SMA has a long history supporting Lockheed Martin on the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), now F‑35 program, and we are especially proud to support this new book, F‑35 The Inside Story of the Lightning II, the most expensive and controversial military program in history, as told by those who lived it.

We have supported Lockheed Martin across the F‑35 program lifecycle, with capture and proposal development services from the JSF Concept Demonstration Phase win in 1996, through the System Design and Development Phase win in 2001, to the overseas wins for the Japanese Next Generation Fighter in 2011 and the Korean F‑X program in 2014. We have continued to support the F‑35 program with engineering and program management services from Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) through sustainment, and have supported many of Lockheed Martin’s subcontractors on the program.

The F‑35 has changed allied combat warfare. But by the time the project is completed, it will cost more than the Manhattan Project and the B‑2 stealth bomber. It has been subject to the most aggressive cyberattacks in history from China, Russia, North Korea, and others. Its stealth technology required nearly 9 million lines of code; NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover required 2.5 million. And it was *this close* to failure.

F‑35 The Inside Story of the Lightning II is the only inside look at the most advanced aircraft in the world and the historic project that built it, as told by those who were intimately involved in its design, testing, and production. Based on the authors’ personal experience and over 100 interviews, F‑35 pulls back the curtain on one of the most heavily criticized government programs in history from start to finish.

Written by Tom Burbage, Betsy Clark, and Adrian Pitman, with David Poyer, F‑35 will pique the interest of airplane enthusiast, defense industry insiders, military history aficionados, political junkies, and general nonfiction readers.

You can purchase the book from their website here: f35insidestory.shop.

Dick Eassom, CF APMP Fellow, is SMA’s Vice President for Corporate Support, and a certified Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP)