This book analyzes the development and evolution of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a multinational aircraft endeavor involving the U.S. and many of its allies. The author provides a historical overview of jet fighter aircraft, discussing the different generations of these planes and their technical characteristics, as well as an outline of emerging international geopolitical and security trends the F-35 may see combat in. By examining the role of defense industries, domestic politics, and governmental oversight of the Joint Strike Fighter in various countries, the author concludes that this aircraft will be deployed in most of these countries to replace their aging jet fighter fleets and combat potential military aggression from China, Russia, and other revisionist international powers.

The largest procurement program in the Department of Defense (DOD), the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), also called the Lightning II, is a strike fighter aircraft being procured in different versions for the United States Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy. The F-35 Lightning II is intended to replace a variety of existing aircraft in the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, while providing the most supportable, technologically advanced, lethal, and survivable aircraft to date. The F-35 is DOD's most expensive weapon system. This book addresses F-35 program performance during 2012, including testing, technical risks, and software; manufacturing performance indicators, production results, and design changes; and acquisition and sustainment costs going forward. This book also addresses the extent to which DOD has developed an F-35 sustainment strategy and addressed potential risks related to affordability and operational readiness; and developed a reliable O&S cost estimate for the program's life cycle.

Ultimate Fighter tells how a series of little-known technology programs coalesced into a 3,000-airplane plan - the F-35 joint strike fighter (JSF). As one of the first major aircraft programs to start from scratch in the era of information technology, the JSF virtually flies itself, while the pilot manages the mission with the help of very acute high-resolution sensors and displays. The F-35 is one of the biggest single military projects in history - but it was born as a compromise between the needs of three U.S. services in the budget-strapped post-Cold War era. Author Bill Sweetman chronicles the high stakes competition between two aviation giants, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, to build the Joint Strike Fighter - the next generation fighter jet.

The Lockheed Martin X-35 Concept Demonstrator Aircraft was the winning contender in the international Joint Strike Fighter program, which led to X-35 and rival Boeing X-32, both of which were demonstrated in 2000/2001, with the prize being nothing less than domination of the production of 5th generation combat aircraft for the United States and many other countries for the next few decades. The JSF program, which spawned the X-35, was borne out a number of different research programs conducted in the 1980's and 1990's. A number of programs were combined to form a core program to replace a number of different legacy aircraft types on both sides of the Atlantic. The X-35 would be further developed into the F-35 Lightning II 5th generation strike fighter, formerly known as the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter), entering service with air forces on both sides of the Atlantic. This volume details the genesis of the Joint Strike Fighter program and describes the development, manufacture and flight testing of all three variants of the X-35: the X-35A conventional take-off and landing; X-35B short take off and vertical landing and the X-35C aircraft carrier variant, along with an overview of the rival Boeing X-32 design. Chronologies detail the flight test program of the Lockheed Martin X-35 and the Boeing X-32 aircraft.

The Joint Strike Fighter is being developed and the aircraft has been ordered for the Royal Air Force/Navy, the US Air Force, US Navy and US Marine Corps. This book looks at all the many research programs that are taking place in the fields of airframe and engine design, avionics, weapons, radar, countermeasures and propulsion.

In Aircraft Stories noted sociologist of technoscience John Law tells “stories” about a British attempt to build a military aircraft—the TSR2. The intertwining of these stories demonstrates the ways in which particular technological projects can be understood in a world of complex contexts. Law works to upset the binary between the modernist concept of knowledge, subjects, and objects as having centered and concrete essences and the postmodernist notion that all is fragmented and centerless. The structure and content of Aircraft Stories reflect Law’s contention that knowledge, subjects, and—particularly— objects are “fractionally coherent”: that is, they are drawn together without necessarily being centered. In studying the process of this particular aircraft’s design, construction, and eventual cancellation, Law develops a range of metaphors to describe both its fractional character and the ways its various aspects interact with each other. Offering numerous insights into the way we theorize the working of systems, he explores the overlaps between singularity and multiplicity and reveals rich new meaning in such concepts as oscillation, interference, fractionality, and rhizomatic networks. The methodology and insights of Aircraft Stories will be invaluable to students in science and technology studies and will engage others who are interested in the ways that contemporary paradigms have limited our ability to see objects in their true complexity.

Contents: (1) Intro.: Alternate Engine Program; (2) Background: The F-35 In Brief; Three Versions; Alternate Engine Program; Program Origin and Milestones; Procurement Quantities; Program Mgmt.; Internat. Participation; Cost and Funding; Mfg. Locations; Proposed FY 2010 Budget; Proposed Termination of Alternate Engine; (3) Issues for Congress: Alternate Engine Program; Summary of Arguments; Admin. Perspective; Studies on F-35 Alternate Engine; Recent Developments; Development Status and Readiness for Production; Admin. Perspective; Affordability and Projected Fighter Shortfalls; Implications for Industrial Base; (4) Legislative Activity for FY 2010; Summary of Quantities and Funding; FY 2010 Defense Author. Bill. Illus.