The U.S. Department of Defense has issued further solicitation to industry ahead of bids being tendered for the construction of support facilities for the Boeing F-47 at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.
The F-47 Future Campus at Nellis is projected to cost $1.057 billion and potentially involve as many as four different contractors. The chosen contractors will be expected to deliver the project rapidly, with the project’s final milestones penciled in for 2032. Contract awards are scheduled to be issued on Feb. 5, 2027.
Currently, interested industry partners are asked to make their proposals for milestones two, three, and four. This includes the primary support facilities for the F-47, with completion desired by 2031. As well as a combined operations and maintenance hangar, projected at 116,000 square feet, the department also requires a new 1.153 million square foot apron complete with sunshades, a simulator facility, reprogramming lab, and assorted utilities and infrastructure.
Chosen vendors may then be selected for follow-on works that include a low observable corrosion control hangar (for maintenance of radar absorbent material (RAM) coatings), fuel cell hangar, weapons load training hangar, and additional maintenance facilities. Construction of these additional facilities would begin in 2029, ready for delivery in 2032.
While initial testing for Boeing’s sixth-generation F-47 fighter will almost certainly take place at Edwards AFB following the scheduled first flight of a production airframe in 2028, Nellis will be vital as the Air Force works to integrate both the F-47 and the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) that it is designed to fight with into its combat-ready armada.
Anduril delivered the first CCA to the @usairforce last month. Now, USAF operators are flying Fury on their own. https://t.co/HdSLg7MbZZ
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) September 25, 2026
The U.S. Air Force’s experimental CCA unit, operating the FQ-42 and FQ-44, is based at Creech AFB, close to Nellis.
Alongside hosting the U.S. Air Force Weapons School and the Red Flag exercise, Nellis is home to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (TES), which since 1969 has been the primary unit tasked with operational testing and evaluation of the U.S. Air Force’s newest fighter designs.
As we noted in a previous article:
Nellis is a huge facility and – despite being on the outskirts of Las Vegas – can offer many areas away from prying eyes. While arriving and departing aircraft will be clearly visible, more sensitive activities involved in supporting the new aircraft will be able to be hidden in plain sight camouflaged by the already sprawling and highly active airfield.
Close proximity to the massive Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) will allow the F-47 to face a plethora of U.S. and foreign airborne and surface threats, including genuine Russian aircraft and anti-air equipment which has been acquired through the years for use on the range. The F-47 may even face off against classified platforms, which can fly – as the F-47’s prototypes almost certainly have been – from Area 51.
