Boeing won a contract March 21 to develop a next-generation combat aircraft for the U.S. Air Force that will spearhead future air wars and throw a lifeline to the company’s struggling military aviation business.

Boeing has been awarded the contract to build the U.S. Air Force's most sophisticated fighter jet yet, dubbed the F-47, beating out competition from Lockheed Martin for a program worth more than $20 billion.

A separate Navy contract for its version of the NGAD fighter is still under competition between Northrop Grumman and Boeing.