Boeing’s ‘New’ F-47 Potentially Spotted in 30-Year-Old Study on Aerodynamics

15:40 GMT, 24 March 2025

This graphical rendering provided by the U.S. Air Force shows the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Platform, the F-47. On Friday, March 21, 2025, President Donald Trump announced that the Air Force had selected Boeing to produce the next generation fighter jet.

Ilya Tsukanov

President Trump boasted that “nothing in the world comes even close to” the US’s new 6th-gen fighter jet, that it’s “something the likes of which nobody has seen before” in terms of speed, maneuverability and payload, and that the project has “been in the works for a long time.”He wasn’t kidding.

Sputnik

A June 1995 NASA study, “Investigation Into the Impact of Agility in Conceptual Fighter Design,” features a fighter jet design which eagle-eyed online sleuths found conspicuously similar to the artist’s rendering of the F-47 presented at the Oval Office as Trump made his announcement.

The design, known simply as “988-119,” features large, protruding front canards similar to the rendering, and a similar shovel nose cockpit configuration.

The 988-119 jet design by Boeing, featured in a 30-year-old NASA study.

988-119 is characterized as a “moderate observable,” “high agility” design, which matches observations made by military analysts discussing the F-47 and suggestions that stealth may “take a backseat to speed” due to its canard configuration.

988-119 and other prospective jet designs rated by agility and observability in a NASA study on aerodynamics.

A more detailed schematic of the design confirms that 998-119 is a Boeing product, and shows that it features a tail-less configuration (the F-47’s tail section was not revealed during Trump’s presentation, perhaps for this very purpose).

Could 988-119 be the revolutionary new aircraft Trump was talking about?

988-119's characteristics. If the F-47 is indeed modeled on this design, it would give a good indication of the plane's dimensions, weight and maximum weapons payload.