coupla Full Thrust questions inspire some

> And the RN's new fighter (JSA) still has a pilot. A coincidence that
the
> Ark Royal will be coming out of refit in the same year that the JSA
and
> V-22 start production? I don't think so.
> 
> For those of you that don't know (and it hasn't been widely
publicized),
> the JSA is a mainly American project to produce a Stealthed STOVL
multi-
> role fighter that should cost less than an F-16.
> 
> Think of a hybrid between a Harrier, an F-16 and F117. Stealth,
Vectored
> Thrust AND Multirole. What more do you want? (How about some fluffy
dice
> on the mirror?).

There are currently three manufacturers in the running for the Joint
Strike
Fighter (JSF).	They are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and McDonnell Douglas.
Two of the competitors will be given the go-ahead to build a prototype
for a fly-off to determine the winner of the JSF contract.  We should be
hearing about the two winning bidders soon.

Only the RN and the US Marine version will have the SVTOL capability. 
The
US Navy and US Air Force versions will have specific modifications
suitable
for each services.

Jon Davis
davisje@crd.ge.com