For those who did not watch the show, here is a link to the list with some text from their commentary on each plane
http://military.discovery.com/techno.../fighters.html
They do not list the criteria, or how they scored it, in any detail but some of the categories were
Innovation
Fear Factor
Kill Ratio
Production
Service Length

You can absolutely pick apart every choice and replace it with your favorite. If you read some of the comments you'll think they are a reason to exclude a plane rather than include it.

Here's another list you can pick apart (top ten bombers)
http://military.discovery.com/techno...ers-intro.html
They also have them for guns, tanks, battleships, and submarines.