The Joint Strike Fighter Program

In 1993 a development and acquisitions program called the Joint Strike Fighter was created by the US Department of Defense to create the ultimate fighter that would be agile, stealthy, and cheap to build. It would replace all the current fighters being used today such as the F-16, F-18, and the F-22 Raptor.
Four companies, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, would submit their designs to the DOD. Only two would be picked to compete in building the last of the ultimate fighter jets. Those two companies would be Lockheed and Boeing.
Lockheed Martin would call their plane the X-35 while Boeing would call theirs the X-32. Lockheed was one of the logical choices because they built the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117, and the F-22 Raptor. Boeing has never built a fighter jet yet they were one of the finalists which I found interesting.
The competition would last for 8 years before only one company was awarded the contract. Both planes would undergo a series of performance tests to satisfy the judges such as vertical takeoff and landing like the Harrier did, mid-air refueling, and reliability during the tests.
Although both aircraft were impressive the X-32 failed in mid-air refueling and vertical takeoff and landing. In fact, parts had to be removed from the X-32 in order to take off and land successfully while the X-35 was able to perform all of its tests without flaw.
At the end of the competition the contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin which didn’t surprise too many people considering the flaws and drawbacks seend with the X-32. If Lockheed had lost the contract it would have, according to many aviation experts, closed its doors and been out of business.
But I write this blog because I believe there's more to this story on why Lockheed was really awarded the contract. What if the competition was really just a public show while something more secret was going on behind the scenes with Lockheed Martin?
According to some researchers like Dr. Richard Boylan, Lockheed Martin was developing a top secret aircraft called the X-22A Anti-Fighter Disc. It was developed using back engineered alien UFO technology. Of course, the public has no knowledge of this, nor do most people who work for the government. Lockheed was secretly awarded this contract without the public's knowledge.
So if Dr. Boylan is right and Lockheed really did develop such an aircraft it would make sense why the DOD, in part, would create the Joint Strike Fighter Program and award the contract to Boeing.
Comments