Sshhh...It'sa Secret

Secrecy has always been such an important factor of military technology.  One only needs to think of the secrecy that surrounded the Manhattan Project, the code name for the United States’ program to develop the atomic bomb.  This project was very secretive because they did not want anybody, especially the Germans, to get a hold of any of their information.  If they did, they could have possibly used it against us.  I think a good sports analogy for this is if you are a football coach and have a certain strategy for a game.  if the opposing team finds out your strategy, then can either devise a plan against it or even use your strategy against you. 

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5th generation, single seat, single- engine stealth multi-role fighter jet, developed by Lockheed Martin, slated to enter military service in 2014 with the USMC first.  It has been under development since 1993 and many of the details of it have been kept very secret because of the advanced capabilites that this plane will have.  With a flyaway cost of $192 million for ONE unit, this is the kind of technology and investment that the United States wants to keep under wraps.  Unfortunately though, there were media reports back in April 2009, citing Pentagon sources, that said that computer spies had managed to copy and download several TERABYES of data related to the design of the F-35 and the electronic systems of the aircraft.  This information is potentially very dangerous because with this kind of information, defense systems could be developed against the aircraft.  It is noted that Lockheed Martin denies any of this happened, but one of the media outlets that reported this was the Washington Post, a pretty credible news outlet.