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The U.S. Navy’s next-generation fighter jet program, dubbed F/A-XX, appeared to be back on track in February when Congress injected nearly $1 billion into the secretive program. The Navy has long viewed the sixth-generation aircraft as central to its plans to confront China in the Pacific, serving as a stealthy “quarterback” fighter that can operate in a carrier air wing alongside a range of uncrewed aircraft.
While the advanced capabilities and operational concepts spearheaded by F/A-XX are less immediately relevant to the ongoing war with Iran, the U.S. Navy’s long-term planning continues to focus on its Pacific posture in an age of hypersonic anti-ship missiles.
Yet Trump administration officials in the Pentagon and the White House are at odds with many members of Congress, the Navy and industry over the program’s vision and priority, citing industrial base concerns and the fighter’s broader strategic viability. These disagreements continue to jeopardize the Navy’s much-touted plans for a majority-autonomous “Air Wing of the Future” (AWOTF), described in detail in documents obtained by The Air Current through the Freedom of Information Act.
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