This is an interesting interview with the program manager of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program back in the 80s and 90s.
He says he wrote a simple requirements spec - that each competitor would build two planes, each using different engines, that must be able to fly under its own power. That’s it.
There was also a meta requirement decided by the Air Force that the plane would be a successor to the F-15, inheriting its role as air superiority fighter, and incorporating stealth tech. But there were no specific requirements on how it was to accomplish that.
Part of his reasoning was that creating a detailed requirements spec would lead to Congress getting involved, resulting in everything and the kitchen sink being included in the spec.
And the other part is, he believed having the top aircraft manufacturers in the world competing for this project with minimal guidelines would result in the best possible design outcomes.
> Part of his reasoning was that creating a detailed requirements spec would lead to Congress getting involved, resulting in everything and the kitchen sink being included in the spec.
This is precisely what happened with the F-35, right?
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 18.1 ms ] threadHe says he wrote a simple requirements spec - that each competitor would build two planes, each using different engines, that must be able to fly under its own power. That’s it.
There was also a meta requirement decided by the Air Force that the plane would be a successor to the F-15, inheriting its role as air superiority fighter, and incorporating stealth tech. But there were no specific requirements on how it was to accomplish that.
Part of his reasoning was that creating a detailed requirements spec would lead to Congress getting involved, resulting in everything and the kitchen sink being included in the spec.
And the other part is, he believed having the top aircraft manufacturers in the world competing for this project with minimal guidelines would result in the best possible design outcomes.
This is precisely what happened with the F-35, right?