Boeing Lost the F-35 in 2001 -- and the U.S. Air Force Designed the F-47 NGAD Specifically to Avoid What That Loss Created

Boeing’s 2001 loss of the F-35 program—and the F-47 NGAD contract it later won in March 2025—shows how U.S. requirements evolved to prevent a repeat of that setback. The Pentagon selected Lockheed Martin’s X-35 over Boeing’s X-32 on October 26, 2001, in a winner-take-all competition that produced the F-35. The defeat left Boeing’s St. Louis combat-aircraft operation tied to aging McDonnell Douglas lines for more than two decades, while fixed-price defense programs such as the KC-46 Pegasus tanker and T-7 Red Hawk trainer cost billions; the defense unit lost nearly $4.9 billion in 2024 alone. In March 2025, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing the Next Generation Air Dominance contract for the F-47, a cost-plus deal worth over $20 billion through 2029, targeting first flight in 2028.