Joint strike fighter...and the contract goes to?

Flight Journal, Dec 2001 by Pace, Steve

Both Boeing Airplane Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. successfully completed their respective Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstration aircraft flight-test and evaluation programs before the U.S. government's August 15, 2001 deadline-Boeing on July 28 and Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman/BAE Systems on July 30. As we go to press, the announcement as to which won the right to enter the JSF program's engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) phase has still to be made (it is scheduled for October 26).

Both JSF teams met or exceeded their respective aircraft performance predictions and enjoyed outstanding flight-test programs with each of their assigned flight parameters (CTOL, CV and STOVL). There weren't any aborts, emergency landings, or crashes, and there is little doubt that the JSF flight-test program was one of the most successful in aviation history. Moreover, each company adequately showed its aircraft's multi-flight characteristics, capabilities and design commonalities-the primary government goals of the JSF program.

As the chosen company embarks on its EMD phase, the team will know that it might produce as many as 3,000 to 6,000 aircraft for the United States and its allies. This huge order will be even greater than the one associated with the earlier multi-nation F-16 production program.

-Steve Pace