Boeing or Northrop Grumman? Pentagon nears decision on US Navy’s stealth fighter contract

The Pentagon has decided which company will build the US Navy's next-generation stealth fighter and could announce the winner within the coming weeks or sooner, according to two people briefed on the matter, as reported by Reuters.Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing for the contract, which previous programmes of similar scope suggest could be worth tens of billions of dollars over its lifetime.The programme, currently unnamed but designated F/A-XX, has faced years of delays and funding disputes. Some Pentagon officials had sought to postpone it by up to three years over concerns about engineering and supply chain capacity.However, Congress pushed back by allocating $750 million for F/A-XX in the major tax-cut and spending bill signed into law in 2025, followed by another $1.4 billion in fiscal 2026.A Pentagon spokesperson said, “We continue work to award the F/A-XX contract in the near future.