It's official, Lockheed Martin has been selected as the winner in the Joint Strike Fighter competition. 3000 planes, upwards of $200 BILLION....yowza. Sucks for Boeing, but apparently the decision comes as no surprise, given LockMart's financial situation.

Personally I was rooting for Boeing b/c (a) it doesn't look exactly like the F-22, and (b) You can't tell me that that lift fan/swiveling exhaust duct system is going to be reliable. Oh well...I'm sure Congress will find a way to spread the wealth a little anyway.

 

I just got back from some logistics classes in Atlanta. I was at the Lockheed Martin plant there in Marietta. I must say that the JSF they are building (and the F-22 for that matter) is an awesome airplane. I can't wait to see these things fly first hand.

 

I work for the company that writes the software that Boeing and Lockheed both use to design and manufacture airplanes. I've been to the Marietta plant and saw some of the assembly line for the JSF. AWESOME. I would say more, but I would be hunted down and killed for it.

 

Great news for Rolls Royce

 

Boooooooooo hiss !

My wife, some friends and S2KI board members work for Boeing
Military Aircraft and missiles division. The news today was a major disappointment for all the people who worked so hard on the JSF project.

The good news is that Lockheed will remain stable as will
Boeing.

 

I saw some clips of the JSF on TV tonight ... I guess prototype planes? Man, the vertical takeoff thing was disturbing to see, I've never seen anything like that before ... w/ supersonic capability and the ability to land and takeoff vertically will make that a serious fighter jet for the next generation. I'm impressed.

 

I work for the LM folks...diff "business unit", but part of the collective nonetheless

Good day for the Corp and stocks.

Don't want to start a war, but what was up with the shape of the Boeing entry. It was reported to have been dubbed a not too kind nickname of "Monica" by some of the Gov't. I know looks should not make much of a diff., after all the thing is supposed to be a Fighter Jet. Since human pilots fly the thing, I wonder why Boeing would seemingly ignore the ego of the fighter jock....With all else equal or nearly so, would you want to fly the "Monica"?

 

From what I've read the majority of the test pilots preferred the Boing. It all came down to keeping L/M afloat, not which aircraft was better. I should not that I have not read anything that said the L/M craft was significantly worse in operation, athough the flight records for the two definately favor the Boeing prototypes (no crashes w/2x as many hours is a good thing.

 

There goes my 401K down the toilet some more. I'm sure there will be a mass layoff in Boeing for this. Lots of people on the JSF contract. Good news for my wife as she has a significant amount of parts on the engine for the plane. And that is a lot of planes!

Just remember. The airplane you are flying was built by the lowest bidder!

 

I understand the majority of the planes will be built at the L-M plant in Fort Worth, TX; that should be a real shot in the arm for the DFW area economy. That old plant has been the lifeblood of Fort Worth's economy for over fifty years, under different ownership. They've built everything there from the B-36 and B-58 to FB-111s and F-16s.

I can still remember vividly the old B-36s flying high over my house with their six turboprop engines in full song, with a condensation trail of several miles streaming behind them. If you want to hear how they sounded, go to:
http://www.west.net/~brianl/peacemkr.htm