F-32 Fighter Jet: The Dream of Boeing X-32 That Didn’t Come True

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F32 fighter jet – The Air Force (USA) has a long history with its fighter jets. In 1990 the US Airforce held a fighter aircraft procurement competition (Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) to serve various types of secret missions from the US Air Force. This is what underlies the birth of various well-known fighter jets belonging to the US Air Force such as the A-10, F-15, F-104 and A-6. But there is one aircraft that was not built, namely the X-32 which may be the basis for the birth of the F-32 Fighter jet.

JSF at that time was very important in presenting a reliable fighter in various US Air Force tasks such as users of fast network connectivity and good radar capabilities.

X-32 as Runner Up of JSF

There were four proposals submitted to the JSF, and the first winner was the Lockheed X-35 which underlies the birth of the F-35 fighter jet, then ranked second followed by Boeing’s X-32. If the X-32 won the competition, maybe we will now see how great and sophisticated this aircraft is.

X-32 Design

Many thought that the X-32 was still immature to serve the US Air Force at that time, the X32 had a distinctive design such as showing the nose of the plane being cut off and there were even some who considered this plane to be ugly and not aesthetically pleasing and modern.

Aesthetics are certainly not Boeing’s main guide in building the X-32. Boeing used carbon fiber for my delta planes to design several variants of the X-32. Boeing has also designed an aircraft design vector that allows the aircraft to perform Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (SVTOL) as expected by the US Marine, as well as low maintenance and manufacturing costs.

Disadvantages of the X-32 over the X-35 at JSF

The X-32 had several drawbacks when compared to the X-35 at the time, for switching the x32 supersonic mode to SVTOL mode it required a configuration that had to be reset, while the X=35 had a direct flight mode transition from Supersonic to SVTOL while the flight was still in progress.

The Boeing X-32 uses a Pratt & Whitney YF-119 turbofan engine that produces a maximum speed of up to Mach 1.

JSF is not yet interested in the features offered by the Boeing X-32 and prefers the X-35 Lockheed. Now the X-32 A variant is on display in the courtyard of the United States Air Force National Museum while the X-32 B Variant is on display at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum. The X-32 now looks like it’s been abandoned in that place after failing to win the JSF.

F-32 Fighter Jet

Maybe in the future it is not impossible, the US Airforce ordered the Boeing X-32 which has been perfected and becomes a great F-32 Fighter Jet and is recognized by other countries.

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