How The Groundwork For F-47 Flight Testing Is Being Laid

By Joseph Trevithick

Published Oct 7, 2026 4:22 PM EDT

The testing plan for the U.S. Air Force’s sixth-generation F-47 fighter is continuing to take shape ahead of the type’s expected first flight in 2028. The Air Force Test Center (ATFC) aims to blend developmental and operational test elements, and leverage new tools in the virtual realm, to help accelerate that work. All of this is in support of an aggressive program schedule that aims to see the first production F-47s enter operational service in the early 2030s.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro, head of the AFTC, was asked about how the groundwork is being laid for F-47 testing during a virtual talk the Air & Space Forces Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted yesterday. AFTC is located at Edwards Air Force Base in California, which is the Air Force’s main flight testing hub.

“So, I’ll leave timelines to the [F-47] program office and other folks to talk to, but what I will tell you are some of the things that we’re doing to accelerate our test capabilities to get critical capabilities out the door,” Massaro explained. “Integrated test is a key component.”

A rendering of the F-47 fighter. USAF

“So, how we mix together the DT [developmental test] and OT [operational test] elements, how we bring our operational test partners in earlier to define the requirements early on in the test planning process,” he continued. “We understand that the information that we can get early on in a program may have applicability to that final operational test requirement to establish whether it’s effective and suitable to the end user. So that’s a key component to accelerating test capabilities.”

There has always been overlap in development and operational test efforts for new U.S. military aircraft, but the Air Force has been taking steps to more deeply integrate these processes in recent years. The F-15EX Eagle II fighter , which reached initial operational capability in 2024, was the first ever Air Force aircraft to be fully tested and fielded through DT and OT efforts conducted in parallel, as you can read more about here . The service has more recently applied these concepts to the B-21 Raider program with test flights where developmental and operational test pilots have shared the cockpit .

A pair of F-15EX test jets. USAF

A B-21 Raider seen from a KC-135 aerial refueling tanker during a flight test. USAF

“Another thing that we’ve learned over time too, if you think back to software testing and you think about agile software development, is having an iterative capability that you constantly iterate on,” Brig. Gen. Massaro also highlighted yesterday. “So, thinking about how we can structure our software, or our software testing, our capabilities testing.”

In this way, “we have those opportunities to inform decision makers on a regular cadence on what type of capability they may have at a certain timeline to be able to issue out to a warfighter on a time that might not be a normal milestone chart,” he continued. “We’re really working to incorporate into our test planning processes.”

“Another thing – and I kind of alluded to it a little bit earlier, too – is on the digital front, using our software tools, that super intelligence, graphic processing units, which have a significantly higher capability to process information, to really refine model iteration,” the AFTC head added. “Those models and flight test data [can be used] to update things like computational fluid dynamics when you’re doing tests like loads and high-alpha maneuvering to get information quicker from a flight test back into the program.”

Those “digital tools” can also be used “to accelerate how that information then goes back into a design choice or change if they need to make it,” he continued. “Coming up with those opportunities to use those tools in a test design and in a program” can then further help “to accelerate that final schedule delivery.”

Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro seen during a ceremony marking his assumption of command of the Air Force Test Center on June 30, 2026. USAF

Even very high-fidelity modeling in the digital realm is still not a substitute for real-world flight tests. However, Brig. Gen. Mark Massaro spoke more generally yesterday about how AFTC has been blending digital and live testing to maximize their respective benefits.

“We use models to develop our capabilities, and we need to anchor those models in truth, in physics, and an understanding of what happens in the real world,” the AFTC head stressed. “Outside of a cyber system, all of our capabilities touch the real world and touch physics, and we need to understand those dynamics. So, the models that we use to do design work, to do iterative type[s] of developmental work, and, in ways, operational work, too, need to be anchored in that real world truth.”

At the same time, “we can’t replicate what we need to go and test, and develop tactics and operationally test, in the real world on some of our ranges,” he also noted. “So, from a geographic perspective , just the width and the depth and the height of the ranges to the laydown of the systems that we have to see on the ranges to be able to execute against a threat, [and] the numbers that we might have to be testing.”

Blending real and virtualized elements can therefore be very valuable.

An “element that we’ve done in the developmental world for quite a while, that are [sic] part of this conversation, are plugging in, even though it’s a virtual environment, plugging in real world hardware into that virtual environment,” Massaro offered as one example. “So, you’re getting real-world software, the OFPs [operational flight program software], or you’re getting real-world sensing information coming into that virtual environment and feeding it there.”

Virtualized elements can also be added to real-world flight test events in various ways. The Air Force, among others, is also making use of these so-called live, virtual, constructive (LVC) concepts for training purposes for many of the same general reasons, including limited range capacity.

It is also worth noting here that the F-47 program is already benefiting from years of flight testing in secret using full-scale demonstrator aircraft. A substantial amount of simulation and modeling would also already have been done as a byproduct. A simulator likely already exists, as well, which could be used for risk reduction and fine-tuning of the F-47 design, as well as testing flight dynamics.

The Air Force has also leveraged its F-22 Raptor fleet to help in the development of relevant advanced capabilities. Back in 2023, the service announced that it was outright transforming its existing F-22 test force into one that would support the broader Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) initiative. F-47 is part of the larger NGAD effort, as is the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program , along with work on new weapons , jet engines , and more .

An F-22 test jet assigned to the 411th Flight Test Squadron, which now serves as the Air Dominance Combined Test Force (AD-CTF). USAF

Though much about the F-47 program remains highly classified, the Air Force has consistently said that the program continues to be on track. Prime contractor Boeing is now building the first flying example , and construction is already well underway to establish a full production line . As mentioned, the target date for a first flight is currently in 2028, ahead of operational fielding in the early 2030s. As an aside, Boeing has also now won the contract to develop the Navy’s sixth-generation carrier-based fighter, currently referred to as F/A-XX .

AFTC is doing its part now to be ready to support the flight testing that will be needed to keep the F-47 program on track in the coming years.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

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作者：约瑟夫·特雷维西克

发布于美国东部时间2026年10月7日下午4:22

美国空军第六代F-47战斗机的测试计划正在逐步完善，预计将于2028年首飞。空军测试中心（ATFC）旨在融合研发测试和作战测试，并利用虚拟领域的新技术来加快测试进度。所有这些努力都是为了支持一项雄心勃勃的项目计划，该计划的目标是使首批生产型F-47战斗机在2030年代初投入使用。

空军准将、空军飞行测试中心（AFTC）主任马克·马萨罗（Mark Massaro）在昨天由空军与航天部队协会米切尔航空航天研究所主办的一场线上研讨会上，被问及F-47测试的筹备工作进展情况。AFTC位于加利福尼亚州爱德华兹空军基地，该基地是美国空军的主要飞行测试中心。

“所以，具体时间表我留给F-47项目办公室和其他相关人员去讨论，但我可以告诉你们的是，我们正在采取一些措施来加快测试能力的提升，以便尽快推出关键功能，”马萨罗解释说。“综合测试是其中的关键环节。”

美国空军F-47战斗机的效果图。

他继续说道：“所以，关键在于如何将开发测试（DT）和运行测试（OT）要素结合起来，如何让我们的运行测试合作伙伴更早地参与进来，在测试计划流程的早期阶段就明确需求。我们明白，在项目早期阶段获得的信息可能对最终的运行测试需求具有参考价值，可以帮助我们确定产品是否有效且适合最终用户。因此，这是提升测试能力的关键所在。”

美国新型军用飞机的研发和作战测试工作一直存在重叠，但近年来，空军一直在采取措施，进一步深化这些流程的整合。F-15EX“鹰II”战斗机于2024年达到初始作战能力，是空军首款通过并行开展研发和作战测试工作完成全面测试和部署的飞机，详情请点击此处。空军最近将这些理念应用于B-21“突袭者”轰炸机项目，在试飞中，研发试飞员和作战试飞员共同驾驶飞机。

两架F-15EX测试喷气式飞机。美国空军

一架B-21“突袭者”轰炸机在飞行测试期间，从KC-135空中加油机上拍摄到的画面。美国空军

“随着时间的推移，我们还了解到一点，如果你回顾一下软件测试，再想想敏捷软件开发，那就是要具备不断迭代的能力，”马萨罗准将昨天还强调说。“所以，我们要思考如何构建我们的软件，或者我们的软件测试，我们的能力测试。”

他继续说道：“这样一来，我们就有机会定期向决策者通报他们在特定时间点可能具备的能力类型，以便能够在可能并非常规里程碑时间表的时间点将装备交付给作战人员。我们正在努力将其融入到我们的测试计划流程中。”

“还有一点——我之前也稍微提过——就是在数字化方面，利用我们的软件工具，那些超级智能的图形处理器，它们拥有显著更高的信息处理能力，可以真正改进模型迭代，”空军试验中心主任补充道。“这些模型和飞行测试数据[可以用来]更新计算流体动力学之类的东西，尤其是在进行载荷和高攻角机动等测试时，以便更快地将飞行测试信息反馈到项目中。”

他还表示，这些“数字化工具”还可以“加快信息反馈到设计选择或必要时进行的更改”。“在测试设计和程序中寻找使用这些工具的机会”，可以进一步帮助“加快最终交付进度”。

2026年6月30日，准将马克·马萨罗在就任空军试验中心指挥官的仪式上亮相。（美国空军）

即使是数字领域中高度逼真的建模也无法替代实际飞行测试。然而，马克·马萨罗准将昨天更广泛地谈到了空军测试司令部如何将数字测试和实战测试相结合，以最大限度地发挥各自的优势。

“我们利用模型来发展自身能力，而这些模型必须建立在事实、物理学以及对现实世界运行规律的理解之上，”美国空军技术司令部（AFTC）负责人强调说。“在网络系统之外，我们所有的能力都与现实世界和物理学息息相关，我们需要了解这些动态。因此，我们用于设计工作、迭代式开发工作以及某种程度上用于作战工作的模型，都需要以现实世界的真理为基础。”

与此同时，他还指出，“我们无法在一些靶场上复制我们需要进行测试、战术开发和作战测试的真实情况。” “因此，从地理角度来看，靶场的宽度、深度和高度，以及我们必须在靶场上部署的系统，才能有效应对威胁，还有我们可能需要测试的数量，这些都存在问题。”

因此，将真实元素和虚拟元素融合在一起可能非常有价值。

马萨罗举例说：“我们在研发领域已经做了一段时间，这也是我们讨论的一部分，那就是将现实世界的硬件接入到虚拟环境中，即使是在虚拟环境中。”他补充道：“这样，你就可以将现实世界的软件，比如运行飞行程序软件（OFP），或者将现实世界的传感信息输入到虚拟环境中。”

虚拟化元素也可以通过多种方式添加到实际飞行测试中。包括空军在内的许多机构也出于类似的诸多原因（例如航程有限）而利用这些所谓的实景、虚拟、构造（LVC）概念进行训练。

值得注意的是，F-47项目已经受益于多年来使用全尺寸验证机进行的秘密飞行测试。大量的模拟和建模工作也已作为副产品完成。此外，可能已经存在一种模拟器，可用于降低风险、微调F-47设计以及测试飞行动力学。

空军还利用其F-22“猛禽”战斗机机队来协助开发相关的先进能力。早在2023年，空军就宣布将彻底改造现有的F-22测试部队，以支持更广泛的下一代空中优势（NGAD）计划。F-47战斗机是NGAD计划的一部分，协同作战飞机（CCA）无人机项目也是如此，此外还有新型武器、喷气发动机等方面的研发工作。

一架隶属于第411飞行测试中队的F-22测试机，该中队现为空中优势联合测试部队（AD-CTF）。

尽管F-47项目的大部分信息仍处于高度机密状态，但空军一直表示该项目进展顺利。主承包商波音公司目前正在建造首架试飞样机，完整的生产线建设也已全面展开。如前所述，首飞目标日期暂定为2028年，预计在2030年代初投入使用。此外，波音公司还赢得了海军第六代舰载战斗机（暂代F/A-XX）的研发合同。

AFTC 目前正在尽其所能，为未来几年 F-47 项目所需的飞行测试提供支持，以确保该项目按计划进行。

联系作者：joe@twz.com

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