6th

Boeing has started production of the first F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter for the U.S. Air Force. The goal now is for that jet to make its first flight sometime in 2028.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin provided a brief update on the F-47 during his keynote address at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2025 Air, Space, and Cyber Conference today, at which TWZ is in attendance. In March, President Donald Trump personally announced that Boeing had been selected as the winner of the competition for the crewed fighter component of the Air Force’s broader Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative. The NGAD effort also includes the development of new Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, as well as advanced jet engines, weapons, electronic warfare suites, sensors, networking ecosystems, battle management capabilities, and more.

“After years of work, hundreds of test hours, 1,000s of man-years in the lab, the President announced the F-47,” Allvin said. “It’s the platform that, along with all of the rest of the [NGAD] systems, is going to ensure dominance into the future.”

“We [have] got to go fast. I got to tell you, team, it’s almost 2026. The team is committed to get the first one flying in 2028,” he continued. “In the few short months since we made the announcement, they [Boeing] are already beginning to manufacture the first article. We’re ready to go fast. We have to go fast.”

The Air Force has only previously said that the F-47 was expected to make its maiden flight before the end of Trump’s current term, which will conclude on January 20, 2029. Multiple secretive flying demonstrators helped pave the way for the F-47, as well.

Details about the F-47 program and design of the aircraft itself remain highly classified. At the time of writing, there continue to be only two official renderings of the jet, which Air Force officials have said do not necessarily fully reflect what the plane looks like in real life, for operational security purposes.

“Just love looking at this picture,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink had said during his own keynote at the conference today, which came just ahead of Allvin’s speech, referring specifically to the F-47 rendering seen below. “I expect some of the Chinese Intel analysts are spending a lot of time looking at this picture. Good luck trying to dig something out of there. Pretty careful about that.”

The inclusion of prominent canard foreplanes in the two renderings has been a particular topic of discussion since March. Canards could give the design a boost in maneuverability, but are conducive to extreme degrees of low observability (stealth) to radar. TWZ has previously explored the matter of the canards, and what else can be seen in the renderings, in detail, while also noting that certain aspects could be deliberate misdirection.

The Air Force has said the F-47 is expected to have a combat radius in excess of 1,000 nautical miles and be able to reach speeds above Mach 2. With that range, the new sixth-generation jets will offer a roughly 25% boost in operational reach, at least, over existing U.S. fighters. How fast the aircraft will be able to cruise without its afterburners engaged (supercruise), and with what level of efficiency, remains unknown.

The F-47 has otherwise long been expected to feature next-generation all-aspect ‘broadband’ low-observability (stealthiness), including a significantly reduced infrared signature on top of a low radar cross-section. “Spectral warfare” and “spectral dominance” have been major focus areas for the entire NGAD initiative, as TWZ has previously detailed. Air Force officials have also talked generally about the fighters having next-generation capabilities that will leverage the rest of the NGAD ecosystem, including the ability to control future CCAs.

It’s also worth noting that Boeing has been in the running for the Navy’s F/A-XX next-generation carrier-based fighter competition. A rendering that the company recently released of its F/A-XX proposal has unsurprising similarities to what has been shown to date of the F-47, as you can read more about here. The firm also previously made major investments to expand its operations in St. Louis, Missouri, to prepare for sixth-generation fighter production.

The Air Force has said it plans to acquire at least 185 F-47s, which would be in line with the original vision of the aircraft as a successor to the F-22 Raptor. However, questions have been raised about whether that figure might change going forward, and there has been talk about the potential for multiple versions to be built in incremental developmental cycles. The F-47’s expected unit cost is also unclear, but past projections have put it in the realm of three times the average price of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, or upwards of $300 million based on publicly available information.

Speaking today, Allvin did underscore that the F-47 was just one part of broader modernization efforts to ensure the Air Force maintains its edge against any potential opponent.

“The adversary is not taking a knee. They’re not stopping and saying, ‘well, maybe the U.S. slows down, we’ll slow down too.’ Maybe we can take a knee, and that’s not what they’re doing,” he said. “As we look into the future, when we develop all of the next-generation capabilities, we can’t get enamored with the platforms. It’s not just the weapons and the weapon systems. We’ve got to understand systems over platform. It’s the things that links them together that makes it work.”

That being said, the Air Force clearly sees the F-47 as a key part of its future force structure, especially with an eye toward a potential high-end fight against China in the Pacific.

The Air Force is now moving steadily closer to this next generation of tactical airpower with the first F-47 being built ahead of an expected first flight some three years from now.

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NEW YORK — Carlos Alcaraz reasserted his superiority over Jannik Sinner with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory Sunday in the U.S. Open final — the third Grand Slam tournament in a row where these elite, young rivals met to decide the champion — for his second trophy at Flushing Meadows and sixth overall at a major.

President Trump sat in a sponsor’s suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium and received a mix of cheers and boos when he offered a wave beforehand and again when he was shown on videoboards after the first set. The match’s start was delayed by about a half-hour because thousands of fans were still outside in line, trying to get through the extra security measures in place because of the presence of a sitting president at the tournament for the first time since Bill Clinton in 2000.

Jannik Sinner reacts while losing to Carlos Alcaraz during the U.S. Open men’s singles final Sunday in New York.

(Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

Perhaps the extra wait got to the No. 1-seeded Sinner, who was the defending champion. Right from the beginning, under a closed roof because of rain earlier in the day, No. 2 Alcaraz was better as he sought to reverse the result from when they met at the All England Club less than two months ago.

He did just that, putting his leads over Sinner at 10-5 in their head-to-head series, 6-4 in major trophies, and 2-1 in U.S. Open championships. Plus, this win allowed Alcaraz, a 22-year-old from Spain, to take away the No. 1 ranking from Sinner, a 24-year-old from Italy.

These two guys are so, so much better than the rest of men’s tennis at the moment.

They have combined to collect the past eight Slam trophies in a row, and 10 of 13. Novak Djokovic, whom Alcaraz eliminated in Friday’s semifinals, took the other three in that span.

Carlos Alcaraz, of Spain, celebrates after defeating Jannik Sinner, of Italy, in the U.S. Open men’s singles final Sunday in New York.

(Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press)

Sunday’s showdown represented the first time in tennis history that the same two men played each other in three consecutive Slam finals within a single season.

This hard-court matchup followed Alcaraz’s victory over Sinner after erasing a trio of match points on the French Open’s red clay in June, and Sinner’s victory over Alcaraz on Wimbledon’s grass in July.

Both Sinner, who had won his past 27 hard-court matches at majors, and Alcaraz offered glimpses of why they are so good, although it was rare that both were at their best simultaneously on this occasion.

Alcaraz was elite in the first, third and fourth sets, Sinner’s top efforts arrived in the second.

In sum, Alcaraz was better and for longer, ending up with twice as many winners, 42-21.

Since the start of the 2024 U.S. Open, Sinner had won 33 of 34 matches at the majors and Sunday was his fifth straight final at those events. The loss? To Alcaraz at Roland-Garros.

Indeed, over the last two seasons, Sinner is now 1-7 against Alcaraz and 109-4 against everyone else.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, has won 37 of 38 contests since May. The loss? To Sinner at the All England Club — also Alcaraz’s lone defeat in a Slam final.

In 2025, Alcaraz now has more tournament titles (a tour-leading seven) than losses (his record is 61-6, also the best in men’s tennis).

During his defeat in Wimbledon’s final, Alcaraz was caught by a camera telling his team about Sinner in Spanish: “From the back of the court, he’s much better than me.”

So perhaps that’s why Alcaraz was aggressive Sunday with his sledgehammer of a forehand — and on-target too. Whenever even the smallest opening presented itself, Alcaraz tried to barge on through with that shot, going big early in points, which worked, either for an outright winner or forcing mistakes from Sinner.

Sinner had dropped a total of just one service game in his three matches leading into the final, but he did deal with an abdominal muscle issue in his semifinal Friday. Sinner and his coach said it was nothing serious, which might be right, but Alcaraz broke right away Sunday and five times in all.

To counteract the forehand effectiveness, Sinner made a tactical switch, going increasingly after Alcaraz’s backhand when possible. That both limited Alcaraz’s opportunities to strike a point-ending forehand and drew additional mistakes off the other wing.

Paid off for Sinner. Briefly.

In the first set and third, Alcaraz’s ratios were 11 winners to two unforced errors. Truly remarkable. In the second, those numbers swung the other way: five winners, 11 unforced errors.

An hour and 20 minutes in, it was a set apiece, after Alcaraz ceded one for the first time all tournament, allowing Neale Fraser to retain his distinction as the most recent man to win every set he played at the event — all the way back in 1960.

As Sinner worked his way into things, he would celebrate just about every point he gathered by looking at the corner of the stands where his two coaches and others, including Olympic champion ski racer Lindsey Vonn, were seated and pumped his right fist.

Ah, but it was Alcaraz who seemed to have more of the ticket-buyers on his side.

Fendrich writes for the Associated Press.

May 26 (UPI) — A sixth escapee from the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans was captured Monday night, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced.

“Inmate Lenton Vanburen [Jr.] is now back in custody,” Murrill said in a post on X. “He was picked up in Baton Rouge.”

Murrill complimented Louisiana’s Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, State Police and the Baton Rouge Police Department for working together to locate and capture Vanburen.

She said Vanburen is charged with parole violation, possession of a firearm by a felon and illegally carrying a weapon. He will face additional charges related to the escape.

Louisiana State Police and Baton Rouge police apprehended Vanburen, WDSU reported.

He was among 10 inmates who escaped through a hole behind a toilet at the jail in New Orleans during the predawn hours May 16.

The jail staff did not discover they were missing for several hours, but five were caught within four days.

Inmates Corey Boyd, Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis, Kendall Myles and Gary Price also have been apprehended after their group escape. The captured inmates have been transferred to the Louisiana State Penitentiary.

Those remaining at-large are Jermaine Donald, Leo Tate Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey.

Many of the caught and at-large escapees are charged with murder.

Seven people also have been arrested for assisting in the escape and helping the inmates afterward.