Advertisements

Aviation / Aerospace

Boeing X-32 JSF (Joint Stike Fighter)

Technology Demonstrator [ 2000 ]

The Boeing X-32 competed - and failed - against the Lockheed submission, which went on to become the F-35.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 04/25/2016 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Top down view of the Boeing X-32 in flight

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

The Boeing X-32 was a prototype aircraft developed for the US military's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The Boeing submission faced off against the Lockheed X-35 which went on to win the lucrative defense contract, leaving the X-32 to the pages of military aviation history. The Lockheed X-35 saw further development before becoming the F-35 "Lightning II" multi-role, VTOL-capable (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft for the United States Air Force. The F-35 is expected to be formally introduced after 2016.

The Joint Strike Fighter Program was born in 1994 in an effort to streamline requirements by both the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the United States Department of Defense (US DoD). The purpose of the program would be to develop a multi-role minded aircraft capable of short, vertical and conventional take-offs and landings and deliver advanced ordnance within cost. The aircraft would replace a slew of modern though aging types in service with the US military. Initial proposals were submitted with The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin being selected for their design concepts in 1996. The program would be government-funded to help contain project costs in the long-term and each company would be charged with producing a pair of prototypes for evaluation. The JSF winner would ultimately stock hundreds, possibly thousands of examples within the US inventory with international sales possible.

The Boeing submission was designated as the "X-32". At its core, it was a sleek design offering with sharp angles worked seamlessly into smooth contours utilizing all learned concepts of "stealth" flight and radar evasion. The cockpit was set to the front of the fuselage behind a short nose assembly. The delta-shaped wings were high-mounted and negated the use of conventional tailplanes while the empennage sported a pair of outward canted vertical tail fins. Power was supplied from a single Pratt & Whitney F119 series turbofan engine of 28,000lbs thrust capable of afterburning (43,000lbs thrust) and aspirated through a chin-mounted air-intake assembly. This intake duct system promoted a very deep fuselage appearance for the X-32, giving it its unique shape. The engine exhausted at the rear through a specially developed port intended to minimize the aircraft's radar signature. The undercarriage was of a conventional tricycle arrangement with a pair of single-wheeled main legs under each wing and a single-wheeled nose leg under the intake assembly. The pilot held a commanding view of the action around the aircraft thanks to a raised cockpit position and lightly-framed canopy design. The canopy opened by sliding rearwards.©MilitaryFactory.com

Advertisements

As the program was already progressing at full speed when a revised United States Navy requirement forced the Boeing team to revise the wing assemblies of their prototypes. The USN sought a revised fighter design with improved agility and broader ordnance capabilities to which Boeing engineers, much to their chagrin, obliged. The X-32 emerged with more conventional swept-back wing assemblies as well as horizontal tailplanes no installed at the rear. This design alteration would go on to prove one of the damning events for the X-32 project. The other issue lay in the Boeing team's decision to produce two separate prototypes to fulfill the conventional take-off and landing and VTOL evaluations. Lockheed, on the other hand, managed to develop a single prototype to showcase both actions which certainly helped its chances of winning.

First flight of the Boeing X-32 prototype occurred on September 18th, 2000 with a successful conventional take-off and landing. The VTOL test then followed through the second prototype on March 29th, 2001. The Pratt & Whitney engine allowed for a top speed of Mach 1.6 (1,200 miles per hour) while range was 1,574 kilometers in the X-32's conventional take-off and landing arrangement. The VTOL version - primarily for use off space-strapped carrier decks - showcased a range of 1,112 kilometers. Flight testing would end in July of 2001.

Proposed armament included an internal 20mm M61A2 series cannon. All principle ordnance would have been shielded within internal weapons bays to either side of the fuselage. This would house a possible mix of air-to-air missiles as well as the latest in guided bombs. The X-32 also could be modified to accept externally-mounted ordnance as optional (this to include plumbing for external fuel tanks increasing operational ranges). The proposed international version of the production X-32 would have featured the 27mm Mauser BK-27 series internal cannon and comparable missiles/guided bombs.

After evaluation of both systems, the Lockheed design was selected as the winner, dooming the X-32. The primary deciding factor ultimately came from Lockheed's use of a "shaft-driven" lift fan as opposed to Boeing's thrust vectoring "direct-lift" system. While more costly and unproven, the Lockheed design initiative prevailed over Boeing's "safer" endeavor. The two X-32 prototypes were then handed down to museums as showpieces while some systems devised during development for the X-32 have gone on to see implementation in Boeing's current stable of US military aircraft - proving that all was not lost.

The X-32A prototype completed 66 flights while the X-32B prototype managed 78 flights.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

2000

Origin

United States

Crew

1

Production

2
UNITS

Boeing Company - USA

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

United States

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

Length

45.0 ft
(13.72 m)

Width/Span

36.0 ft
(10.97 m)

Height

17.3 ft
(5.28 m)

MTOW

37,920 lb
(17,200 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the Boeing X-32A JSF production variant)

Installed: 2 x Pratt & Whitney F135 turbofan engines generating up to 43,000lbs of thrust with afterburning.

Max Speed

1,243 mph
(2,000 kph | 1,080 kts)

Ceiling

50,000 ft
(15,240 m | 9 mi)

Range

979 mi
(1,575 km | 2,917 nm)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the Boeing X-32A JSF production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
1 x 20mm M61A-2 cannon OR 1 x 27mm Mauser BK-27 cannon

Mission-specific ordnance would have included any of the following:

2 OR 6 x AMRAAM air-to-air missiles held in internal bays.
2 x 2,000lb guided bombs held in internal bays in place of four AMRAAM units.

Maximum external loadout was reported to be about 15,000lbs of ordnance.

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft automatic cannon

Graphical image of an aircraft Gatling-style rotating gun

Graphical image of an air-to-air missile weapon

Graphical image of a short-range air-to-air missile

Graphical image of a medium-range air-to-air missile

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

Graphical image of an aircraft guided bomb munition

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 0

X-32A - Initial Prototype Model

X-32B - Secondary and Final Prototype Model

Cockpit image of the Boeing X-32 JSF (Joint Stike Fighter)

Cockpit image represents the Boeing X-32 Joint Strike Fighter production model.

Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force

Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway

Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift

Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War

Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars

Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War

Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War

Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War

Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War

Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War

Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery

1 / 15

Image of the Boeing X-32 JSF (Joint Stike Fighter)

Top down view of the Boeing X-32 in flight

2 / 15

The Boeing X-32 conducting VTOL testing

3 / 15

View of the Boeing X-32 open weapons bay

4 / 15

5 / 15

6 / 15

7 / 15

8 / 15

9 / 15

10 / 15

11 / 15

12 / 15

13 / 15

14 / 15

15 / 15

❮ ❯

Advertisements

Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies

2023 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing military medals and ribbons.

View day-by-day actions of the American Civil War with CivilWarTimeline.net. View day-by-day actions of World War II with SecondWorldWarHistory.com.

©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)