner role before configurations harden.

The Ferrari F-35 Fighter Dance Might Not Be What We Think

One month after the March 21 United States Air Force (USAF) decision to award the F-47 Next-Generation Air Dominance 6th-generation fighter aircraft program to Boeing, the American defense giant Lockheed Martin made two unusual and unanticipated announcements.

One announcement was that the company declared it would not protest the USAF’s source selection on the NGAD.

Many industry insiders, including those within Lockheed Martin, had thought the Bethesda, Maryland-based firm would be the Pentagon’s obvious choice for any new-generation stealth fighter.

“This is not the norm for defense contracting in Washington these days,” said a retired US flag-rank officer who spoke to National Security Journal this week.

“Protesting the loss of a Defense Department or service branch contract bid—any contract bid to include the ones that are for miniscule amounts like $20,000—is almost pro forma now. So, for LM to not protest this one, when it is worth untold billions and it is clearly in their wheelhouse and not so much in Boeing’s, is more than extraordinary.”

The second piece of news was LM’s announcement that they would now try to sell the USAF on an upgraded or modernized F-35. This more advanced and significantly more capable version has been dubbed the F-35 “Ferrari” by some.

It was unveiled in the same month, April, at an AFA Warfighters in Action event.

Is the NGAD Alternative Real?

From personal experience, this story is an example of how very few persons writing for defense publications have actually spent any time working inside the US defense industry itself—and it shows when you read most current-day reporting.

Shown is a graphical artist rendering of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform. The rendering highlights the Air Force’s sixth generation fighter, the F-47. The NGAD Platform will bring lethal, next-generation technologies to ensure air superiority for the Joint Force in any conflict. (U.S. Air Force graphic)

And I do not mean people who have worked in the press and communications departments of the major US defense primes. I am referring to individuals who have actually worked in the spaces where weapons are designed, campaigns to sell them are organized, and alliances with other firms are formed.

Those persons are usually unaware that whenever a new, high-priced, cutting-edge technology program is introduced, a group of people within the company is trying to sell a less ambitious, lower-priced system as a fail-safe, backup option. So, when, as reported this week, LM is proposing the F-35 Ferrari to the DoD as an alternative to the NGAD, there are just one or two flies in the proverbial ointment.

The first question is whether the USAF is showing any interest in this “Ferrari” option. While several articles re-report on a story that ran this week, the reporting is essentially the same, and that’s understandable. They reference “active discussions” with the force regarding the Ferrari option, but there is no indication of an enthusiastic USAF response.

The only real reaction to the Ferrari F-35 to date is one of little to no comment from the Pentagon or the “blue-suit” Air Force, other than ambivalence. When the idea was first announced back in April, the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) told Air & Space Forces Magazine, which ran the original April 2025 story, it had no comment on the idea. “The discussion remains entirely notional at this stage,” was their official reaction.

Technologies and Transition

To repeat a previous “rules of life inside the USAF” narrative, programs that are dedicated to improving an existing aircraft design have a very low success rate.

Very simply, as one colleague told me long ago, “Colonels have one dream in life, which is that they want to become generals.”

“But they do not become generals by presiding over an upgrade project or a modernization program,” he continued to explain. “They only become generals if they are running the procurement of a brand-new program. This is why many worthwhile modernization programs never go anywhere.”

F-35 Ferrari, therefore, falls into that category of whoever is running the effort has doubtful chances for it enhancing their career and plenty of chances for it damaging their career.

The Other F-35 ‘Ferrari’ Option We Must Consider 

Based on discussions with retired senior US military officials, the best chance for the F-35 Ferrari option is not as an option if the F-47 falters or is delayed. Where it may have the greatest utility, said one source very close to the program, is that technologies being developed for the Block 4 F-35 are close to the baseline for the very first models of the F-47. There is the possibility of a happy marriage there, I was told, that is the option with the greatest potential.

Based on what National Security Journal is being told, if there is a chance for the Ferrari option technologies to become part of any new program, it is to support the development of the Boeing aircraft and the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) “Loyal Wingman” unmanned platforms that will be operating alongside it.

If Boeing’s statement is accurate, then there may not be much time left for LM to secure a role in the NGAD effort as a partner or subcontractor. Boeing’s Phantom Works division has stated that the Boeing F-47 fighter jet could fly sooner than expected. If true, the design will be “frozen” soon, and no room for major configuration changes.

Colin Miller, vice president and general manager, said that constant research and development enabled the company to come up with technologies that would be integrated into F-47. Whether Boeing has the experience with stealth aircraft in general to meet the requirements for the program remains to be seen.

About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson 

Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the US Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.

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