Lockheed Martin WINS!!!

YourFather SG

Seems like they chose the better plane, after all... I was seriously scared that they would choose the slightly lower risk, but much less capable Boeing entry....
One day, Singapore would most probably get the F-35 (yes, that's its official designation, wondered why they broke protocol and skipped all the numbers in-between), and we might even get the all-up plane with stealth, if America is willing...

Joe Black SG

In actual fact, there were a few reason that the DoD have chosen the Lockheed team. The Boeing team actually present more risks than the Lockheed team in the development phase.

The Lockheed team based the X35 on the F22 (more like a scaled down version). Other than the life fan (which was more like a design taken from the Russian), the overall risks of the project is much lesser than the Boeing team. The prototype is almost close to the development and production design. Minimal changes are need to fine tune the avionics, performance and stealth properties. Just like its bigger brother the YF22 -> F22.

The problem with the Boeing team is that they would have to redesign parts of the X32 frame in teh development stage, eg. the inlet and the frame. That means that there would be design changes, more prototype/development tests and the performance may differ somewhat from the original X32.

Shotgun SG

Anyone knows anything about the F-35? Eg. What radar is it using, APG-77? Anyone knows what its nickname is gonna be? Since the `22 is the Raptor. Whats the mini-version gonna be calleD?