agracer said:

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I mean if Boeing comes up with something as ugly as the X-32 prototype you could be back in. That's the real reason the lost the contract for the JSF..

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It was called "Monica" internally at Boeing...

Some of the official sneak preview images coming out show the Boeing plane with what appears to be canards. This increases manueverability but tends to reduce stealth. Will be interesting to see how that's integrated into the rest of the body. There's some speculation they may be retractable or otherwise integratable into the wing under certain circumstances.

https://www.twz.com/air/what-the-f-47s-canards-say-about-the-rest-of-its-design

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Gigem314 said:

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Mr.Milkshake said:

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Anything human piloted is obsolete

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I guess we got the plot of Top Gun 3 now.

Maverick flys the new F-47 and the accompanying fleet drones are hacked by China's quantum AI.

Mav successfully dogfights 5 of the 6 hacked drones and is forced to kamikaze drone #6 to save America.

Roll credits.

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Would watch.

aTmAg said:

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fc2112 said:

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So this was very disappointing. Indeed - looks like I'm out.

Was on design teams for:

B-1B
B-2
C-17
F-16C/D
F-22
C-130J
F-35A/B/C

And several unmentionables.....

Was hoping for a few years of initial design on our NGAD concept. We had a great plane.

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Do you know anything about the Boeing one? I am totally out of the loop.

How did the two compare?

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Yes, please tell us all the details, comrade.

fc2112 said:

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real reason was we had a flying STOVL prototype and they didn't.

and their prototype was nicknamed the "Monica" - for obvious reasons.

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yeah, it was ugly and no fighter jock wants to fly an ugly airplane.

There are no specifics of either design that can be shared publicly.

I'm just bummed since I'm not moving to St. Louis so I'm out.

Not really specifics but more information in this update at TWZ. Via Frank Kendall's comments (who has been an outspoken critic of Lockheed Martin fwiw):

Quote:

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• The F-47's unit cost is expected to be at least twice that of an F-35, or in the $160 million to $180 million range, based on publicly available information, according to Kendall. He has previously said the final price point could be "multiple hundreds of millions of dollars."
• In terms of the ultimate selection of the F-47, Kendall also notes that "there isn't a readiness at this point, a confidence in the uncrewed aircraft to bet entirely on them, right? And I tend to share that view."
• Kendall said he was doubtful any U.S. allies or partners would be willing to buy an export version of the F-47, especially given the expected unit cost and the potential for those jets to come with significant downgraded capabilities.
• Hunter noted that most successful large U.S. military acquisition programs do get to a point where export sales occur and that the fact that this didn't happen for F-22 was one of many factors that contributed to their high upfront and sustainment costs.
• Hunter also disclosed that the NGAD combat jet program, at least as it existed under his tenure, was expecting to see multiple iterative tranches in the same vein as what is happening in the CCA drone program.
• The F-47 may just be "Increment 1" of a family of NGAD combat jet designs.
• Kendall also stressed that F-47 is not a silver-bullet solution to achieving air superiority and advocated for continued investment in the CCA program and the Block 4 upgrade effort for the F-35.

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More at the link.

fc2112 said:

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So this was very disappointing. Indeed - looks like I'm out.

Was on design teams for:

B-1B
B-2
C-17
F-16C/D
F-22
C-130J
F-35A/B/C

And several unmentionables.....

Was hoping for a few years of initial design on our NGAD concept. We had a great plane.

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My SIL works for SW's in Fort Worth and was disappointed also.