[continued from previous message]   
      
   meanwhile dropped about 5.4% to $27.04 a share, an estimated $6 billion   
   loss in market value.   
      
   "While disappointed with this outcome, we are confident we delivered a   
   competitive solution," Lockheed Martin said in a statement.   
      
   Boeing has long been a major player in the military aerospace sector,   
   including developing the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets and the KC-46   
   aerial tanker.   
      
   But unlike competitors such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman,   
   which secured domestic contracts for the F-22 Raptor and B-2 Spirit   
   stealth aircraft respectively, Boeing's long-term defense production   
   largely relies on foreign acquisition and international defense sales.   
      
   Boeing and Lockheed previously faced off to develop the fifth-generation   
   multirole fighter as part of the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter   
   program. Lockheed's X-35 beat out Boeing's X-32, entering production as   
   the F-35 Lightning II.   
      
   Lockheed's NGAD design   
   An Instagram story from Lockheed Martin of a black screen with a white   
   outline of a jet.   
   Lockheed Martin posted an aircraft outline on its Instagram story that   
   appeared to resemble an NGAD-like planform. Lockheed Martin/Instagram   
   Lockheed's hint at its NGAD concept proposal was a lot more subtle. In   
   2023, Lockheed's Skunk Works division posted a black-and-white aircraft   
   outline on its Instagram to celebrate its 80th anniversary.   
      
   Despite the lack of details in the cryptic post, the planform appears to   
   resemble a tactical aircraft design, probably related to the Air Force's   
   NGAD program.   
      
   Lockheed further pointed to its bid for participation in the NGAD by   
   releasing another promotional video later that year that seemingly   
   referred to the Air Force's pursuit of a hybrid fleet. The video   
   features crewed and uncrewed systems flying in formation, with   
   Lockheed's F-35 surrounded by futuristic uncrewed aerial vehicles.   
      
   Northrop Grumman withdraws NGAD bid   
   A still from a video of aircraft in a hangar, with one that looks like a   
   fighter jet in the foreground. There is a US flag flying above it.   
   A 2021 video released by Northrop Grumman featured concept renderings of   
   its future aircraft projects, including what appeared to be a   
   next-generation fighter jet. Northrop Grumman/YouTube   
   Northrop Grumman was also competing to be the prime contractor behind   
   the Air Force's NGAD aircraft. The company hinted at its interest in   
   participating in the NGAD program in a 2021 promotional video that   
   appeared to include a tailless stealth fighter in a hangar with historic   
   and futuristic aircraft.   
      
   But Northrop Grumman's bid to build the NGAD fighter was cut short after   
   it pulled out of consideration in 2023, CEO Kathy Warden announced.   
      
   Warden added that the company was "responding to other bidders' request   
   for proposal as the supplier, that's particularly in our mission system   
   portfolio."   
      
   The Navy's next-gen fighter is up for grabs   
   An artist rendering of a jet flying in the sky with missiles.   
   An artist rendering of an early version of Northrop Grumman's design for   
   the Air Force's sixth-generation fighter. Northrop Grumman   
   Northrop Grumman was selected to build the B-21 Raider, the Air Force's   
   first sixth-generation stealth bomber, as part of the service's Long   
   Range Strike Bomber program.   
      
   The company unveiled the stealth bomber in late 2022, and the aircraft   
   took its maiden flight in November 2023.   
      
   Northrop Grumman is still in the running against Boeing to develop the   
   Navy's next-generation fighter, the F/A-XX, which aims to replace the   
   F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.   
      
   Steep ambitions, steep price tag   
   An artist rendering of a jet emerging from clouds.   
   An artist rendering of the US Air Force's sixth-generation fighter, the   
   F-47. US Air Force   
   The NGAD's steep ambitions to revolutionize the US air superiority   
   mission come with an equally steep price tag. In 2018, the Congressional   
   Budget Office estimated that the NGAD airframe alone could cost up to   
   $300 million each.   
      
   The then Air Force secretary, Frank Kendall, said in 2023 that he   
   anticipated the unit cost to be "too expensive to be purchased in large   
   numbers," disclosing the service's plan to team each NGAD with two CCAs.   
      
    From 2022 to 2024, Congress allocated $5.1 billion to develop   
   NGAD-related technologies, which included a "strategic pause" in the   
   program because of high project costs. In 2025, the Biden administration   
   requested $2.75 billion to build an NGAD platform, which could skyrocket   
   to an estimated $5.72 billion by 2029.   
      
   'China is a threat today'   
   An F-22 jet flying with mountains behind it.   
   An F-22 flying over Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. US Air Force photo by   
   Airman 1st Class Paige Weldon   
   Kendall emphasized the pressing need for the NGAD "family of systems"   
   amid evolving threats by US adversaries, especially after the Pentagon   
   truncated the procurement of F-22 jets from 750 to 187 in 2009.   
      
   "NGAD will include attributes such as enhanced lethality and the ability   
   to survive, persist, interoperate, and adapt in the air domain, all   
   within highly contested operational environments," Kendall said in May   
   2023. "No one does this better than the US Air Force, but we will lose   
   that edge if we don't move forward now."   
      
   The urgency is also spurred in part by China's increasingly   
   sophisticated long-range air defense and electronic warfare systems as   
   China-Taiwan tensions contribute to growing militarization in the   
   Indo-Pacific.   
      
   The F-47 is expected to operate closely with two new uncrewed fighters,   
   so-called "loyal wingmen" that are capable of flying missions too   
   dangerous for a pilot in the cockpit.   
      
   Defense analysts argued that in a war scenario with China, the F-22's   
   limited range and payload capacity would be ill-suited for the terrain,   
   consisting of islands spread hundreds of miles apart, leaving the fleet   
   vulnerable to attack during refueling efforts.   
      
   "China is not a future threat; China is a threat today," Kendall said   
   during a 2024 keynote address.   
      
   "I am not saying war in the Pacific is imminent or inevitable. It is   
   not," he added. "But I am saying that the likelihood is increasing and   
   will continue to do so."   
      
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