The Future

Over the course of the next year, both the X-32 and the X-35 will perform flight tests and another supersonic STOVL fighter will have taken to the skies. However, the JSF will be the first supersonic STOVL aircraft to enter production and serve with the military.

The JSF Program Office will decide which aircraft design will prevail following the evaluation of information produced during the flight test program. There has been much talk about whether or not the Pentagon will award a winner-take-all contract for the JSF. It is quite possible that the production of the fighter may be split between the two contractors in order to sustain the industrial base. Whatever the outcome of the selection, within the next decade there will be another supersonic STOVL fighter serving the US and her allies.