How Much Will the F-47 Cost? Price Estimates and the Development Bill

The Pentagon has not said what an F-47 will cost, and President Trump told reporters in 2025 that the price could not be disclosed. Outside estimates run from about $180 million to $300 million per aircraft, two to three times the price of an F-35A, while the Air Force says only that the jet will cost less than the F-22.

What is on the record is the development bill: about $3.5 billion in fiscal 2026 and a request for $5 billion in 2027. This article sets out the numbers and explains why they are so large.

What officials have said

Very little, and nothing precise. When the contract was announced in March 2025 the Air Force gave no value, citing classification. Gen. David Allvin, then chief of staff, said that compared with the F-22 the F-47 would “cost less and be more adaptable to future threats”, and that the service would have more of them. Days later President Trump said: “We can’t tell you the price.”

The contract itself is a cost-plus-incentive-fee award for engineering and manufacturing development, widely reported to be worth more than $20 billion. That figure covers design, test aircraft and the first production-representative jets, not the eventual fleet. For the programme basics, see what the F-47 is.

The unit price estimates

The $300 million figure goes back to a 2018 Congressional Budget Office study of a future long-range fighter, and it was repeated by Frank Kendall while he was Air Force secretary. After leaving office Kendall put the likely price at about $180 million, still roughly twice that of an F-35.

Kendall also considered a much cheaper design in 2024, aimed at an F-35-like price, when he paused the programme. The review that followed kept the larger, longer-ranged aircraft, and with it the higher cost.

The development bill

Development spending is the one part of the cost that is public, because Congress has to approve it each year.

Add the earlier years and the adaptive engine programme, which has its own budget line of more than $500 million in 2027, and development will cost well over $25 billion before a single operational squadron exists. Boeing is also spending about $1.8 billion of its own money on new factory buildings in St. Louis.

Why the F-47 costs so much

Three things drive the price. The first is size: the aircraft carries enough fuel for a combat radius of more than 1,000 nautical miles, and bigger airframes cost more. The second is technology, including all-aspect stealth, new sensors and an adaptive engine that does not yet exist in production form.

The third is quantity. The Air Force plans to buy at least 185. Every fixed cost, from tooling to software, is divided among those aircraft. The F-22 shows the effect: its planned run of 750 was cut to 187, and the cost per aircraft including development ended above $350 million. As a rough guide, 185 F-47s at $300 million each would come to about $55 billion for the aircraft alone.

What about running costs?

Most of what a fighter costs is spent after it is bought. The Air Force has promised that the F-47 will be more sustainable than the F-22 and will need significantly less manpower and infrastructure to deploy, helped by open software and a design intended to be easier to maintain.

Those claims cannot be tested yet. The F-22 is among the most expensive fighters to fly, and the F-35’s upkeep has run far above early forecasts. Early promises on sustainment have a poor record across American combat aircraft.

What we still do not know

The missing figures are the important ones: the negotiated price of the first production lots, the total procurement cost, the cost per flight hour and how many aircraft will finally be bought. The first procurement request, expected around fiscal 2028 or 2029, should give the first official unit cost. Our article on when the F-47 will fly covers the schedule those budgets depend on.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an F-47 cost?

No official price has been published. Outside estimates range from about $180 million to $300 million per aircraft.

Is the F-47 more expensive than the F-35?

Yes. Estimates put it at two to three times the roughly $92 million price of an F-35A.

Will the F-47 cost less than the F-22?

The Air Force says it will. The F-22’s production cost was about $143 million per aircraft, and far more with development included, so the claim depends on which measure is used.

How much is the F-47 contract worth?

The engineering and manufacturing development contract awarded to Boeing in March 2025 is reported to be worth more than $20 billion. The exact value is classified.

How much is being spent on the F-47 each year?

About $3.5 billion was provided for fiscal 2026, and the Air Force has asked for about $5 billion for fiscal 2027.

Why is the F-47 so expensive?

It is a large, long-range stealth aircraft with new engines and sensors, and only about 185 are planned, so development and tooling costs are spread over a small fleet.