{"text":[[{"start":10.642,"text":"The US Navy has selected Boeing to make its new stealth fighter jet, setting up the defence contractor to be the primary producer of future fighter aircraft for the American military in a major boost to its turnaround efforts."}],[{"start":22.52,"text":"The Pentagon awarded Boeing a $20bn contract to develop its sixth-generation fighter jet, the F/A-XX, selecting it over its rival Northrop Grumman. It is the second major fighter jet programme the company has clinched since US President Donald Trump retook office."}],[{"start":39.76,"text":"Boeing will now be the dominant maker of the sixth-generation American fighter aircraft, which also includes the Air Force’s F-47. It won the contract for the latter in March 2025 over rival Lockheed Martin."}],[{"start":52.48,"text":"The F/A-XX will replace Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornets that are ubiquitous on US aircraft carriers and its EA-18G Growler electronic-warfare aircraft."}],[{"start":63.48,"text":"The new fighters are expected to enter the military’s fleet in the 2030s and will operate with current F-35s. They will be interoperable with unmanned systems."}],[{"start":73.72,"text":"Sixth-generation fighters are seen as critical for countering China in the Pacific and would be a crucial component of any potential US effort to contain Beijing’s forces. The US Air Force would need at least 500 sixth-generation fighter jets and bombers to win a war against the superpower, according to an estimate from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies think-tank."}],[{"start":94.3,"text":"The contracts are expected to lift the fortunes of Boeing’s defence business, which contributes about a third of the group’s total revenue but recorded operating losses in each of the past four years."}],[{"start":104.64,"text":"“This award represents a near-complete reversal of Boeing’s defence trajectory,” said Ken Herbert, analyst at RBC Capital Markets."}],[{"start":112.48,"text":"It is the latest sign of the company’s turnaround under chief executive Kelly Ortberg, who is slowly winning back the trust of investors, regulators and airline customers following the dramatic fallout from fatal commercial airliner crashes in 2018 and 2019, and the blowout of a door on an Alaska Airlines jet in 2024."}],[{"start":132.88,"text":"Shares in Boeing were up 3.29 per cent in after-hours trading in New York."}],[{"start":137.14,"text":"The Pentagon on Tuesday said the new fighter jet would be crucial for projecting power from aircraft carriers and extending their operational range."}],[{"start":145.96,"text":"“F/A-XX will dominate contested airspace, extend operational reach and deliver a decisive combat advantage,” said Michael Duffey, US under-secretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment."}],[{"start":158.48,"text":"However, the Navy is expected to struggle to afford the new jet because its budget is strained in part by Trump’s military operations in the Middle East and Caribbean."}],[{"start":167.64,"text":"“The Navy doesn’t have funding identified to buy FA-XX aircraft after the development effort,” said Bryan Clark, director of the defence concepts and technology centre at the Hudson Institute think-tank."}],[{"start":178.52,"text":"The F/A-XX programme appeared to be in peril last year. Pentagon leadership was sceptical it should move forward because of the US defence industrial base’s limited capacity to develop and produce two sixth-generation fighter aircraft simultaneously. However, Congress forced the Pentagon to move forward with the Navy’s jet."}],[{"start":195.92,"text":"“Delivering two advanced fighters in parallel was always our plan, and we invested accordingly,” said Steve Parker, chief executive of Boeing Defense."}],[{"start":209.44,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1790744816_3824.mp3"}