The following is the Jan. 17, 2025, Congressional Research Service In Focus report, U.S. Air Force Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) Fighter. From the report Background U.S. Air Force officials paused a planned contract award for the Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) to rethink the aircraft’s requirements.

The future of the NGAD sixth-generation fighter remains unclear, but billions in extra funding would keep work progressing on its prototype engine.

Despite uncertainty over the future of its sixth-generation fighter development programme, the US Air Force is committing fresh funding toward a separate effort to develop a propulsion solution for "future air dominance platforms".

The U.S. Air Force has dramatically plussed-up contracts with General Electric and Pratt & Whitney, both of which now have a ceiling of $3.5 billion, to continue work on prototype next-generation jet engines.

The USAF has announced a new $7 billion cash injection into its next-generation adaptive propulsion (NGAP) program.