F-47: the US Air Force plans a $1.057 billion complex at Nellis Air Force Base for operational tests

The US Air Force is preparing the infrastructure that will receive the F-47 fighter. At Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada an entire complex of facilities, the “F-47 Future Campus”, is planned for the aircraft’s operational tests, with a total planned cost of about $1.057 billion. The sum covers construction, contingencies, design, site security and other expenses, and is not only the budget for the building works.

The figures come from the solicitation on the federal procurement platform SAM.gov, where the 772nd Enterprise Sourcing Squadron (772 ESS) and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) are seeking progressive design-build teams. The draft solicitation was posted on October 22 and updated on October 26, and on Wednesday, October 28 and Thursday, October 29, half-hour meetings are being held with interested companies for comments before the final solicitation.

The first award concerns four “fast delivery” projects. The largest building is a single operations and maintenance hangar of about 10,850 square metres. Next come a Reprogramming Lab of about 3,640 square metres (a specialised mission laboratory with heavy computing infrastructure and secure technical spaces), a simulator facility of about 3,800 square metres and an aircraft parking apron with shades, exceeding 107,000 square metres, together with utilities.

For later, without commitment, the plan includes a fuel-tank maintenance hangar, a hangar for corrosion control and low-observable surfaces, a weapons-loading training hangar, an integrated maintenance facility, a maintenance training facility and a dining facility near the flight line.

The schedule is tight. The final solicitation is expected on October 30, the first proposals on November 18 and oral presentations by the frontrunners on December 14–17. The initial award is targeted for February 5, 2027, with design running until November 5, 2027 and construction lasting about 40 months, until March 5, 2031. The remaining buildings could be built from January 2029 to May 2032.

The Air Force prefers a single scheme for all the projects but reserves the right to select up to four. The contract will be an Other Transaction agreement, under the MACH1 programme, and the Air Force expects to negotiate a firm construction price when the design reaches about 65%, though the percentage is not a strict target. The document acknowledges that the F-47 is being developed in parallel with the facilities, so requirements for mission systems may change as design and construction proceed.

The F-47 is also part of the US Air Force’s plan for 1,509 fighters by 2035, in which the service lists its fleet needs for the next decade. On the other side, Lockheed Martin is aiming for an upgraded F-35 with 80% of the capabilities of a sixth-generation fighter at half the cost, as we reported in Lockheed Martin’s Taiclet: an upgraded F-35 with 80% of a clean-sheet fighter.