<p >The U.S. Navy’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/lockheed-sixth-generation-fighter-design-rejected-navy" target="_blank">F/A-XX sixth generation fighter </a>program has received an allocation of $500 million in additional funding to accelerate development under the Pentagon’s latest defence investment initiative, which has overall seen $150 billion in additional funding allocated to top-priority military programs through fiscal year 2029 separately from the regular defence budget. The newly announced funding is expected to accelerate work on several key phases of the program, including full-scale design maturation, testing of flight demonstrators, propulsion system prototyping, and materials evaluation, paving the way for either Boeing or Northrop Grumman to be selected as the program’s primary contractor. </p><p >Development of the F/A-XX has gained growing urgency since China <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/chinese-sixth-generation-cut-pentagon-demand-f35s-lockheed" target="_blank">unveiled</a> flight prototypes of two separate sixth generation fighters in December 2024, both of which have been <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/china-sixth-generation-heavyweight-fighter-fourth-flight" target="_blank">intensively flight tested</a> since then. With the U.S. Navy having made only very limited investments in procuring F-35C fifth generation fighters, leaving the vast majority of its fighter fleet reliant on <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/navy-f18e-jordan-destroy-drones" target="_blank">fourth generation F-18s</a>, the F/A-XX program is considered particularly vital for the service as the viability of fourth generation fighters in high intensity combat scenarios becomes increasingly limited. The very limited ranges of the F-35C and F-18, and adversaries’ growing ability to threaten the Navy’s carriers at significant distances using advanced drone and missile assets, has further increased the perceived importance operationalising a new much longer ranged fighter class.</p>
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