August 11, 2025

by Thomas W. Pohl

Official F/A-XX Concept Artwork that appeared recently on Northrop Grumman's website.

Introduction

Northrop Grumman recently published official concept artwork for its F/A-XX design on its website. The F/A-XX is the U.S. Navy’s carrier-borne 6^th Generation stealth fighter intended to replace the Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers in the 2030's. Northrop Grumman’s concept artwork has caused an quite a buzz in military aviation circles. While Boeing had previously released concept artwork for the F/A-XX in prior years (see images at bottom of article), this is the first glimpse of what Northrop Grumman has in mind for its design.

Budget Battles

We believe that the timing of the release of this conceptual artwork is no coincidence. The U.S. Navy has been butting heads with the Department of Defense over the need for this program, and the affordability and industrial base capacity of producing both the U.S. Air Force’s 6^th Generation stealth fighter, the Boeing F-47, and the U.S. Navy’s F/A-XX simultaneously. When the U.S. Navy submitted their Unfunded Priorities List to Congress recently, at the top of the list was a $1.4 billion request for the F/A-XX fighter. Congress appears to have sided with the U.S. Navy in recognizing the immediate need for the F/A-XX and the Senate Appropriations Committee has granted the U.S. Navy’s $1.4 billion request in their version of the 2026 Fiscal Year Defense Appropriations Bill on July 31st. Opponents claim that this will detract from the U.S. Air Force’s F-47 and will cause a cost increase and delay in that program. We believe those arguments are false and we believe that the industrial base can indeed handle both programs simultaneously.

Analysis of the Design

Northrop Grumman’s F/A-XX concept is quite a sleek design that appears to contain some influence from their last stealth fighter design, the YF-23 Black Widow II. The F/A-XX’s nose and forward fuselage appears be similarly shaped to the YF-23’s. The most striking feature of the concept is the unusual dorsal air intakes. While they may be beneficial for stealth purposes, they would be less than ideal for high angle-of-attack maneuvers. Northrop Grumman has published concept artwork for the U.S. Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program (which led to the Boeing F-47) that featured dorsal engine intakes before in a 2016 concept (see image section below) and again in a 2021 commercial on Northrop Grumman's official YouTube channel . Even back then, we were not sold on the inclusion of dorsal engine intakes for the above stated reasons. As with a number of analysts in the military aviation circles, we agree that the dorsal engine intakes are probably just placeholders as the geometry of stealth engine intakes are closely guarded secrets. A close up view of the concept’s dorsal intake shows a vertical surface on its outside edge, a huge no-no for a stealth design. It is obvious that Northrop Grumman is hiding some of the genuine features of its design for secrecy purposes, just like the officially released artist's renderings of the Boeing F-47 did.

Conclusion

If this is what Northrop Grumman has in its mind for its F/A-XX bid, we are all in. Most aviation enthusiasts are pulling for Northrop Grumman to win this program. With their century of carrier aviation experience behind them under their Grumman half, we believe they are in a great position to win this program. Having a third manufacturer of stealth fighters would also be a boon to not only the industrial base, but a boon for future competitions.

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