Aviation Week reports:
Boeing is touting an even newer version of its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet that, paired with an advanced sixth-generation fighter in the works at the company, would give customers what Boeing deems a better package of capabilities than Lockheed Martin's combination of the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The idea is that customers could buy 4.5 generation Super Hornets (perhaps 4.75 generation with the planned extra forward stealth and extra range of Block 3 aircraft) and then switch to a new, sixth generation faster than if they bought the fifth generation Joint Strike Fighter. To be available circa 2024, the sixth generation aircraft would feature a combat radius of more than 1,000 miles and stealth against a much wider spectrum of radars.
The Joint Strike Fighter isn't a done deal, and the leadership at the Pentagon seems dead set against buying anymore F-22s beyond the four they just ordered to keep the production line open past 2011. If Boeing can put something together that would offer a real leap beyond JSF--it isn't so far fetched that they could divide and conquer.