In the 1990s, Boeing rolled out a fighter jet so bizarre that test pilots burst out laughing the first time they saw it. The X-32, nicknamed the “smiling hippo,” looked like no combat aircraft before it, a gaping chin intake, stubby delta wings, and a bulbous body that seemed more cartoon than cutting-edge.But here’s the twist: this oddball design came shockingly close to winning the Pentagon’s Joint Strike Fighter contract, a deal worth hundreds of billions that ultimately birthed today’s F-35. For a moment, this ugly duckling was poised to become the backbone of Western airpower for decades to come.In this video, we’ll uncover the engineering gambles that made the X-32 so radical, why it almost won, and what truly doomed it. Because sometimes, the most important lessons in aviation come not from the jets that fly into battle – but from the ones that never get the chance.#aviation #boeing #military #fighterjets #engineering #x32 #f35