The gap between the F-22A Raptor and the F-35A/B/C Lightning II?

Question

Now that the Raptor is the F-22A and the Lightning II is the F-35A/B/C, what happens to F-24 through F-34 (the YF-23 being the losing design for the ATF, of course.)

Answer 1

The number designation is usually the model number or design number.

Answer 2

I think you mean JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) but none the less, the others are simply unused designations, either they are abandoned projects or are still in prototype phase.

Answer 3

Don't forget the X-32, the loser of the joint strike fighter contest. Those skipped designations may be designs submitted but never built. Basically, if any design ends up on records somewhere, it's more or less frozen to avoid confusion. The skip might also be due to the Joint Strike Fighters being designated X-planes instead of Y-planes. Typically, fighter prototypes are designated YF-XX, but the Joint Strike Fighter prototypes were designated as X-planes, which gave them the numbers X-32 and X-35. The cold truth really is that such a large beurocracy is just naturally confusing sometimes.