Yup, Lockheed's X-35 beat out a (horrendously ugly) Boeing airplane to win the contract, but my understanding was that the initial orders were cost-plus. That's

Yup, Lockheed's X-35 beat out a (horrendously ugly) Boeing airplane to win the contract, but my understanding was that the initial orders were cost-plus. That's pretty typical for large procurements of advanced aircraft. It's hard to know long it will take and how much it will cost to build something that bleeding-edge.