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Joint Strike Fighter – An International Team Effort
Bristol, United Kingdom — Building the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) is a team effort that joins Boeing people at numerous locations in the United States, as well as supplier partnerships in Europe. In the United Kingdom, Boeing is working with Rolls-Royce to develop the vertical lift propulsion system — an area of expertise Rolls-Royce acquired in designing and building the direct-lift propulsion system for the Harrier AV-8B. The JSF program is global by design. The U.S. Department of Defense has created opportunities for allied governments to participate in the JSF program. The United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Canada are active partners. Such cooperative strategies are a critical component of the U.S. government’s plans for making the JSF an affordable replacement for U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, as well as for those of allied air forces. Boeing is competing to build the JSF under a four-year contract awarded in late 1996. We are building two JSF demonstrator aircraft, one that can operate from conventional airfields as well as aircraft carriers, and a second aircraft that will demonstrate the short-takeoff/vertical landing capability required by the U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Navy.
We are also demonstrating critical technologies, processes and affordability initiatives that support the objective of producing a next-generation strike fighter that is cost-efficient to produce and operate. Advanced design tools are helping us cut design times and costs by 30 to 40 percent, and are expected to reduce production cycle times by 25 percent. A competition winner will be selected in 2001, with actual fighter deployment set for 2008.
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