Lockheed Martin reportedly submitted its proposal for the U.S. Navy’s sixth generation F/A-XX fighter but didn’t satisfy the requirements, leaving Boeing and Northrop Grumman as the remaining competitors.
According to Breaking Defense, Lockheed Martin is no longer running for the United States Navy’s (USN) own Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), also known as the F/A-XX program. A source with knowledge of the program quoted by the publication said that Lockheed Martin submitted its proposal for the sixth generation to the Navy, but as it did not satisfy its requirements, and the company is no longer going ahead with the bid.
It is unclear when Lockheed Martin’s proposal was rejected, although the Navy was reviewing proposals back in Oct. 2024, according to the service. Following the source selection, the Navy expects to award a contract for the new carrier-based fighter, with the plan to field it in the 2030s.
Lockheed Martin is out of the running for the Navy’s sixth-generation fighter jet program, known as Next Generation Air Dominance or F/A-XX, Breaking Defense has learned. https://t.co/2ZMuSIrcxk https://t.co/28HJ7e2rDr pic.twitter.com/fDfG3VFS4z
— Doha (@Doha104p3) March 4, 2025
The departure of Lockheed from the competition leaves Northrop Grumman and Boeing to battle it out for the Navy. The stakes are high for both companies: for Northrop Grumman, it will be their first fighter type since the F-14; for Boeing, the F/A-XX or NGAD contracts will decide whether or not the $1.8 billion investment into the new Advanced Combat Aircraft Facility in St. Louis was successful or not.
Although Lockheed Martin is no longer in the equation for producing sixth-generation fighters for the Navy, it is still competing in the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) separate NGAD program, also against Boeing. Lockheed Martin is the dominant producer of fifth-generation aircraft in the U.S., and makes both the F-35 Lightning II and F-22A Raptor.
F/A-XX
The F/A-XX program is a program for developing and acquiring the Navy’s future sixth-generation fighter attack aircraft to replace the current F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, as well as complementing the F-35C starting in the 2030s. The F/A-XX will be the manned component of the Navy’s NGAD, which is collaborating with but is separate from the USAF’s program with the same name.
Both the USN’s and USAF’s NGAD programs put a manned fighter at the center of a system of systems, creating an integrated manned/unmanned force which will also include unmanned CCA (Collaborative Combat Aircraft) like the recently named YFQ-42A and YFQ-44A.
However, while the Air Force is still considering an optionally manned aircraft for its NGAD, the Navy’s F/A-XX “is intended to be a manned platform,” according to Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, director of the air warfare division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He also added that it would be the Navy’s “pivot point from a manned air wing to a hybrid future, with a manned-unmanned air wing.”
The F/A-XX program’s formal RoI (Request of Information) was issued in Apr. 2012, and requested an air superiority fighter with multi role capabilities. Its primary roles are expected to include air-to-air combat, ground attack, reconnaissance, CAS (Close Air Support) and Electronic Warfare, much like that of the current Super Hornets and Growlers.
The aircraft will have “advanced sensors, advanced lethality, advanced range, and being able to integrate with manned and unmanned capabilities together,” according to former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The F/A-XX is planned to deliver greater range and possess more sensing and electronic warfare capabilities than the F-35C.
As mentioned previously, the initial competitors for the program included Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Pratt & Whitney and General Electric Aerospace are competing for the contract for the new fighter-attack aircraft’s engines.
We reported back in Nov. 2024 that the F/A-XX program is on track for the Milestone B decision to move to the EMD (Engineering and Manufacturing Development) phase by the end of fiscal year 2025. The Navy, since the beginning, has always been tightlipped about the secretive Next Generation Fighter, with few details released.
“We feel really good through the concept development that we’ve got the right bracket for those requirements and the attributes we need to deliver the capability,” said Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, director of the air warfare division in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. “We’ll continue to look at that as we go through the next phases of the acquisition process and make smart decisions.”
While the Air Force previously said the two programs are interconnected and is sharing its developments, the Navy has now said that it will develop its aircraft independently. According to Rear Adm. Donnelly, the new carrier-based fighter will be affordable, versatile and independent of Air Force-funded technologies such as an adaptive-cycle turbofan engine.
