JAST program office chartered, the administrative origin of the F-35

The U.S. Department of Defense signed the founding charter of the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) program office, tasked with maturing the airframe, sensor and weapons technologies that would underpin a future tactical fighter common to the Air Force, the Navy and the Marine Corps. That remit became, about eighteen months later, the programme renamed Joint Strike Fighter, and from it the F-35 Lightning II. The office also took in the work of the earlier ASTOVL and CALF efforts, which had been exploring a supersonic replacement for the Harrier.