F-35 Lightning II

The F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine fifth-generation stealth multirole fighters developed by Lockheed Martin, built in three variants, the conventional F-35A, the short-takeoff and vertical-landing F-35B, and the carrier-based F-35C, to meet the needs of the United States Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy respectively within one shared airframe program. Descended from the Joint Strike Fighter competition Lockheed Martin won in 2001 over Boeing's rival design, the F-35 entered operational service beginning in 2015, and it emphasizes stealth, networked sensor fusion sharing data among aircraft, and advanced avionics over the raw air-to-air performance prioritized by earlier fighters such as the F-22. More than a dozen countries operate or have ordered the F-35, making it the most widely adopted fifth-generation fighter in the world, though the program has drawn sustained criticism over its cost, which became the most expensive weapons program in history, and over recurring software and maintenance issues during its long development.