TLDR
- The U.S. Navy awarded Boeing a multi-billion-dollar contract to build the F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter jet.
- Northrop Grumman lost the competition, and its stock fell about 4% in pre-market trading.
- Boeing stock rose roughly 3% in pre-market trading following the news.
- This marks Boeing’s second sixth-generation fighter win of the year, after beating Lockheed Martin for the Air Force contract in 2025.
- The F/A-XX will likely replace the Boeing-built F-18 Super Hornet and extend the Navy’s carrier fleet range.
Boeing has done it again. The Navy handed Boeing the contract to build its F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter jet on Tuesday, beating out Northrop Grumman for the win.
Northrop stock fell 4% in pre-market trading following the announcement, dropping to $482.94. Boeing stock, meanwhile, climbed 3% in pre-market trading to $192.49.
Northrop Grumman Corporation, NOC
The loss stings a bit more given expectations. Most investors thought Northrop had the edge going into this one.
That expectation partly came from Boeing’s track record. The company already beat Lockheed Martin in 2025 for the Air Force’s sixth-generation fighter, the F-47. Some assumed the military would want more than one company holding a viable sixth-generation program.
That didn’t happen.
What the Contract Means
The F/A-XX is still classified, and the Pentagon has released few details. There’s no public word yet on total program costs, how many jets will be ordered, or when the fighter might actually fly operational missions.
What we do know: this jet is expected to replace the F-18 Super Hornet, which is also built by Boeing. It should extend the fighting range of the Navy’s carrier-launched fleet.
Sixth-generation jets come with better weapons systems, sharper software, and improved stealth. They also come with a steep price tag. For comparison, the F-35, a fifth-generation jet, can cost over $100 million to buy and another $500 million to $700 million to maintain over its lifetime.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy Steve Feinberg had actually pushed back against the F/A-XX program last year. Their argument was that the defense industrial base couldn’t handle two overlapping sixth-generation aircraft programs at once.
Congress disagreed and forced the issue by allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the program moving.
Can Boeing Handle Two Programs at Once
Now that Boeing holds both the Air Force and Navy sixth-generation contracts, a new question comes up: does it have enough people to build both?
Former Congressional Research Service analyst J.J. Gertler flagged staffing as the real bottleneck going forward. “At some point the constraint becomes people,” he said, pointing to a shrinking pool of experienced engineers and technicians near Boeing’s St. Louis facility.
Aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia noted that losing this contract isn’t necessarily a disaster for Northrop. The company is still building the B-21 stealth bomber and the Sentinel ICBM missile system, so its plate stays full regardless.
Still, Aboulafia said the two wins combined put Boeing in a different league entirely, calling the company “masters of the new universe” among defense contractors.
Boeing’s defense unit hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak lately. It posted a $128 million operating loss in 2025, an improvement from the $5.4 billion loss in 2024. The unit hasn’t posted a full-year profit since 2021.
William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma called the Navy win a “milestone” for Boeing’s recovering defense business.
Boeing shares had already gained 2% on Tuesday before the announcement, clawing back some ground lost earlier in the week after a software glitch was found affecting 737 MAX jets.
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