“The F-55 is coming – I don’t like single engines!” With this statement, Donald Trump has once again caused confusion in the security policy community – and head-shaking among experts. What sounds like the whimsical invention of a new fighter plane is part of a familiar pattern: the 47th President of the United States babbles about aviation technology while at the same time demonstrating how little he understands about it.
The fact that Trump combines half-knowledge and distortion of facts with apparent self-assurance is nothing new. Even at the presentation of the mysterious F-47 in the Oval Office he spoke of speeds “over two”, which – apparently referring to Mach – is by no means exceptional given the current state of technology. The Eurofighter has long since achieved this. He also said at the time: “I’ve seen every one of these so-called advanced fighters from other nations – and they’re not even close! This is next level. Five is good. That’s level six!” – an indication that he had only a fragmentary understanding of the concepts of 5th and 6th generation aircraft.
F-55: Two engines for a good feeling
His latest brainwave came during a visit to Doha (Qatar), where Trump announced “We’re doing an upgrade to the F-35 – a simple upgrade – but we’re also doing an F-55. I call it the F-55, and that will be a substantial upgrade. With two engines, because the F-35 only has one, and I don’t like single engines. I like two, three, four – that’s why I love the 747.”
“We will build it – the F-55 – if the price is right. Two engines and a super upgrade for the F-22.”
@POTUS: “The F-35, we’re doing an upgrade, a simple upgrade, but we’re also doing an F-55… and that’s going to be a substantial upgrade… and then we’re going to do the F-22… it will be a very modern version of the F-22 fighter jet.” pic.twitter.com/5LbsiqneEF
– Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 15, 2025
The fact that the former president wants to convert a single-engine F-35 into a twin-engine F-55 sounds like satire at first – but it is meant seriously. Observers suspect that Trump has either misunderstood future alternative engine concepts (under development at Pratt & Whitney and General Electric) or is confusing the F-35 with the US Navy’s yet-to-be-decided twin-engine F/A-XX program (-> current news about the US armed forces) for a 6th generation carrier aircraft.
The fact that the Chinese Shenyang J-35 is visually reminiscent of a twin-engine F-35 is probably pure coincidence – or perhaps he noticed it while scrolling through Photoshop concepts.
F-22 Super, F-47 and the rest
In addition to the F-55, Trump also spoke of an F-22 Super – according to him, a “very modern version of the F-22, the most beautiful fighter jet in the world”. This probably refers to a planned service life upgrade for part of the operational Raptor fleet, which is currently in preparation.
He also had a few words to say about unmanned combat aircraft – before spontaneously joining the Boeing-Defense Director Kelly Ortberg and asked him to talk about the F-47 – the NGAD aircraft that has been in testing for years but has so far only been presented in Photoshop renderings.
The visibly surprised Ortberg then explained: “The F-47 is the first 6th generation fighter aircraft in the world. We are very much looking forward to its development. For safety reasons, I can’t say much, but we are at an advanced stage.”
Fantasy meets experts – and causes confusion
Despite Trump’s evidently joyfully erratic but unrealistic invention of new patterns and terms – some improvised, some mixed up – there are media outlets that try to elicit at least hypothetical content from his statements. Headlines such as:
- Newsweek: “Donald Trump Announces New F-55 Fighter Jet”
- Defense One“Is Trump’s ‘F-55’ fighter jet real?”
A former senior US Air Force officer commented dryly: “I think he’s confused. Very confused. I don’t even want to imagine what it’s like to brief this man.”
