Air Force Allocates $1.057B for F-47 Test Campus at Nellis; Construction Runs 2027-2031
The F-47 test campus is the first concrete infrastructure investment signaling the Air Force is committed to fielding a sixth-gen fighter in the 2030s rather than extending F-22 production or accelerating F-35 Block 5 upgrades. The 2028 first-flight target means design-to-flight is occurring in parallel with the test facility build — a compressed timeline that exposes Boeing to schedule risk if Nellis construction slips past early 2028. If the F-47 first flight holds to 2028 but the test campus isn't ready until 2030, the Air Force will have to conduct initial operational test at a contractor facility or defer it, both of which delay fleet integration.
Nellis becomes the operational test bed for the F-47, locking in a 2028 first flight and a 2030s fleet integration timeline that the Air Force has publicly committed to holding through the end of the Trump administration.
The $1.057B infrastructure commitment signals the service is treating the F-47 schedule as non-negotiable despite no production aircraft yet flying — a bet that Boeing's design-build process will deliver on time and that the Pacific theater's range requirements justify accelerating a replacement for the F-22 before the F-35 reaches full maturity. Watch the February 2027 contractor award: if the Air Force selects fewer than four firms or narrows the scope, it signals cost or schedule pressure. A delay past February would compress the nine-month design phase and risk the March 2031 handoff to operational test.
Does the Air Force's $730 million FY2027 infrastructure request include the full $1.057B campus cost, or does the presolicitation reveal a larger unfunded bill? If unfunded, where does the remainder sit in the FYDP?
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