Boeing Wins $20B Contract for Newest Fighter Jet
Shown is an artist rendering of the Next Generation Air Dominance Platform. The rendering highlights the US Air Force’s sixth generation fighter, the F-47. (US Air Force graphic)
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economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.
The US Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet, reports CNN on MSN. President Donald Trump announced that Boeing had been awarded the contract for the new aircraft. Boeing and Lockheed Martin, with their Phantom Works and Skunk Works divisions, were the sole competitors for the engineering and manufacturing development contract, worth at least $20 billion, reports The Aviationist.
The aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson and Harry S. Truman have been ordered to the Middle East as the US increases strikes on Yemen-based Houthi rebels, reports The Associated Press. This will be the second time in six months that the US has kept two carrier strike groups in that region, with generally only one there.
House and Senate appropriations committees are recommending budget cuts to the 2025 defense funding bill include any initiatives that address climate change, including advancing technology and funding hybrid electric vehicles, reports Defense News.
US Defense Department leadership firings have sparked concern over support for female officers, reports Navy Times. In the two months since President Donald Trump returned to office, his administration has cleared the military of most of its top female ranking officers, a move that has disappointed many women veterans and active-duty personnel.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) have criticized the idea of the US drastically changing its military combatant command structure, reports The Hill. They said that they “will not accept” those changes without coordination with Congress and other agencies.
Former NATO Supreme Allied Cmdr. Wesley Clark said last week about Trump giving up the US’s alliance role, “Nothing could make the Kremlin happier,” reports The Hill. Clark weighed in on a report that the Trump administration is considering changing the command structure, arguing the potential decision would hinder the military cooperation between the US and Europe and satisfy the Kremlin.
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center will receive one of two $4.9 million DoD grants to fund a study of MDMA, the active ingredient in the street drug known as ecstasy, reports Army Times. The psychedelic drug will be given to active-duty Army personnel with mild to moderate post-traumatic stress disorder to study the psychological flexibility patients experience as a potential mechanism of the drug’s therapeutic effect.
Trump will appoint more than a dozen of his allies to the boards of visitors of the nation’s military academies, reports The Hill. The appointees include lawmakers and conservative media personalities. The president has replaced five members of the US Air Force Academy board appointed by President Joe Biden with five selections of his own, including Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), reports Air & Space Forces Magazine.
US District Judge Ana Reyes blocked enforcement of Trump’s executive order banning transgender people from military service last week, reports Federal News Network, saying it likely violates their constitutional rights.
Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations GEN Michael Guetlein said last week that commercial systems have observed Chinese satellites rehearsing “dogfighting” maneuvers in low Earth orbit, reports C4ISRNET. “With our commercial assets, we have observed five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” he said. “That’s what we call dogfighting in space.”
The US Marines in Okinawa, Japan, welcomed a new unit that will soon wield the service’s first anti-ship missile defense system, reports Marine Corps Times. The 12th Littoral Combat Team was officially established at Camp Hansen earlier this month to “create chaos and uncertainty in potential adversaries,” reads a Marine Corps news release.
Australia said it will buy $125 million-worth of MK-48 heavy torpedos to help counter “future threats,” reports Breaking Defense. The weapons — designed for anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface warfare missions — will uplift “defensive and offensive capabilities” of the vessels and also will be fitted on Australia’s future nuclear-powered submarines, said Pat Conroy, minister for defense procurement. Mainly manufactured by Lockheed Martin and Science Applications International Corp., the MK-48 is the product of a program between the Royal Australian Navy and US Navy.
As DoD works to comply with a judge’s order to reinstate probationary employees, some workers are still waiting for instructions on their first day back, while others say they have received no information about possible reinstatement, reports Federal News Network. A court filing last week showed the Defense Department had terminated 365 employees since mid-February.
Military child care centers and DoD schools are allowed to continue hiring workers with their exemptions from the civilian hiring freeze, reports Marine Corps Times.
The Navy’s Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Office (PMA-271) held a change of command last week at NAS Pax River, reports NAVAIR News. CAPT Roger “Raji” Davis relieved CAPT. Adam “Lurch” Scott. Scott took command as program manager of PMA-271 in January 2021.
A report from the University of Oxford finds that Finland is the happiest country in the world for the eighth year in a row, reports AP News. The US dropped to its lowest-ever position at 24, having previously peaked at 11th place in 2012, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published Thursday.
Health officials have confirmed three measles cases in Maryland, but they say there is no need to panic about an outbreak given the state’s more than 96% vaccination rate against the virus, reports Maryland Matters. Experts are urging Marylanders to make sure that they are up to date with their vaccinations, to protect vulnerable populations and ensure that measles stays manageable in the state.
Contracts:
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $101,425,718 firm-fixed-price order (N0001925F0185) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order is for the production and delivery of 96 Trailing Edge Flap (TEF) Retrofit Redesign shipsets, to include 96 each left hand and right hand TEFs, for retrofit into F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft. Work will be performed in Hazelwood, Missouri (9.3%); South Gate, California (3.8%); Long Island, New York (7.9%); Hot Spring, Arizona (3.4%); Paramount, California (3.0%); Edgewood, Maryland (2.3%); Tulsa, Oklahoma (1.1%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1.0%); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (16%); and St. Louis, Missouri (52.2%), and is expected to be completed in June 2030. Fiscal 2024 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $51,142,648; and fiscal 2025 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $50,283,070, will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Aery Aviation LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $52,621,557 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides contracted air services (CAS) support. The CAS program has a requirement for contractor owned and contractor operated electronic warfare jet services. These aircraft are used to simulate a wide variety of airborne threats to train and test/evaluate shipboard and aircraft squadron weapon systems operators and aircrew on how to conduct Fleet air defense and counter potential enemy electronic warfare and electronic attack operations in today’s electronic combat environment. This support is provided in a variety of venues, from basic “schoolhouse” air intercept control training to large multinational exercises or small, single unit training exercises, including target/banner tow missions. The work will be performed in San Diego, California (50%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (50%), and is expected to be completed May 2027. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0081).
NAG Marine, LLC, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $28,591,735 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for propulsion auxiliary control, damage control, ballast control, and various machinery control human-machined interfaces (HMI). The HMIs shall be used on Navy ships, Military Sealift Command, Army, Coast Guard, and foreign navy ships to control and monitor multiple systems in support of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD). Work will be performed at the contractor’s facility in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed 60 months after date of award. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $708,186 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management, with two offers received. NSWCPD, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N64498-25-D-4012).
Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $14,989,577 modification (P00154) to contract W31P4Q-21-F-0095 for modeling and simulation and development engineering services. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 20, 2026. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
