re: #102 Gus

How many years has it been since that competition between Lockheed and Boeing over the JSF? Seems like at least a decade. Don’t you know of course that having this boondoggle around it the “patriotic” thing to do. To blindly accept the next biggest and greatest leap in aviation technology that comes down the pike. Heck, we all know that Lockheed is looking out for our own best interest. Wink, wink. I’m still waiting to see this thing do anything approaching ACM maneuvers.

Some key dates:

• The Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program was created in 1993, implementing one of the recommendations of a United States Department of Defense (DoD) “Bottom-Up Review to include the United States Navy in the Common Strike Fighter program.”

• Two contracts to develop prototypes were awarded on November 16, 1996, one each to Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

• Joint Strike Fighter was selected in January 2001.

• Contract for System Development and Demonstration (SDD) was awarded on 26 October 2001 to Lockheed Martin.

Hatch date was roughly 19 years ago. Development began 11 years ago. Still waiting while the price nearly doubled and world wide orders have been either cancelled or changed.