What is the budget for sixth-generation fighter jets globally?

The latest Future Years Defense Program for fiscal 2025 indicates a significant increase in spending on sixth-generation aircraft within the Pentagon, particularly focused on programs like the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance and the Navy’s F/A-XX. In addition, there is growing enthusiasm in Europe and Asia for competing sixth-gen developments such as the French-German-Spanish Future Combat Air System and the British-Japanese-Italian Global Combat Air Programme. These major developments, along with collaborative combat aircraft, are projected to drive $70 billion in spending between 2024 and 2030 according to Tamarack Defense’s military aircraft market forecast.

Although production deliveries for these major platforms are expected to be minimal by 2030, there will be a substantial increase in research and development spending during this period. In the U.S., sixth-gen budgets are set to increase from $4 billion in FY24 to $12.6 billion in FY29, with the majority of funds allocated towards research, development, test, and evaluation. As designs progress, spending is anticipated to rise accordingly.

Tamarack Defense foresees that collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) deliveries will occur earlier and in greater numbers compared to the larger sixth-gen platforms. Across the U.S. Air Force’s and U.S. Navy’s CCA programs, there are expected to be 255 deliveries by 2030, and 950 by 2033.

While minimal production deliveries are projected outside the U.S., there will be steady growth in development activity for sixth-gen programs with contractor-available funding of $2-3 billion per year. Production deliveries for these programs are anticipated to extend beyond 2030, but early prototypes are planned within the short to medium-term research and development plan.

Logan Slone, a co-founder of Tamarack Defense, specializes in data analytics and advisory services for the defense industry.