Boeing, Everett's largest employer with more than 30,000 workers at its local complex, won a $20 billion Navy contract to build a sixth-generation strike fighter.
The award, announced Wednesday, Sept. 30, by the Department of War, makes the F/A-XX Boeing's second consecutive major fighter-jet win. The company won a roughly $20 billion Air Force contract for the F-47 in March 2025, according to Leeham News. Together, the two programs give Boeing both of the Pentagon's sixth-generation fighter contracts.
Production of the F/A-XX will be based in St. Louis, where Boeing Defense, Space & Security is headquartered. No Everett production role has been announced.
The carrier-launched jet will replace the aging F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler fleets beginning in the 2030s. It will also operate alongside the F-35C. Boeing beat Northrop Grumman for the contract, which could grow to hundreds of billions of dollars over its lifetime as production scales and international orders come in, the Everett Post reported.
Technical details remain classified.
"Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly," Steve Parker, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in a statement.
Rep. Rob Wittman, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee's Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee, has said neither the F/A-XX nor the F-47 will be operational until the mid-2030s, according to Simple Flying.
Even without a direct production role, the defense wins matter to Everett. Boeing's commercial side is already expanding here. The company launched a $1 billion North Line at its Everett plant in July, adding roughly 1,000 jobs to build 737 MAX jets. By April, unionized factory workers across the Pacific Northwest topped 34,000, IAM vice president Jon Holden told Reuters.
Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers said at the North Line launch that Boeing and Paine Field together generate about $60 billion in regional economic activity.
A labor dispute adds uncertainty. Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, known as SPEEA, voted in August to reject Boeing's four-year contract offer and authorize a strike. SPEEA represents more than 17,000 engineers and technical workers in Puget Sound. The current contract expires Oct. 6.
