Battle of the X-Planes

Flight Journal, Aug 2004 by Farmer, James H

Battle of the X-Planes

DFD may be purchased from HistoricAviation.com; $19.95.

Far more satisfying factually and, strangely, emotionally, is the recent PBS "Nova" feature, "Battle of the X-Planes." The drama is palpable; the stakes seldom higher. A potential award of $200 billion and the survival of the contractors' business rest in the balance as they compete for the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) contract: the largest aircraft-acquisition program in the history of the Department of Defense.

To replace the F-16, F/A-18 and Marine Harrier jump jet, the government wants a new JSF at a third of the cost of the new F-22 Raptor. Nova cameras spent more than a year with the two finalists: Lockheed Martin and Boeing. From the boardrooms to Lockheed's famed Skunk Works and Boeing's Phantom Works at Palmdale, California, to the final fly-off at Edwards AFB in the Mojave Desert, "Nova" takes us there. Will Boeing's unsightly X-32 get the nod? Or will it go to Lockheed Martin's X-35? Will the state-of-the-art, thermal plastic Pelican tail or the radically new lift-fan concept make the difference? We know that answer now, but on all counts, this is a truly remarkable film document!

-James H. Farmer