US President Donald Trump on Friday (March 21) said that Boeing has been awarded a major Pentagon contract to develop and support a new sixth-generation fighter aircraft, which will be known as the F-47.

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'Likes of which nobody has seen before'

Speaking from the Oval Office alongside Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior Air Force officials, Trump described the new manned warplane as “something the likes of which nobody has seen before.”

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According to the president, the fighter jet has “been in the works for a long period of time” and Boeing was chosen after “a rigorous and thorough competition between some of America's top aerospace companies.” The programme has been developed under the Pentagon’s “Next Generation Air Dominance” initiative.

Trump claimed the F-47 would be “the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built,” and disclosed that a prototype version “has secretly been flying for almost five years.”

“The F-47 is equipped with state-of-the-art stealth technology. It’s virtually unseeable and unprecedented power, the most power of any jet of its kind ever made,” he said.

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Without disclosing the cost, Trump said, “We’ve given an order for a lot. We can’t tell you the price.”

He also suggested international interest was growing, and said, “Our allies are calling constantly. They want to buy them also.”

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The jet’s name may be a nod to Trump himself, who is the 47th president of the United States.

“We're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation ... every other plane I’ve seen, every one of them, and it’s not even close,” he added.

“It’s virtually unseeable and unprecedented power. It’s got the most power of any jet of its kind ever made. Manoeuvrability, likewise ... there's never been anything like it,” Trump said.

The president declared that if the F-47 is ever used in combat, America’s enemies “will never see it coming” and warned they “won’t know what the hell hit them.”

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'A big day for our country, a big day in the world'

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former television host, called it “a big day for our country, a big day in the world,” saying the new fighter would “send a very direct, clear message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere, and to our enemies, that we can—we will be able to project power around the globe unimpeded for generations to come.”

“This is a historic investment in the American military, in American industrial base, in American industry, that will help revive the warrior ethos inside our military,” he added.

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(With inputs from agencies)