F-35: The Inside Story of the Lightning II

The inside story of the most expensive and controversial military program in history, as told by those who lived it.

 The F-35 has changed allied combat warfare. But by the time it’s  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 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: the dramatic flights that won  Lockheed Martin the contract over Boeing; the debates and decisions  over capabilities; feats of software, hardware, and aeronautical  engineering that made it possible; how the project survived the  Nunn-McCurdy breach; the conflicts among all three branches of the U.S.  military, between the eight other allied nation partners, and against  spy elements from enemies.

For readers of Skunk Works by Ben Rich and The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, F-35 will  pique the interest of airplane enthusiasts, defense industry insiders,  military history aficionados, political junkies, and general nonfiction  readers.