abstract:Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a development and acquisition program intended to replace a wide range of existing fighter, strike, and ground attack aircraft for the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, The Netherlands and their allies. After a competition between the Boeing X-32 and the Lockheed Martin X-35, a final design was chosen based on the X-35.
Most of the third-party studies by experts have concluded that buying an alternate engine to compete with the primary United Technologies engine in the jointstrikefighterprogram would at best bring the government modest operational or budgetary benefits.
Although the Pentagon and the three services that will receive the new aircraft have stated repeatedly their full commitment to the JointStrikeFighter (JSF) F-35 program, its fate is by no means assured, particularly if defense budgets decline further than currently planned.