YF 23,what could have been

[Flagon]

I'm sorry for the video is just a commercial,but...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPgm-4TZ ... detailpage


Ciao,Francesco,che peccato.

[The Inspector]

Obviously Nortrop/McD were unable to exert more suction than LocoWeed, so ya get what you overpaid for.

[Flagon]

We are always,always complaining,we just don't let the politicians do it their own way,it's our own fault,so we have the non operable F 22,still our very own fault.

F 35s have God's Eye,let's hope it is exactly true.

Ciao,Francesco.

[Chappie]

Looks like a good story. I was rooting for the YF-23 during the ATF competition. Fantastic looking fighter.


Chappie

[Xray]

Looks wise, the 23 was easily the winner, and certainly a more innovative appearance.

[Fouga23]

Best looking modern fighter IMHO; Shame it lost, even though it outperformed the 22. The top speed is still classified!

[Garth]

There's been on-again/off-again speculation that the YF-23 was evolved into a F-111 (and F-117) replacement and currently operates in squadron/wing-level service as a "silver bullet" force, possibly out of the old F-117 hangars at Tonopah Range.

The speculation does get pretty conspiratorial, to the point of suggesting that the ATF competition itself was a farce put on to allow concurrent development and fielding of both the F-15 and F-111 replacements under tight budget constraints.

One of the more interesting "FB-23" concepts was a version looking like a cross between the YF-23 (mid and aft fuselage) and the Su-34 Platypus (forward fuselage).

[oz rb fan]

one of the other conspiracy theories is the the f 23 is really "project aurora" sr71 replacement ...longer ranging,faster and stealthier than the f 22....would be pretty awesome to find out it was true...after all the f117 was in service for around 10 years before it was found to be real...and do we really know if the TR3A that is said operate with the f117 is not real?

[Garth]

...and do we really know if the TR3A that is said operate with the f117 is not real?

Of note is how closely the recently-revealed (and more recently crashed ... in Iran) RQ-170 resembles the descriptions of the alleged "TR-3A". Especially since the external/visible features of the RQ-170's design seem fairly old, and possibly indicate a halfway point in stealth development between the F-117 and B-2.

[JohnB]

,so we have the non operable F 22,still our very own fault.Ciao,Francesco.

I'll assume the oxygen issues in the F-22 are from a vendor supplied item.
If so, there is no guarentee it would not have happened in the F-23.

Anyone know better?

[The Inspector]

,so we have the non operable F 22,still our very own fault.Ciao,Francesco.

I'll assume the oxygen issues in the F-22 are from a vendor supplied item.
If so, there is no guarentee it would not have happened in the F-23.

Anyone know better?

Having worked on LocoWeeds commercial money loser (the El when? eleven), they could turn the act of making a PB-n-J sammich into a 27 page, 1278 step slog so imagine what the anally attentive military side could do -and suppliers bid and build on what the RFP/design from the manufacturer asks for not 'we've got about 2 square feet of space here so what can you do with it?'