US President Donald Trump says that he is looking for a steep increase in funding this year to develop the US Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet.

The ‘request’ is part of the White House’s supplemental budget plan for the 2017 fiscal year, which seeks to boost the spending plan by $30 billion overall.

The full supplemental request is said to be unlikely to pass Congress because it is primarily funded through the base budget, which is subject to Budget Control Act caps. Lifting the caps would require 60 votes in the Senate, which the White House is forecast not to get.

The supplemental request, unveiled on 16 March, includes a significant rise in R&D funding for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD), now known as Penetrating Counter-Air (PCA), the new ‘air superiority fighter’ planned to replace the F22 Raptor.

President Obama’s fiscal 2017 budget request funded NGAD at just $21 million out of the entire research, development, test and evaluation account. President Trump’s supplemental request increases that funding to $168 million.

White House spokesman Ann Stefanek said: “Due to budget constraints, the Air Force was forced to cut funding for PCA in its fiscal 2017 budget request, which the service expected to delay progress on the program.

“To stay on the time-line that was laid out in the Air Superiority 2030 project, this new money has always been necessary. If we don’t get additional money, we may start to fall behind the original timeline.”