Top House lawmakers are prodding the Pentagon to award the contract for the Navy’s next-generation fighter aircraft, raising alarms that delays will degrade the industrial base.
“The need for a sixth-generation naval fighter aircraft has never been clearer,” House defense appropriations subcommittee members wrote in a report released Tuesday accompanying the Pentagon’s $1.07 trillion spending bill for fiscal 2027.
“During Operation Epic Fury, the Carrier Strike Group demonstrated decisive power, expending the bulk of ordnance in armed conflict over Iran,” they wrote. “Sustaining that capability requires continued investment in new aircraft such as F/A–XX.”
The Navy’s next-generation stealth fighter, referred ...