The Joint Strike Fighter

Military.com has all the details on one of the most exciting and ambitious military engineering projects of recent years, Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter. Imagine trying to design an aircraft to meet these demands:

1. The Air Force needed an aircraft to replace the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the F-16 Falcon in the role of ground attack operations, as well as complement the advanced capabilities of the F-22 air superiority fighter. In addition, the new aircraft's performance had to be significantly better than the F-16C fighters in the current Air Force inventory.

2. The Navy was looking for a multi-role stealthy attack platform to complement its existing fleet of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, optimized for carrier operations. Essential features included good low-speed handling, the ability to handle the stress of catapault launches, and enough fuel to give it twice the range of the F-18C Hornet.

3. The Marine Corps/UK variant presented the greatest engineering challenge: To replace the current Marine Corps A/V-8 Harriers and F/A-18C/Ds (as well as the British Sea Harrier), the JSF would have to be capable of not only vertical takeoffs and landings, but supersonic flight as well.

Suffice it to say that if Lockheed pulls this off (a big if), it will be a marvelous feat. Check out their F-35 homepage for more details.