I've noticed that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the F-22 Raptor, both of which are in development by Lockheed Martin, look strikingly similar. What's the difference between the two?

Marc Tidalgo

New York, N.Y.

Aviation experts are brewing an aggressive plan to create a new generation of small planes that would be guided by a computerized flight control network and provide inexpensive air taxi service among the nation's more than 5,000 rural and suburban airports. These planes would have to be cheaper, possess simpler avionics, and fly faster than comparable aircraft available today. Eager to jump-start these revolutionary designs, NASA's Langley Research Center held a student competition. Shown here are the first- and second-place winners in the Technology Innovation category.

Stealth aircraft come in two forms: angular evaders like the B-2 bomber, and cruder radar jammers that simply overwhelm the enemy's air defense systems, allowing entire squadrons to penetrate hostile territory. Boeing's E/A-18 fighter jet is the latest entry in the latter group, but it's far from crude. Based on the nimble F-18 platform and outfitted with three jamming pods, it can outwit and outmaneuver the most advanced attack squadrons. The plane recently completed its first test flight; it should go into service by 2008.