What does it take to defend the world?

Inside the high-tech, high-stakes competition to create America’s newest fighter plane. NOVA goes behind the doors of the world’s two largest aerospace companies to record classified meetings, climbs into cockpits to fly the most revolutionary planes, and examines the high-stakes battle waged between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to build the most capable and versatile fighter ever created - the Joint Strike Fighter.

Join military brass, aviation engineers, and test pilots as they race to create a single aircraft that meets three criteria - that the winning plane be stealthy, affordable, and adaptable to the widely varying needs of the Air Force, Navy, and Marines. Filmed over four years, Battle of the X-Planes reveals the breakthrough designs, heartbreaking setbacks, adrenaline-fueled test flights, and one final nail-biting decision - the winner of the most lucrative contract in military history- the Joint Strike Fighter.