And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Friday, August 7, 2026
Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II, a prototype stealth fighter
Northrop made/developed a much more capable platform. Along with the F22 Raptor. Northrop should have won the contract. Politics got in the way for sure.
The YF-22 was viewed as the safter choice. The YF-23 had a lot of untested, bleeding edge technology that the Air Force wasn't willing to bet on. The -23 was faster and stealthier while the -22 was more agile and was probably a better managed program/system. Not sure why the AF was concerned about agility, dogfights were long gone at that point and radar/detection/missiles were/are more relevant for an air superiority fighter these days.
Always thought it should have been chosen, far more capable fighter than the 22. its really interesting how the SU-57 employs many features including much of the planform, only larger scale and further refined. No way to really now, only my opinion, but certain aspects are irrefutable. Of course physics are physics, which drive design particularly out on the cutting edge. Its a kind of crime of sorts after everything Northrop put into the 23 it simply was left in the dustbin, would not have required all that much in relative terms to at least pit a limited production series, after all, the 23 was in its base test form far closer to a series production aircraft in its test state than the 22.
Northrop made/developed a much more capable platform. Along with the F22 Raptor. Northrop should have won the contract. Politics got in the way for sure.
ReplyDeleteWait, what? No way... I've been assured by my Congressman that nonsense like that doesn't happen in today's military!
DeleteWhat we could've had. Way better than the Raptor.
ReplyDeleteDo the rear horizontal stabilizer elevators move? They look like they are fixed. [It does not really have a vertical stabilizer rudder]
ReplyDeleteThe YF-22 was viewed as the safter choice. The YF-23 had a lot of untested, bleeding edge technology that the Air Force wasn't willing to bet on. The -23 was faster and stealthier while the -22 was more agile and was probably a better managed program/system. Not sure why the AF was concerned about agility, dogfights were long gone at that point and radar/detection/missiles were/are more relevant for an air superiority fighter these days.
ReplyDeletePretending that dog fights are still relevant is important to the fighterJock cadre that runs the Air Force.
DeleteIt's how they protect the phony baloney jobs of putting a meat sack into an aerial vehicle.
Drones are the way of the future.
Always thought it should have been chosen, far more capable fighter than the 22. its really interesting how the SU-57 employs many features including much of the planform, only larger scale and further refined. No way to really now, only my opinion, but certain aspects are irrefutable. Of course physics are physics, which drive design particularly out on the cutting edge. Its a kind of crime of sorts after everything Northrop put into the 23 it simply was left in the dustbin, would not have required all that much in relative terms to at least pit a limited production series, after all, the 23 was in its base test form far closer to a series production aircraft in its test state than the 22.
ReplyDelete