The future of U.S. military aviation is unfolding.
In the Air Force, the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter is in the works, and the B-21 Raider stealth bomber is already flying. On April 20, 2026, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle shared that the Navy will decide on its next-gen fighter in August. That same day, Northrop Grumman released the first public images of its concept for the Navy NGAD.
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Looking like a scene straight out of “Top Gun 3”, the 14-second video features a rendering of Northrop Grumman’s tailless F/A-XX concept fighter on the deck of an aircraft carrier. To further highlight its intended naval service, the video shows the aircraft with its wings folded and deployed.
Although close scrutinization for details is ill-advised since the depiction is only a concept rendering, Northrop Grumman’s plane must meet the Navy’s requirements for the NGAD.
Possibly 2 Internal Weapons Bays
Intended to replace both the F/A-18 Super Hornet and F-35 Lightning II, the F/A-XX NGAD must have a combat range of nearly 1,000 miles, 25% greater than the current fighters in the fleet. As a multirole strike fighter, the new aircraft will also have a greater payload than the Super Hornet and Lightning while also maintaining its stealth profile.
This will mean a large, internal weapons bay, possibly two.
Boeing, the winner of the Air Force F-47 NGAD contract, first unveiled its Navy F/A-XX concept in 2009. It released an updated concept in 2013 and highlighted the aircraft’s proposed ability to operate with an unmanned and possibly autonomous drone wingman. Renderings released in 2025 are visually similar to the Air Force F-47. Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the F-35, for the Air Force contract and was eliminated from the Navy competition in 2025.
Now, the future of naval aviation comes down to Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
Although Boeing manufactures the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the aircraft was acquired when the company merged with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Otherwise, you have to reach all the way back to interwar, propeller-driven biplanes like the FB-5 Hawk and the F4B (that was it; it didn’t have a name) to find a Boeing fighter in the fleet.
Historically, Northrop Grumman has had great success delivering fighters to the Navy. From the legendary F6F Hellcat that dominated the skies of the Pacific in World War II to the F9F Panther that brought the company into the jet age, and the iconic F-14 Tomcat that fulfilled the Navy’s need for speed, the cat planes have ruled the seas.
If Northrop Grumman wins the Navy contract, it will be a crime of epic proportions not to continue the cat name legacy.
