F-35 JOINT STRIKE FIGHTER: A Great and Terrible Program

1-252300

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, widely produced and advanced, significantly influences global military power and strategy. Details the primary combat aviation and broader technological trends that have influenced the F-35's development, the aircraft's design features, and ever evolving capabilities; how it has been tested, manufactured, procured, and employed; and the expanding set of roles it has been relied on to fulfill. Interviews are widely drawn on to provide insight into multiple aspects of the program, from its production to its frontline operations. The global nature of the F-35 program, the facilitators of its major export successes, and the aircraft's ability to meet challenges from a range of adversary capabilities, are also detailed, as are the likely future trajectories the program will take moving into the sixth generation era. Hghlights both the tremendous achievements of the program, as well as its many often severe shortcomings. Contains 1 black and white photo, 188 color photos, 23 color profiles, and 2 diagrams.