{"id":4162559,"date":"2026-07-07T11:56:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T09:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=4162559"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:50:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:50:43","slug":"great-military-aircraft-competitions-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/de\/great-military-aircraft-competitions-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Die Duelle, die \u00fcber die amerikanische Luftmacht entschieden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style><\/p>\r\n<p>On the afternoon of 26 October 2001, Boeing chairman Phil Condit stood with his Joint Strike Fighter chief, Frank Statkus, in front of a television carrying a live feed from the Pentagon. The largest defence contract in history \u2014 one stealth fighter for four armed services, potentially more than 200 billion dollars \u2014 was about to be awarded, and there were only two possible names. When the verdict came, Statkus asked the only question that mattered: \u201cIs it a winner-take-all, Phil?\u201d \u201cAt this point the answer is yes,\u201d Condit answered. The name read out had been Lockheed Martin.<\/p>\r\n<p>That is what a fly-off feels like from the losing side: years of work, thousands of careers and the industrial future of a company compressed into a single sentence read from a podium. The United States has settled its biggest aviation questions this way for half a century \u2014 build the competing machines, fly them against each other, then let a committee, a formula and, inevitably, politics decide.<\/p>\r\n<p>This is the story of how that machine works, told through the three most consequential aircraft competitions of the modern era \u2014 each of which we have covered in a full deep-dive you can jump to below.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f5f5f5; border-radius: 8px; padding: 20px 24px; margin: 24px 0;\">\r\n<p style=\"margin: 0 0 10px; font-weight: bold; font-size: 17px;\">Quick Facts: The Great Aircraft Competitions<\/p>\r\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.6;\">\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">What<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">Head-to-head prototype fly-offs and source selections for US military aircraft<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">ATF, 1986\u20131991<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">Lockheed\u2019s YF-22 beats Northrop\u2019s YF-23 the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-22-raptor\">F-22<\/a> Raptor<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">JSF, 1996\u20132001<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">Lockheed\u2019s X-35 beats Boeing\u2019s X-32 the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-35-lightning-ii\">F-35<\/a> Lightning II<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">KC-X, 2001\u20132011<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">Boeing beats Northrop Grumman\/EADS after a scandal, a protest and a rebid the KC-46<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">Common thread<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">Politics is not a distortion of the process \u2014 it is part of the process<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 12px 4px 0; font-weight: 600; white-space: nowrap; vertical-align: top;\">Next up<\/td>\r\n<td style=\"padding: 4px 0;\">GCAP in Europe and Japan, the F-47 and collaborative combat aircraft in the US<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">What a Fly-Off Really Decides<\/h2>\r\n<p>A fly-off is the closest thing procurement has to a duel. Instead of choosing between paper promises, the customer pays two industry teams to build real, flying prototypes and demonstrate them head to head. The 1974 Lightweight Fighter competition set the modern template: the YF-16 beat the YF-17, and \u2014 in a twist that still comforts losing bidders \u2014 the loser evolved into the Navy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/fa-18-hornet\">F\/A-18<\/a>. Sometimes even second place ships.<\/p>\r\n<p>But the aircraft are only half the contest. A modern source selection weighs cost, risk, programme management and industrial credibility alongside raw performance \u2014 and behind those criteria stand senators counting jobs in their states, allies watching for signals, and services fighting over budgets. The three competitions below were all, in the end, decided by some blend of engineering and politics. The blend is the point.<\/p>\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">Stealth Against Stealth: the ATF, 1986\u20131991<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Advanced Tactical Fighter contest pitted Northrop\u2019s YF-23 \u2014 a diamond-winged apparition built for stealth and pure speed \u2014 against Lockheed\u2019s YF-22, an agile showman with thrust-vectoring nozzles that fired live missiles during the demonstration. Both prototypes flew in 1990. Both met the requirements.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B77HEioDtFI\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>On 23 April 1991, Air Force Secretary Donald Rice picked Lockheed, citing confidence that its team could deliver on cost \u2014 a polite way of noting that Northrop\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/b-2-spirit\">B-2<\/a> programme had bruised its reputation in Washington just as the bill came due. Test pilot Paul Metz, who flew the YF-23 first and later made the F-22\u2019s first flight as well, has argued the jets were equals in the air \u2014 and that Lockheed simply out-sold Northrop on the ground.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=993933288  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/yf-23-top-view-planform.jpg\" alt=\"Top view of the Northrop YF-23 in flight showing its diamond wing\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The shape that lost: the YF-23\u2019s diamond planform made it arguably the stealthier, faster jet \u2014 and it still was not enough. US Air Force photo<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"background: #eef3ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 14px 18px; margin: 18px 0 26px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-weight: 600; font-size: 16px;\"><a style=\"color: #2b5fd9; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/yf-23-vs-yf-22-atf-competition\/\">\u25b8 Read the full story: The Best Fighter That Never Was (YF-23 vs YF-22)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The Tanker Decade: KC-X, 2001\u20132011<\/h2>\r\n<p>No competition shows the politics more nakedly than the ten-year war to replace the KC-135 tanker. It opened with a lease deal that collapsed when the Air Force\u2019s top acquisition negotiator went to prison for favouring Boeing while negotiating a job there. The clean rebid then produced a thunderclap: in February 2008, Northrop Grumman and Europe\u2019s EADS beat Boeing with an Airbus-based tanker.<\/p>\r\n<p>Congress erupted along state lines, Boeing protested, and the Government Accountability Office found the Air Force had made \u201ca number of significant errors\u201d \u2014 voiding the award. The rewritten rebid drove Northrop out; EADS fought on alone and lost on price to Boeing\u2019s KC-46 in February 2011. Alabama\u2019s senator saw darker forces at work.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7;\"><em>\u201c[The EADS plane] clearly offers the more capable aircraft. If this decision stands, our war-fighters will not get the superior equipment they deserve.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Senator Richard Shelby<\/strong> \u2014 (R-Alabama), after the 2011 KC-X decision<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=460089586  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/kc-46a-pegasus-refuels-f-15e.jpg\" alt=\"Boeing KC-46A Pegasus refueling an F-15E Strike Eagle\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The winner at work: a KC-46A Pegasus refuels an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15e-strike-eagle\">F-15E<\/a> Strike Eagle. Victory cost Boeing more than seven billion dollars in overruns. US Air Force photo<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>The epilogue is pure irony: the losing A330 tanker became the export champion of the Western world, and the Mobile, Alabama factory built for it now assembles Airbus airliners for American carriers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ySEhuasw0Rs\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"background: #eef3ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 14px 18px; margin: 18px 0 26px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-weight: 600; font-size: 16px;\"><a style=\"color: #2b5fd9; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/kc-x-tanker-war-airbus-boeing\/\">\u25b8 Read the full story: The Tanker War Washington Fought With Itself (KC-X)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">One Plane to Rule Them All: JSF, 1996\u20132001<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Joint Strike Fighter competition asked Boeing and Lockheed Martin to solve the same impossible brief \u2014 one affordable stealth fighter for the Air Force, Navy, Marines and the United Kingdom \u2014 and bet the entire production run on the winner. Boeing chose simple, proven direct lift for the vertical-landing version; Lockheed gambled on a shaft-driven lift fan no one had ever flown.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; margin: 24px 0;\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0; border-radius: 8px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Bbe6vRwTmg8\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-no-lazy=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>The gamble paid. In July 2001 the X-35B took off in under 500 feet, went supersonic and landed vertically in a single flight \u2014 a historic first \u2014 while Boeing\u2019s portly X-32, unkindly nicknamed \u201cMonica,\u201d was flying a shape its own engineers had already redesigned away. On 26 October 2001 the Pentagon made it official.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background: #f8f9fa; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 20px 22px; margin: 18px 0 24px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7;\"><em>\u201cWe are here today to announce the largest acquisition program in the history of the Department of Defense, the Joint Strike Fighter. The value of the program could be in excess of two hundred billion dollars.\u201d<\/em>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; color: #555;\"><strong>Edward C. \u201cPete\u201d Aldridge<\/strong> \u2014 US Undersecretary of Defense, announcing the JSF decision, 26 October 2001<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin: 0 0 24px;\"><img data-opt-id=1752733380  decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; border-radius: 6px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/07\/x-35-flight-test-edwards.jpg\" alt=\"Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator in flight test at Edwards AFB\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" \/>\r\n<figcaption style=\"font-size: 13px; color: #777; text-align: center; margin-top: 6px; font-style: italic;\">The X-35 in flight test at Edwards. Its descendants now fly with some 20 air forces. US Air Force photo<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Whether winner-take-all was wise is still debated every time an F-35 cost estimate lands on a desk in Washington. But as an exercise in competitive engineering, the JSF fly-off remains the gold standard \u2014 and thanks to a NOVA camera crew, the best-documented duel in aviation history.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"background: #eef3ff; border-left: 4px solid #5C91FF; padding: 14px 18px; margin: 18px 0 26px; border-radius: 0 8px 8px 0; font-weight: 600; font-size: 16px;\"><a style=\"color: #2b5fd9; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/x-32-vs-x-35-jsf-competition\/\">\u25b8 Read the full story: One Plane to Rule Them All (X-32 vs X-35)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top: 22px;\">The Next Duels<\/h2>\r\n<p>The format is evolving, not dying. In the United States, the F-47 next-generation fighter went to Boeing in 2025 after a largely classified contest, and the real competition has shifted to swarms: rival teams are now flying competing collaborative combat aircraft \u2014 the drone wingmen that will fight alongside crewed jets.<\/p>\r\n<p>Europe, meanwhile, is running its own experiment in how not to compete. The Franco-German-Spanish FCAS programme <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/europe-fcas-ngf-fighter-cancelled-dassault-airbus\/\">collapsed under the weight of its own workshare politics<\/a>, while Britain, Italy and Japan\u2019s GCAP consortium <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/gcap-edgewing-4-6-billion-fighter-contract-2026\/\">signed a multi-billion-pound contract with its EdgeWing joint venture<\/a> and kept moving. Different continents, same lesson: the aircraft is only ever half the contest.<\/p>\r\n<p>Somewhere in a hangar right now sits a prototype that will lose the next great fly-off \u2014 and, if history is any guide, it may be brilliant, beloved and argued about for the next forty years. That, too, is part of how air power gets decided.<\/p>\r\n<p><em>Sources: Wikipedia (Advanced Tactical Fighter, Joint Strike Fighter program, KC-X), PBS NOVA \u201cBattle of the X-Planes\u201d, US GAO, The War Zone, Air &amp; Space Forces Magazine, Aerospace America \/ AIAA<\/em><\/p>\r\n<!-- mf-faq -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-block\"><style>.mf-faq-block{margin:34px 0}.mf-faq-item:not([open]) .mf-faq-answer{display:none !important}.mf-faq-block h2.mf-faq-h{padding-top:22px;margin-bottom:14px}.mf-faq-item{border:1px solid #e2e8f5;border-radius:8px;margin:0 0 10px;background:#fff}.mf-faq-item summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;padding:15px 50px 15px 18px;font-weight:600;color:#1a1a1a;position:relative;line-height:1.45;user-select:none}.mf-faq-item summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mf-faq-item summary::after{content:\"+\";position:absolute;right:18px;top:50%;transform:translateY(-50%);font-size:1.5em;font-weight:400;color:#5C91FF;line-height:1}.mf-faq-item[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mf-faq-item[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #eef1f8}.mf-faq-item summary:hover{background:#f5f8ff}.mf-faq-answer{padding:14px 18px;color:#333;line-height:1.6}.mf-faq-answer p{margin:0}.mf-faq-answer a{color:#5C91FF}<\/style>\r\n<h2 class=\"mf-faq-h\">Related Questions<\/h2>\r\n<details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What is a fly-off in military aircraft procurement?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>A fly-off is a head-to-head contest in which the customer pays two industry teams to build real, flying prototypes and demonstrate them against each other, rather than choosing between paper proposals. The US military has settled its biggest aircraft decisions this way for half a century, using the results to pick winners for multibillion-dollar production programmes.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition ran from 1986 to 1991 to choose the US Air Force's next stealth fighter. Lockheed's YF-22 flew off against Northrop's YF-23. Lockheed won, and its design entered service as the F-22 Raptor, still the benchmark air-superiority fighter and a forerunner of today's <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/gcap-edgewing-4-6-billion-fighter-contract-2026\/\">sixth-generation programmes<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Which aircraft won the Joint Strike Fighter competition?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Lockheed Martin won the Joint Strike Fighter competition in 2001, when its X-35 beat Boeing's X-32 in a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/x-32-vs-x-35-jsf-competition\/\">concept demonstration fly-off<\/a>. The winning design became the F-35 Lightning II, now flown by around 20 nations. The programme was valued at more than $200 billion, the largest defence acquisition in history at the time.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was the KC-X tanker competition?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The KC-X competition was a long, contentious contest to replace the US Air Force's ageing KC-135 aerial refuelling tankers with 179 new aircraft. After a scandal, a protest and a rebid, <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/kc-x-tanker-war-airbus-boeing\/\">Boeing eventually won<\/a> with its 767-based KC-46A in 2011. The saga showed how politics and procurement are deeply intertwined in major defence programmes.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Did the YF-23 lose to the F-22?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Yes. Northrop's YF-23 lost the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition to Lockheed's YF-22 in 1991. Despite the YF-23's speed and stealth, the Air Force chose the YF-22, which became the F-22 Raptor. The YF-23 prototypes survive in museums and remain a favourite \"what-if\" among aviation enthusiasts.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>What was the 1974 Lightweight Fighter competition?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>The 1974 Lightweight Fighter competition pitted General Dynamics' YF-16 against Northrop's YF-17. The YF-16 won and became the hugely successful <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-16-fighting-falcon\">F-16<\/a> Fighting Falcon. In a twist that still comforts losing bidders, the YF-17 was later developed by the US Navy into the F\/A-18 Hornet, so both prototypes ultimately spawned frontline fighters.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><details class=\"mf-faq-item\">\r\n<summary>Why is politics part of military aircraft competitions?<\/summary>\r\n<div class=\"mf-faq-answer\">\r\n<p>Politics is woven into aircraft competitions because the contracts involve tens of billions of dollars, thousands of jobs and the industrial future of entire companies. Congressional interest, home-state factories and protests to oversight bodies all shape outcomes. As the KC-X tanker fight showed, politics is not a distortion of the process but a built-in part of it.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/details><\/div>\r\n<p><script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is a fly-off in military aircraft procurement?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A fly-off is a head-to-head contest in which the customer pays two industry teams to build real, flying prototypes and demonstrate them against each other, rather than choosing between paper proposals. The US military has settled its biggest aircraft decisions this way for half a century, using the results to pick winners for multibillion-dollar production programmes.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition ran from 1986 to 1991 to choose the US Air Force's next stealth fighter. Lockheed's YF-22 flew off against Northrop's YF-23. Lockheed won, and its design entered service as the F-22 Raptor, still the benchmark air-superiority fighter and a forerunner of today's <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/gcap-edgewing-4-6-billion-fighter-contract-2026\/\\\">sixth-generation programmes<\/a>.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Which aircraft won the Joint Strike Fighter competition?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Lockheed Martin won the Joint Strike Fighter competition in 2001, when its X-35 beat Boeing's X-32 in a <a href=\\\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/x-32-vs-x-35-jsf-competition\/\\\">concept demonstration fly-off<\/a>. The winning design became the F-35 Lightning II, now flown by around 20 nations. 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The largest defence contract in history \u2014 one stealth fighter for four armed services, potentially more than 200 billion dollars \u2014 was about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":4160665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4162559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Great Military Aircraft Competitions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A series on the great military aircraft competitions, the fly-off contests that decided which fighters and bombers would rule the skies.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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