USAF Doubles Down on Control with F-47 Fighter Deal
Lessons learned by the USAF and remembering the first flight of the Black Widow
"Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway."
- John Wayne
Mission Briefing
The U.S. Air Force is flipping the script on how it builds its next-generation fighter. After years of frustration over the F-35 program’s cost overruns and contractor lock-in, the service is taking a dramatically different approach with its new sixth-generation fighter, the Boeing-built F-47.
In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin made it clear: the service now owns the tech. “We have more control over the [F-47] project as it moves forward,” he told lawmakers. “We in-sourced more. We have more ownership of the tech base. We guided a government reference architecture—so we own the mission systems.”
This shift is a direct response to what former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall once called “acquisition malpractice” in the F-35 program. Under the old “Total System Performance” model, contractors like Lockheed Martin retained control of everything—from technical data to sustainment. That meant the Pentagon had to go through Lockheed for upgrades, repairs, and even access to its own aircraft data.
Not anymore.
The F-47, formerly known as NGAD, is being built on a modular, open system architecture. That means the Air Force can choose who builds what—and when. Need a better radar, or a new sensor package? Just plug it in. The result: faster upgrades, lower costs, and no more contractor monopolies.
“The upgrades can come at the speed of software, not hardware,” Allvin explained. “They can come at the speed of our engineers, not the speed of a contract negotiation.”
This same architecture will power the Air Force’s upcoming drone wingmen—the YFQ-42 and YFQ-44 collaborative combat aircraft, now under development by General Atomics and Anduril. All will operate under a unified mission system, giving the Air Force the ability to upgrade the whole family of aircraft at once.
The takeaway: the F-47 isn’t just a fighter. It’s a statement. The Air Force is no longer willing to hand over the keys to its most advanced aircraft. And with this new generation of fighters and autonomous platforms, the service is putting flexibility, speed, and long-term value at the center of its strategy.
Or as Allvin put it bluntly: “We’re going to have some conversations about F-35 and how we don’t want to repeat that.”
This Week in Aviation History
26 May 1942: in the midst of World War II’s aviation revolution, Northrop’s radical night fighter—the XP-61 Black Widow—took to the skies for the first time. This first flight, piloted by company test pilot Vance Breese, marked the beginning of a new chapter in American air power. The XP-61 was a bold response to an urgent wartime need: a fast, heavily armed aircraft capable of detecting and destroying enemy bombers in total darkness.
Developed under tight secrecy, the P-61 was the first American aircraft designed specifically as a night fighter—and the first warplane purpose-built around radar. While the British had been using radar-equipped Beaufighters and Mosquitos, those designs were adaptations. The Black Widow was born for the night.
Engineering the Widow
The P-61 was unlike anything that had flown before. A twin-boom, twin-engine aircraft with a central crew nacelle, it had a sinister, almost alien profile. But this design wasn’t just for looks—it provided stability, visibility, and room for the onboard radar and a three-man crew: pilot, gunner, and radar operator.
It was powered by two massive Pratt & Whitney R-2800-65 Double Wasp radial engines, each generating 2,000 horsepower. That gave the Widow a top speed of 366 mph, with a service ceiling of over 33,000 feet and a range of more than 1,200 miles—crucial for the long night patrols over the Pacific and European theaters.
The Black Widow was also one of the most heavily armed fighters of the war. Early models featured four 20mm Hispano M2 cannons mounted in the belly and four .50-caliber Browning machine guns housed in a remote-controlled dorsal turret. This gave it formidable firepower, enough to rip apart even the largest enemy bombers.
Radar in the Dark
The real game-changer was the onboard radar: the SCR-720 system. Housed in the aircraft’s bulbous nose, it allowed the radar operator to detect and track enemy aircraft in total darkness or poor weather, often before visual contact. Working as a team, the radar operator would guide the pilot into position—then it was up to the guns to finish the job.
This system turned the P-61 into a true hunter of the night skies.
Combat Debut and Legacy
The P-61 entered combat in 1944, first with the 6th Night Fighter Squadron in the Pacific, and then in Europe. Though it arrived relatively late in the war, it made an immediate impact. Black Widows downed Japanese bombers over Saipan, tracked enemy aircraft over Normandy, and even chased German V-1 flying bombs.
One of the most famous kills came in August 1945, when a P-61 named Lady in the Dark may have scored the final aerial victory of World War II by forcing a Japanese fighter to crash without firing a shot—using its sheer presence and maneuvering in the dark.
After the war, the P-61 continued to serve in secondary roles, including weather reconnaissance and flight testing. Some were even converted into the F-15 Reporter, a fast photo-reconnaissance variant.
A Rare Widow
Despite its significance, few P-61s survive today. Of the 706 built, only four are known to exist, and just one—painstakingly restored by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum—is being brought back to flying condition.
The XP-61’s maiden flight on May 26, 1942, wasn’t just a test of an aircraft. It was a moment that proved America could meet a new kind of aerial challenge with bold innovation, technical excellence, and sheer engineering nerve. The Black Widow earned its place in aviation history not just as a night fighter—but as a marvel of mid-century military design.
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The Air Force needs to think twice about the speed of installing software versus hardware. Software is inherently more complex and takes far longer in many cases to complete. Then there is the fact that most hardware has a software component. Its not simply one is faster or better than the other. Even the simple hardware deployed i early manned space craft experience software bugs and other abnomalitys. The fact is the less software the better.