*You may be wondering what this post is about...and what those awful photos are...*

A few days ago, I published a post about the X-32... **PART 1:**

[https://www.reddit.com/r/FighterJets/comments/1ren13s/x32\_and\_its\_unproduced\_final\_version/](https://www.reddit.com/r/FighterJets/comments/1ren13s/x32_and_its_unproduced_final_version/)

In that post, I asked, when did Boeing announce its “improved” version? (called the “production model”)... or more precisely, when did the public learn about it? (us, ordinary people)

By asking questions (to you, and searching for news), the mockup of that theoretical “production” model appeared in 2000, at the Farnborough International Airshow **2000 in JULY** and at the Oceana Airshow **2000 in SEPTEMBER** (some people here on Reddit told me they were there).

Many YouTubers repeat this over and over again: *“...eight months after beginning construction of the prototype demonstration aircraft...the requirements changed...and Boeing proposed an adapted version”* (this sentence is almost taken from Wikipedia... so many “expert” YouTubers just read what's there.)... In other words: Boeing continued to build the model we all know as the X-32, but when the requirements changed, Boeing planned a new “production” model that was never built... and did so while STILL building the X-32 that actually flew.

eight months? When was that? That was my original question: *when did Boeing publicly announce its “production” model?*

Well, the JSF program began in 1996... so it has to be a date between 1996 and 2000 (the year the X-32 flew... and the year many saw the mockup of the “production” model at an air show).

Then I had an idea: **INTERNET ARCHIVE (archive.org)**... I had to search between 1996 and 2000 in newspapers or aviation websites... but then I said, ***“What if I go to Boeing's news and announcements page? After all, it's public information.”***

It took me a while, but the second photo (in this post) is the news: in 1998, Boeing began construction of the prototype we all know and flew the X-32... then eight months later... **FEBRUARY 4, 1999**: Boeing announces its “refined” or “production” model...(**PIC 2,** of this post) that's it, I figured it out.

And while I was there, I took a look at Boeing's page dedicated to the JSF and its model. A lot has been lost, but there are some unpublished things that haven't been seen in years...

Here are the details:

**-pic 3:** the cover of Boeing's JSF website (last updated October 20, 2001)

**-pic 4, pic 5, pic 6, pic 7:** details of the construction of the X-32... **pic 5** shows the moment when the famous single-piece wing is being installed... if you look at **pic 6** from the front, there is a similarity with the F-47 NGAD, especially in the cockpit.

**-pic 8:** detail of the cockpit of the “production” model

**-pic 9:** Boeing built a model that is not the mockup we saw at air shows; this is a model that was refined for undetectable features. (Compare it with the mockup... and with the F-47, especially its cockpit) **(pic 10 and 11)**

I finally found some rarely seen high-quality photos:

\-The landing photo shows its slats open.

\-The photo with the refueling probe deployed while flying. (I like it!)

***-And advertising brochures published by Boeing.***

As I said, *all this is there, in the Internet Archive, public! In the Boeing news section...* but you have to go through each news item one by one, which is difficult and slow...

There is also news from Boeing about its use of ***virtual reality technology (in 1999!!!)***... And this is interesting... because **pilot Phil “Rowdy” Yates** in the video “Here's Why the Pentagon Didn't Pick the X-32” (an interview, it's on YouTube) said that Boeing Phantom Works employees used tablets to view blueprints while they worked (when they didn't exist outside).

He said that one advantage Boeing had over Lockheed was that Boeing had greater production capacity in terms of volume.... and someone who commented on that video (the one with the pilot interview) said that yes, it did have greater production capacity, but at the cost of having problems (in the construction of the wings and other areas) and that Boeing was focused on “simplification” but to save costs...not to do it better...that's why they used technology: to save on more work...which unfortunately then led to more work.

There were also problems between Boeing and McDonnell Douglas and the difference in methods for making plans and converting them between them... (or something like that).

Boeing's approach to the JSF is VERY well known: “make it cheap.” In fact, that was the “big” advantage over the F-35 (which is why the X-32 had a single-piece wing)... but it had its problems.

**Conclusions about the latter:** that was in the 2000s, and you could already see what Boeing was like with its approach to business and its projects... Currently, you can see that in the **Starliner, 737 MAX, and the new KC-46**... And seeing that Boeing “copied and pasted” with the X-32... *Will the F-47 be the next one with problems?*







X-32 and its unproduced "final" version- PART 2 (photos of the construction, the “production” version, promotional brochures, and more)