Trump Announced a New Fighter Jet. Here’s Why It Will Trigger the Left

President Donald Trump announced Friday that Boeing has been awarded a major Pentagon contract to develop the next-generation fighter jet he described as “something the likes of which nobody has seen before.”

Flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and top Air Force officials in the Oval Office, Trump emphasized that the project had been in development for a while, and emerged from a highly competitive selection process involving some of the nation’s leading aerospace firms. The new fighter jet is part of the Defense Department’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative and is set to redefine American air power for the future.

“I'm thrilled to announce that at my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world's first sixth-generation fighter jet, number six. Sixth generation. Nothing in the world comes even close to it,” Trump said in the Oval Office.”

Here’s why the news will trigger the left: The new jet will be known as the F-47.

“The General's picked a title, and it's a beautiful number, F-47,” Trump said, liking the apparent reference to the fact that he is the 47th president of the United States.

“It's something the likes of which nobody has seen before,” Trump continued. “In terms of all of the attributes of a fighter jet. There's never been anything even close to it, from speed to maneuverability to what it can have to payload.”

“And this has been in the works for a long period of time,” Trump continued. “After a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America's top aerospace companies, the Air Force is going to be awarding the contract for the next generation air dominance platform to Boeing.”

“We’re going to write the next generation of modern aerial warfare with this,” Gen. David Allvin, chief of staff of the Air Force, said. "Compared to the F-22, the F-47 will cost less and be more adaptable to future threats — and we will have more of the F-47s in our inventory."

Secretary Hegseth said the new fleet “sends a very clear, direct message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere.”

Naturally, the Associated Press pooh-poohed the announcement.

Critics have questioned the cost and the necessity of the program as the Pentagon is still struggling to fully produce its current most advanced jet, the F-35, which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.7 trillion over its lifespan. In addition, the Pentagon’s future stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, will have many of the same cutting edge technologies in advanced materials, AI, propulsion and stealth.

More than 1,100 F-35s have already been built for the U.S. and multiple international partners.

A fleet of about 100 future B-21 stealth bombers at an estimated total cost of at least $130 billion is also planned. The first B-21 aircraft are now in test flights.

With evolving drone and space warfare likely to be the center of any fight with China, Dan Grazier, a military procurement analyst, questions whether “another exquisite manned fighter jet really is the right platform going forward.” Grazier, director of the national security reform program at the Stimson Center, said $20 billion is “just seed money. The total costs coming down the road will be hundreds of billions of dollars.”

I guess they’d rather us spend that money on transgender operas in Colombia.

Despite questioning the need for the new advanced jet, the AP admitted that it was. The report noted that last year, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall paused the NGAD program to assess whether the aircraft was still necessary or if it needed adjustments based on recent advances in warfare. After a review by think tanks and academia, it was concluded that the NGAD remained essential, especially in a potential conflict with China. Kendall then left the decision on which company would build the fighter jet to the incoming Trump administration.