President Donald Trump announced Friday that Boeing will build the Air Force’s future fighter jet, which the Pentagon says will have stealth and penetration capabilities that far exceed those of its current fleet and is essential in a potential conflict with China. Known as Next Generation Air Dominance, or NGAD, the manned jet will serve as quarterback to a fleet of future drone aircraft designed to be able to penetrate the air defenses of China and any other potential foes. The initial contract to proceed with production on a version for the Air Force version is worth an estimated $20 billion. The 47th president, who announced the award at the White House with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force leadership, said with a grin that the new fighter would be named the F-47. "It's something the likes of which nobody has seen before, in terms of all of the attributes of a fighter jet, there's never been anything even close to it," Trump said in the Oval Office. "America's enemies will never see it coming. Hopefully we won't have to use it for that purpose, but you have to have it. And if it ever happens, they won't know what the hell hit them," the president said. Speaking moments later, Hegseth said the future fleet “sends a very clear, direct message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere.” Critics have questioned the cost and the necessity of the program as the Pentagon is still struggling to fully produce its current most advanced jet, the F-35, which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $1.7 trillion over its lifespan. In addition, the Pentagon's future stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider, will have many of the same cutting edge technologies in advanced materials, AI, propulsion and stealth. More than 1,100 F-35s have already been built for the U.S. and multiple international partners. A fleet of about 100 future B-21 stealth bombers at an estimated total cost of at least $130 billion is also planned. The first B-21 aircraft are now in test flights. Few details of what the new NGAD fighter would look like have been public, although Trump said early versions have been conducting test flights for the last five years. Renderings by both Lockheed Martin and Boeing have highlighted a flat, tail-less aircraft with a sharp nose. The selection of Boeing, which has faced intense pressure from Trump over cost overruns and program delays on Air Force One, came after an independent analysis by the Air Force, an official said on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details on the selection. "The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built. An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we're confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation. There's no other nation, we know every other plane, I've seen every one of them, and it's not even close. This is a next level. You know, level five is good. This is level six, they say."