Farmane-Ilahi

WASHINGTON (Web Desk) President Donald Trump has awarded Boeing a multi-billion dollar contract to build the US Air Force's most advanced fighter jet, the Next Generation Air Dominance aircraft, BBC reported.

Trump described the high-speed stealth aircraft, dubbed the F-47, as the "most lethal aircraft ever built" and said a version has been secretly flying for the last five years.

The jet will replace Lockheed Martin's F-22 with an aircraft that is also designed to fly alongside unmanned drones in combat, Trump announced at the White House, BBC reported.

The exact value of the contract remains undisclosed, but it is a boost for Boeing, which has struggled with sluggish commercial and military sales, as well as high-profile safety issues.

The design of the "sixth-generation" aircraft remains a closely guarded secret, but reportedly includes high advanced sensors and engines in addition to their stealth capabilities, BBC reported.

An artistic rendering alongside Trump in the Oval Office of the White House only showed a small part of the aircraft and front landing gear.

"There's never been anything even close to it, from speed to manoeuverability, to what it can have, to payload," Trump said.

The president also mentioned that the US military had selected the number 47 - which he described as a "beautiful number" - for the aircraft. He is the 45th and 47th President of the US.

"The generals picked that title," he said.

The Boeing deal also marks a defeat for competitor Lockheed Martin, which was recently eliminated from a separate competition to build a next-generation aircraft for the US Navy.

Sales of the company's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a fifth-generation aircraft, could also be threatened by mounting trade tensions between the US and its allies abroad.