Hours after the U.S. Navy’s Chief of Naval Operations said a contract award for the F/A-XX was expected by August, Northrop Grumman once again teased a conceptual design for the next-generation fighter.
Northrop Grumman once again teased a concept for the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX program by posting a short video on social media. Notably, the new development follows a statement a few hours earlier by Admiral Daryl Caudle, Commander of Naval Operations, who said the contract award is now expected in August.
teaser video
The 15-second video released by Northrop Grumman appears to show the same conceptual design presented in August 2025. This time we pan around the aircraft to show some more of its features, including the Navy’s distinctive folding wings.
We’re focused on the horizon of tomorrow – faster, stronger, and ready for Soldiers when they need them.#SAS2026 pic.twitter.com/r0uORyR5kM
— Northrop Grumman (@northropgrumman) April 20, 2026
As with its first appearance, the aircraft is shown on the deck of an aircraft carrier, which is not surprising considering the role of the F/A-XX. Although we couldn’t confirm this by cropping the first image, the video shows that this conceptual design is in fact a tailless aircraft, consistent with many conceptual designs in circulation for the Navy and Air Force’s sixth-generation aircraft programs.
Discreet air intakes are symmetrically placed on the top of the fuselage just behind the cockpit, although it is not possible to confirm the number of engines installed on the aircraft. Inlet design is one of the most sensitive aspects of a stealth aircraft, so this is likely a placeholder.
The highly streamlined design blends the chin, wing and rest of the aircraft, ending in a pointed nose. This provides plenty of room for the AESA radar, but the nose appears smaller in the video than in the first image.
Carrier-specific features such as twin-wheel nose landing gear and launch pads can also be seen. Now the video also gives us a first look at the folding wings that extend at the ending.
As we have reported on other occasions, this design does not appear to be an accurate representation of the design included in Northrop Grumman’s bid for the F/A-XX program. For example, the design of the Air Force’s F-47 changed significantly in two public representations to avoid introducing too many design elements that could compromise the security of the program.
F/A-XX contract awarded
The future of the F/A-XX program has long been unclear. This is because the Pentagon and the White House were concerned that pursuing the F/A-XX would slow down the Air Force’s F-47. Funding for the F/A-XX was also rescued from the U.S. Congress’s defense budget plan after several cuts.
The Navy included only $74 million for the F/A-XX in its fiscal 2026 budget, compared with $3.45 billion for the Air Force F-47. Congress later added an additional $1.69 billion to F/A-XX, including $940 million in the general fund and $750 million in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Something similar is happening again this year. The Navy is requesting only $140 million for the F/A-XX, while the Air Force plans to request $5 billion. It’s likely that Congress will step in once again to add additional funding for the Navy’s next-generation fighter jets.
Meanwhile, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told reporters the contract award would finally arrive this year. “I think there will be a downside selection on this in August,” Caudle said. “I think that was the month they decided to make a decision about the program.”
There have been several recent instances where a contract award for the F/A-XX was considered very close. So, it remains to be seen if this will be the case once again without any changes to the schedule and if everything goes as planned.
Although it may not seem like it, this program is a priority for the service, especially as the U.S. military modernizes to prepare for confrontation with fellow adversaries. “It is important that we continue to move forward here because China is not slowing down and we must not slow down,” Admiral James Kilby, then acting Chief of Naval Operations, told Congress in June 2025.
But even after a year, concerns still remain. In particular, concerns about the capabilities of the defense industry are greater. In fact, according to Admiral Caudle, one of the two companies bidding for the F/A-XX lacks the capability to deliver the fighter on time.
“One of the contractors that builds these airplanes for us is not in a place where they can deliver on the schedule that we need,” Caudle said. “So there was a ‘check twice, cut once’ mentality behind this decision.”
Caudle did not confirm which company he was referring to. At the time, the prospective bidders for the F/A-XX were Boeing and Northrop Grumman after Lockheed Martin dropped out of the competition.
Both companies currently have large-scale defense programs underway with both the Air Force and Navy. In fact, Boeing is currently developing the F-15EX Eagle II and T-7 Red Hawk programs for the Air Force and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block III program for the Navy, while Northrop Grumman is developing the B-21 Raider and LGM-35 Sentinel ICBM for the Air Force.
