"John A. Weeks III" wrote in message
...

The F-35 is another violation of the numbering scheme. It
should have been the XF-24 and XF-25 in the flyoff, but it
somehow got slotted into the X- experimental aircraft
numbering sequence as the X-32 and X-35. The X-35 won the
flyoff, and was given the program name of F-35.


The X-32 and X-35 were properly numbered as they were technology
demonstrators, not prototypes. The winner was to have become the F-24 but a
senior defense department official screwed up.