JAST--The road to hell is paved with good intentions

"More specifically, JAST should provide the building blocks for one or more next generation strike fighters to reach IOC in the 2007 to 2010 period."

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"JAST should focus on an acceptable range of requirements with flexibility to adjust as technology expectations collide with reality."

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"JAST should mature and exploit high potential technologies before EMD. Additional time and attention to risk reduction before EMD can provide a shorter time to IOC. Dealing with the reality-expectation mismatch (performance, cost or schedule) during EMD jeopardizes programs."

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The Joint Advanced Strike Technology program (JAST) (note that there is no mention of an aircraft in the name) was an early to-mid 1990's program of good intentions to help give DOD the framework for a future, affordable joint strike aircraft.

Later, it was converted into the Joint Strike Fighter program when DOD was assured the ideals in JAST were addressed, even when they were not. That is an important point. The JAST program was created, but multiple stake-holders in the military industrial congressional complex took it an ran with the idea of making lots of money and career-building bullet-points and no real valid defensive product.

Behavior modification has in the end, not come about.

Also some other things that were not thought of: that due to the F-22, any adversary would be trying to make a counter to that high performance aircraft and not what ever JAST became. JAST spoke of the concepts of having everything and eating it too. Yet, it would not be an F-22 program  which had no short-take-off-and-landing (STOVL) requirement, to  kill performance, reliability, affordability, in a big way.

An interesting old JAST chart with my markings in red.


 (click image to make larger)