The Department of Defense and the British Ministry of Defense are scheduled to make the JSF selection announcement on October 26 or 27. This is a potentially huge project to develop a single aircraft type that can replace the Air Force's F-16 & A-10, the Navy's F-18, the Marine Corps F/A-18 and AV-8B as well as the British Harrier variants. The project could total $300 billion when all is said and done when they factor in the non-British foreign sales. When the F-16 was selected as the USAF's lightweight fighter in the 1970s, hundreds were also ordered by many other countries. Odds are the same thing will happen with this plane. Some analysts predict as many as 6,000 planes could be built.

I've long predicted that Boeing will win the JSF unless they screwed it up so badly that their proposal couldn't be salvaged. My basis is that Lockheed-Martin already has the F-16 and F-22. If they also win the JSF, they'll be the only builder of tactical aircraft in the US. The DoD doesn't like having to depend on a sole supplier in any major weapons category. I just read on Aviation Now that a US senator is pushing the idea of shared production regardless of who wins. There are some merits (and additional costs) for the proposal.

More background info on JSF production decision.

JSF Project Home Page