X-35 vs X-32

I expected the X-35 to win several months before it was anounced. The reason is simply political. Unless the X-35 peformed poorly the President from an area close to where they now make the f-16 is not going to allow thousands of jobs go to another state.

I think I remember this correctly, but just before the final decision, didn't the X-35 become the first a/c to fly level supersonic then land vertically in the same flight? Nice way to wrap up the competition, when the Boeing had to strip everything out to pass the vertical requirements.

Ugly is major factor.

I dont want to start another thread but is there any info how many AIM-120 X-32A could carry? On wiki I found six.
Was there any dogfight tests of those two fighters? It would be interesting to see what tvc and more powerful F119 version could do.

X-32 had an internal layout that was similar to the F-35, ie one 1k bomb and one AAM per bay.

The purpose of the X-32/35 competition was a tech demonstration and not a "flyoff". As such, the X-35 did not even have a weapons bay as the X-35 needed to demo it's innovative lift fan and the X-32 needed to demo it's tilting bays.

Thanks for answer, I always wonder why X-32 had weapon bay.