*

Administration officials seek to delay F/A-XX program by

up to

three years, sources say

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Pentagon plans to use $453 million provided by Congress

for

F/A-XX elsewhere, sources say

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Delay could undermine Navy's ability to project power, US

official says

By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy and

Congress are battling with the Trump administration to keep

moving forward with a contract award to build the Navy's

next-generation fighter jet, according three people with

knowledge of the matter.

At the heart of the conflict is the F/A-XX program, intended

to replace the Navy's aging Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet

fleet with a new carrier-based stealth fighter to be fielded in

the 2030s.

The Navy had been expected to announce a winner as early as

March in a deal that could be worth hundreds of billions of

dollars to the winner over its lifetime, but a funding dispute

threatens to derail that timeline.

While the Navy wants to move forward with awarding a

contract, some Pentagon officials are seeking to delay the

program by up to three years, the people said, citing concerns

about engineering and production capacity.

In March, the U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing ( BA ) a contract to

make F-47 fighter jets, its version of a 6th generation stealth

fighter to replace the 5th generation F-22. The Air Force has

said it planned to buy more than 185 of the planes.

Boeing ( BA ) and Northrop Grumman ( NOC ) remain in competition

for the Navy contract, while Reuters reported in March that

Lockheed Martin ( LMT ) had been eliminated from the contest.

A three-year delay for the Navy would effectively cancel the

program as it is currently defined, the people said, because

contracts and pricing would expire during that time making a new

competition almost inevitable.

The Navy declined to comment. A Pentagon spokesperson

said it did "not comment on internal communications and

pre-decisional or deliberative information."

The fight over F/A-XX funding highlights broader questions

about the future of naval aviation and the role of aircraft

carriers in confronting China. Delaying the program could leave

the Navy without a modern fighter capable of operating from

carriers in the 2030s and beyond, potentially undermining the

fleet's ability to project power in contested environments.

China has already made test flights of advanced J-50 and

J-36 fighters that it calls 6th generation - the same jet a

forward deployed U.S. Navy would encounter.

"America can't do much with its aircraft carriers in 30

years if it doesn't invest in a next-generation fighter for the

Navy," said a U.S. official. "Faster decision-making, extended

operational reach, integration with autonomous systems, and

maximum lethality are key to the future of air combat,

especially in the Indo-Pacific," the official added.

The official and the other people declined to be identified

due to the sensitivity of the matter.

PENTAGON REVIEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is making a

push to revamp what the Pentagon buys and how it does so for

items ranging from software to jets.

Trump adviser Elon Musk has panned crewed fighter jets,

calling them "obsolete" as the age of drone warfare dawns. But

some defense experts say enemy jamming systems may best the

autonomous vehicles, making a human crew necessary in warfare.

The Navy currently has around 128 F/A-18 planes that have

been in service since the mid-1990s.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's cost assessment office

plans to slash funding for the next-generation jet's development

by shifting the $454 million that Congress provided for the

F/A-XX in the fiscal year 2025 budget to other programs,

according to two industry executives and a congressional aide

familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon is separately preparing to ask Congress not to

provide $500 million for the program which it had included in a

pending reconciliation bill to help to accelerate the new jet's

development, the three sources said.

The two separate funding reductions and the potential for a

three-year delay to the contract award have not been reported

previously.

These moves have sparked pushback from the Navy and key

members of Congress. Lawmakers are telling the Navy and the

Office of the Secretary of Defense: "Don't you dare do this," an

industry executive said, speaking on condition of anonymity to

discuss sensitive negotiations.

The Pentagon could still alter course on these efforts and

adopt Congress' funding guidance, the congressional aide said.