Boeing wins Navy's F/A-XX fighter contract, deal worth more than $20 billion

The contract beats Northrop Grumman for a next-generation carrier fighter due in service in the 2030s

Boeing has won the U.S. Navy's F/A-XX competition, beating Northrop Grumman for a contract worth more than $20 billion. The jet is meant to replace the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the EA-18G, entering service in the 2030s.

The win adds a large, long-duration defense program to Boeing's backlog, on top of its MQ-25A award and a Saudi munitions sale. It also lands while Boeing's commercial side is under strain. On Monday the company delayed certification of the 737 Max 10 again over a software issue, the second such delay this month. FAA administrator Bedford has said the software problem means the timeline is now open-ended rather than a matter of weeks, and WestJet has confirmed it runs the same software version, 14.1, now under FAA review, on its own Max jets, showing the issue is not confined to one airline.

Those commercial troubles have kept Boeing shares under pressure. The F/A-XX award does not resolve the near-term cash-flow overhang from the Max 10 delay and its supply-chain constraints, but it gives Boeing a large, high-visibility revenue stream tied to defense spending rather than to jetliner certification, insulated from the FAA and supply issues weighing on the commercial business. The scale of the deal dwarfs Boeing's earlier defense wins this year, and the net effect for shareholders is positive even as the Max 10 question remains unresolved.