F-47 Budget: What the US Is Spending on Its Next Fighter

The United States is spending about $3.5 billion on the F-47 in fiscal 2026, and the Pentagon has asked Congress for about $5 billion in fiscal 2027. Those sums pay for development, not production. They cover design work, software, testing and a small number of test aircraft. The money to build an operational fleet has not yet appeared in any published budget.

This guide sets out the funding year by year, explains what sits inside and outside the F-47 line, and marks where the figures are plans, not commitments.

F-47 funding year by year

Added together, fiscal 2026 to 2031 comes to roughly $24 billion. Only the 2026 figure is law. The 2027 figure is a request that Congress can change, and the later years are planning numbers that are revised every year.

The US fiscal year runs from 1 October to 30 September, so fiscal 2027 began on 1 October 2026.

What the money buys

All of this is research, development, test and evaluation funding. It pays Boeing and its suppliers to finish the design, write and test the software, build ground rigs, and produce what the Air Force has called a small number of test aircraft.

The contract itself is cost-plus-incentive-fee. The government reimburses Boeing’s costs and pays a fee that rises or falls with performance. Its value is classified, though reports at the time of the award put it above $20 billion. Frank Kendall, the former Air Force secretary, gave a similar figure in January 2025 for the cost of completing development.

The budget documents tie the 2027 request to one milestone. They say the funding “would achieve a first flight in 2028”. Our article on when the F-47 will fly covers that schedule.

Costs that sit outside the F-47 line

The F-47 budget does not include everything the aircraft needs. Several linked programmes have their own funding.

The engine is the largest of these. The two NGAP contracts each have a ceiling of $3.5 billion, and the programme has slipped by more than two years, as our NGAP explainer describes. The drone wingmen are funded as a programme of their own.

This matters when comparing totals. A figure for the F-47 alone understates what the Air Force is spending on the wider NGAD family of systems.

Why the reconciliation money matters

About $900 million of the 2026 total came from the reconciliation act passed in 2025, a one-off law that added defence money outside the normal appropriations process. That money does not recur automatically.

For 2027 the full $5 billion sits in the regular discretionary budget. The administration presents this as a statement of priority, and its budget documents say it is “aggressively moving forward with the F-47”. It also means the programme must compete each year with everything else in the Air Force budget.

The competition is real. The Sentinel missile, the B-21 bomber and continued F-35 purchases all draw on the same accounts. That pressure was one reason for the 2024 pause.

How it compares, and what is missing

The Navy’s F/A-XX shows what uncertain backing looks like. It received about $1.7 billion in fiscal 2026 only because Congress added the money, and the 2027 request, written before the September 2026 contract award, was $140 million. The F-47 has had steadier support from both the Pentagon and Congress. We compare the two in F-47 vs F/A-XX.

Next to the F-35 the sums look different. The 2027 request includes 85 F-35s for the three services, 38 of them for the Air Force, at roughly $90 million each for the F-35A. Those are production aircraft. The F-47 money buys none yet.

The missing piece is procurement. No published budget contains money to build operational F-47s, and there is no official unit price. Outside estimates run from $180 million to $300 million each, which we examine in our F-47 cost guide. At 185 aircraft, even the low estimate implies more than $33 billion.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the F-47 budget?

About $3.5 billion in fiscal 2026. The Pentagon has requested about $5 billion for fiscal 2027.

How much will the F-47 programme cost in total?

No official total exists. Published development plans for fiscal 2026 to 2031 add up to roughly $24 billion, and production costs are not yet budgeted.

Does the budget pay for production aircraft?

No. Current funding is for development and a small number of test aircraft.

Is the engine included?

No. The NGAP engine is funded separately, with $513.7 million requested for fiscal 2027.

What is the F-47 contract worth?

The value is classified. Reports at the time of the award put it above $20 billion.

Could Congress cut the funding?

Yes. Requests and out-year plans are not binding. So far Congress has supported the programme.