when the pilot is wearing his special helmet, he can look down and the computer projects an image of the ground on the helmet so that he can essentially look "through" his feet)
Oh,
You mean that sexy helmet that gals swoon over?
No Maverick here.
In 1988, McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics won the US Navy Advanced Tactical Aircraft (ATA) contract. The $US4.83 billion contract was to develop the A-12 Avenger II, a stealthy, carrier-based, long range flying wing attack aircraft that would replace the A-6 Intruder. Technical issues, over 2 billion dollars in development cost overruns, growing unit costs, and continuous delays led to the termination of the program on January 13, 1991 by then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. A decade of litigation would proceed over the contract termination: the government claimed that the contractors had defaulted on the contract and were not entitled to a final 1.3 billion dollars in progress payments while McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics believed that the contract was terminated out of convenience and thus the money was owed.
Following the end of the Cold War, the curtailment in military procurements combined with the loss of the contracts for two major projects: the Advanced Tactical Fighter and Joint Strike Fighter, severely hurt McDonnell Douglas.
In the JAST later called the joint strike fighter competition, there were three companies: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and McDonnell Douglas. The military did not like the Northrop Grumman-McDonnell Douglas companies or it’s design.
In 1997, Boeing merged with McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas management was very aggressive and essentially took over Boeing management. One of the many programs affected was the Joint Strike Fighter. A lot of the McDonnell Douglas design replaced the Boeing design.
The Lockheed-Martin design was more conventional and less advanced and was selected for production.
Boeing:
Northrop Grumman-McDonnell Douglas:
Lockheed-Martin:
