Battle of the X-Planes takes you behind the scenes of an intense five-year competition between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to see who will produce a single airplane design -- the Joint Strike Fighter -- to meet the needs of three U.S. armed forces: the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Answer the following questions as you watch:

1. List the specifications required by each branch of the armed services for the Joint Strike Fighter.

2. Give examples of how the Boeing and Lockheed Martin planes can meet the same criteria even though their designs are very different.

3. Notice how much of the design is worked out before assembly with the aid of computers and flight simulators. Why do the companies do it this way?

4. If computers can do so much of the work, why does anyone need to take physics courses?