How Boeing Lost the Fighter Jet of the Future

The Boeing X-32 is a concept demonstrator aircraft that was designed for the Joint Strike Fighter competition. It lost to the Lockheed Martin X-35 demonstrator, which was further developed into the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.

In 1993, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter project (CALF). The project's purpose was to develop a stealth-enabled design to replace all of United States Department of Defense lighter weight fighter and attack aircraft, including the F-16 Fighting Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and vertical/short takeoff / vertical landing (V/STOL) AV-8B Harrier II. Around the same time, the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project was started and in 1994, the U.S. Congress ordered the two to be merged into one program under the JAST name, which was renamed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program in 1995.

Many companies took part in the first phase of this project, which involved drafting concept aircraft designs for submission to the Department of Defense. On 16 November 1996, Boeing and Lockheed Martin were awarded contracts for them to produce two of their concept demonstrator aircraft (CDA) each. Under the contract, these fighters were required to demonstrate conventional take-off and landing (CTOL), carrier take-off and landing (CV version), and short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL). They were also expected to include ground demonstrations of a production representative aircraft's systems, such as the Preferred Weapon System Concept (PWSC).

Boeing's strategy for a competitive advantage was to offer substantially lower manufacturing and life-cycle costs by minimizing variations between the different JSF versions. The X-32 therefore was designed around a large one-piece carbon fiber composite delta wing. The wing had a span of 9.15 meters, with a 55-degree leading edge sweep, and could hold up to 20,000 pounds (9,000 kg) of fuel. The purpose of the high sweep angle was to provide limited transonic aerodynamic drag and a good angle for wing-installed conformal antenna equipment. The wing would prove a challenge to fabricate.

By comparison, the Lockheed entry looked like, if anything, a smaller version of the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter. Yet another effect of the selection of the direct-lift system was the large chin-mounted air intake. This was required to feed sufficient air to the main engine (to provide the thrust necessary to hover) during the zero horizontal velocity phase, when it could not exploit ram-air pressure. A knock-on effect of this large intake was the potential direct visibility of the compressor blades to radar (see radar cross-section). Mitigation possibilities included variable baffles designed to block incoming radio waves without adversely affecting airflow.

On 14 December 1999, Boeing unveiled both its concept demonstrators at its plant in Palmdale, California, in front of 5,500 attendees. While the X-32A was expected to make an appearance, the roll out of the X-32B was a surprise, as construction of the latter aircraft had started some three months after the former and was completed six weeks after the X-32A. Boeing attributed the rapid construction of the STOVL version to the use of digital design and assembly methods. After having the Pratt & Whitney F119 engine installed in April 2000, the X-32A commenced low- and medium-speed taxi tests, which had been completed by late May.

On 26 October 2001, the Department of Defense announced that the Lockheed Martin X-35 had won the JSF competition. The X-35 would be developed into the production Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The loss of the JSF contract to Lockheed Martin in 2001 was a major blow to Boeing, as it represented the most important international fighter aircraft project since the Lightweight Fighter program competition of the 1960s and 1970s, which had led to the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet.

At the time, the production run of the JSF was estimated at anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000. Prior to the awarding of the contract, many lawmakers pushed the idea of retaining the losing competitor as a sub-contractor; however, the "winner takes all" principle was not changed. Nonetheless, Boeing views its work on the X-32 as a strategic investment, yielding important technologies which it has been able to adopt in the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and other studies.

#BoeingX32 #LockheedMartin #F35LightningII #StealthFighter #MilitaryAviation #AviationHistory #FighterJets #JSFProgram #AerospaceEngineering #DefenseTechnology #JetDesign #MilitaryAircraft #AircraftComparison #ColdWarTech #USAF #AviationNerd #DeltaWing #AirForceTech #FighterJetCompetition #MilitaryInnovation #AviationGeek #ModernWarfare #BoeingVsLockheed