Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[BondGekko]

The Joint Strike Fighter is a short vertical takeoff and landing stealth fighter. It has been designed, but not actually produced. The design specifications have not yet been publicly released. Northrop Grumman is teamed with McDonnell Douglas and British Aerospace in the competition to build the next-generation Joint Strike Fighter for the United States and the UK. The McDonnell Douglas/Northrop Grumman/British Aerospace team has developed an affordable design to meet the needs of the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and the Royal Navy well into the next century.

The team has selected the Lift + Lift/Cruise concept for the STOVL variant to be used by the Marine Corps and the Royal Navy. In this concept, a separate forward engine will provide lift, while the rear cruise engine will provide rear lift and conventional forward thrust. For development of the lift engine, the team is partnered with General Electric and Allison. The benefits of this propulsion system include minimizing the size of the inlet and main engine bay, maximizing the weapons bring-back potential, and simplifying the manufacture of the JSF.