Top 5 Fighters That Should Have Been Built | Best of Aviation Series by PilotPhotog

let's take a look at the top five fighters that should have been built during the long course of its existence development of fighter planes has provided examples of many dead ends and designs that just didn't work out by their very nature fighter aircraft are extremely competitive and as soon as one is developed adversaries work out ways to defeat it with both anti-air defenses and newer fighters that can counter the latest design it is a never-ending game of cat and mouse however just like there have been many dead ends there are also cases when a design should have gone into production but did not today we will look at five designs that should have gone into production and the reasons why they didn't coming in at number five the general dynamics f-16 xl what started out as a technology demonstrator soon evolved into a prototype fighter bomber that could perform long-range interdiction missions compared to the production of 16 the f-16 xl's cranked arrow or double delta wing increased fuel capacity by 82 percent and allowed it to carry twice the payload while delivering it 40 farther with an impressive 27 hardpoints and a 15 000 ordinance capacity the f-16 xl would have been a valuable asset to any air force it served with however the f-16 xl was pitted against the f-15e strike eagle in a competition to decide which airplane would ultimately be produced the f-15e was very similar to the already in production f-15d and so few modifications were needed by comparison the f-16xl had both a completely redesigned wing and a lengthened fuselage this would have incurred substantial costs to get it into production in the end with its twin engines and lower initial cost to produce the f-15e went into production the two flying examples of the f-16 xl did go on to perform many research studies for nasa and the air force and some of that knowledge was applied to the f-22 the f-16 xl likely would have done well as an export option and some argue would be a relevant airframe even today in the end the f-16 xl became known as a great idea at the wrong time coming in at number four we have the avro arrow intended to be a fast high altitude interceptor the cf-105 or avro arrow was designed and built in canada and made use of a delta wing design first revealed to the public in october of 1957 the avril was intended to be the royal canadian air force's premier interceptor into the 1960s and beyond powered by two pratt whitney j75 p3 afterburning turbojet engines the arrow reached speeds of mach 1.9 at 50 000 feet and was getting ready to be fitted with the canadian-built orenda iroquois engines which would have likely seen its top speed easily surpass mach 2. this along with reports from test pilots that the aircraft handled well seemed to indicate a promising future for the arrow so why was it never built during the development of the arrow two major events occurred that sealed its fate one internationally and one within canada on the same day that the avril was revealed to the public the then soviet union launched the sputnik kicking off the space race and suddenly the air force not only had to defend threats from the skies but also from space as a result research and spending began to be diverted to counting not just man bombers but also ballistic missile threats additionally some in the canadian government felt that there was not enough money for both a new ballistic missile defense system and a new interceptor this along with the election of prime minister john diefenbaker in 1957 quickly changed the prospects of the arrow in february of 1959 the program was ordered cancelled on a day that is known in canadian aviation circles as black friday within two months all five prototypes the engines and tooling used to make the arrow were ordered destroyed and altered the course of canada's aerospace defense industry number three the grumman f-14 super tomcat 21. arguably america's favorite fighter the f-14 rocketed to public stardom with appearances in movies like the final countdown and top gun designed as an air superiority fleet defender the f-14 had incredible range long-range missiles and an electronics platform to track lock and fire on multiple targets to extend the service life of the f-14 platform grumman proposed a super tomcat 21 upgrade the upgrade included an all-new radar suite upgraded engines that allowed the tomcat to supercruise additionally a new flight control system with thrust vectoring would have further enhanced the tomcat's maneuverability to add to this maneuverability control surfaces were enlarged and fuel capacity was greatly enhanced this additional fuel capacity would extend even further the tomcat's legs and give it longer time on station and finally the integration of targeting pods would have allowed the super tomcat 21 to become a true multi-role precision fighter bomber so what happened how could arguably the world's most popular fighter at the time not get much needed upgrades which would have effectively made it into a new fighter one with unmatched range and speed the idea of a super tomcat 21 had been floated around as early as 1991 and we have to remember this was after an overwhelmingly decisive victory in the first gulf war congress was under pressure to pay the peace dividend meaning after years of spending to get the latest and greatest weapons funds could now be diverted elsewhere along with this the super hornet was already in development which would cost less to operate and promise to have a better mission capable rate in the end the super tomcat 21 was too much airplane for too much money and the f-14 was retired in 2006 altogether number two the northrup f-20 tiger shark widely considered to be the best fighter that was never built the f-20 tiger shark was an enhanced version of the already successful f5e tiger the f5 was designed as a low-cost high-performance fighter bomber and saw wide success as an export aircraft for many nations in the free world initially internally funded by northrup the f-20 built on the successes of the f5 and incorporated a single powerful engine the same one used in the f-18 hornet additionally the f-20 made use of then state-of-the-art avionics and sensors which allowed it to use virtually every aircraft-based weapon in the us arsenal boasting incredible performance and unmatched maneuverability the f-20 looked like a sure winner if not for the us air force then as an upgrade to the numerous nations that were using f5s so what happened for starters the f-16 was already in production and the f-20 was not seen as necessary by the u.s air force and when the air force didn't bite other nations became skeptical as they did not want to support a fighter that may have had a limited run additionally the f-20 suffered two fatal accidents when its test pilots pushed the airplane beyond their limits and succumbed to g-lock in both cases it was found that the f-20 structure or design were not at fault but the public relations damage had been done still it is amazing to think that a fighter with the fastest scramble time in the world and used 53 percent less fuel cost 63 percent less to maintain and was four times more reliable than any of its contemporaries was not adopted by any air force the irony is that today the f-20 program makes more sense than it did in the 1980s miniaturization and electronics allows even the most powerful aesa radars to fit into the f-20s nose smart weapons have also gotten smaller and more accurate meaning that one fighter can do what would have taken two or even four fighters to do 20 years ago and with many nations still flying f5es as their frontline fighters an f20 upgrade would be welcome the concept and some say the design of the f-20 was copied in the jf-17 and as they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery before we get to the top of this list let's take a look at a couple of honorable mentions the north american f-107 today not many people know about the north american f-107 which was a product of the 1950s fighter bomber competition the f-107 utilized some innovative features and had excellent performance for its time a derivative of the successful f-100 saber the yf-107 was informally referred to as the ultra saber and those who worked on it referred to it as the man-eater due to its unusual location of the air intakes the idea behind the f-107 was to create a mach 2 fighter bomber that could carry both conventional and nuclear bombs interestingly the f-107 had semi-recessed hardpoints to streamline the airplane even while carrying ordnance the most innovative feature of the f-107 was the use of a variable area inlet duct or evade system this allowed for very efficient performance and is today considered an early form of variable intake ramps which are in use today in aircraft like the f-15 ultimately the f-107 lost out to the f-105 thunder chief or thud as it became known the f-105 itself was a good airplane having seen extensive use in vietnam and although both the f-105 and f-107 used the same engine the pratt whitney yj-75 p9 turbo jet and the competition itself was closed in the end the f-105 was chosen to go into production given its early variable geometry intakes who knows how much quicker fighter design may have progressed had the f-107 gone into production another honorable mention goes to the rockwell rprv-870 hi-mat or highly maneuverable aircraft technology the hi-mat was an experimental technology demonstrator developed by nasa to test future technologies for fighters the imat explored features such as composite materials close coupled canards and all digital flight controls with its first flight all the way back in 1979 the design still looks modern today the aircraft was remotely piloted as it was deemed too risky to risk a pilot's life during testing interestingly although the aircraft was controlled from the ground a manned f-104 starfighter was also used as a chase plane which carried backup remote controls in case the ground station lost signal the hi-mats data analysis led to the x-29 and helped pioneer the use of composites in both military and civilian aircraft which cy used today can you imagine if this design had proceeded to demand flight stages and production all right we've gone through the previous four aircraft and have worked our way to number one without further ado number one the northrop yf-23 black widow for some of the airplanes on this list when it came down to a competition you could argue that ultimately the better airplane won and the other airplane would have been a nice to have or could have taken developments in a new direction however in the case of the competition between northrop's yf-23 and lockheed's y-22 many feel that the better airplane lost in a debate that still rages to this day the yf-22 was chosen and went on to become the f-22 raptor that we all know and while the lockheed f-22 is an amazing airplane the yf-23 was faster more stealthy and almost just as maneuverable without thrust vectoring so why did the yf-23 lose the competition for starters the yf-22 was a more conventional design and seen as less of a risk to mass produce the other reason and perhaps the deciding factor was public relations the lockheed team conducted a demonstration flight of a high angle of attack maneuver while the northrop team decided not to do so and even though the yf-23 could perform the same maneuver by not demonstrating it the implication was that the yf-22 could perform the maneuver while the yf-23 could not additionally although not a requirement of the test program the lockheed team also conducted a live fire exercise of an aim-9 sidewinder and an aim-120 amram missile from the internal weapons bay this was seen as going above and beyond what was necessary for testing and made a favorable impression on the evaluators the rest is history the yf-22 went on to become the production f-22 and the two yf-23 prototypes black widow and grey ghost were put away and now resided museums to this day many consider the yf-23 way ahead of its time finally development is already started on a replacement for the f22 and if the concept art for the proposed new sixth generation fighter looks familiar well that kind of tells you all you need to know about the yf23 doesn't it what do you think should some of these aircraft have been produced are there aircraft that should have been on this list let me know in the comments below thanks for watching aviation history is full of many what-ifs and haves if you enjoyed this video please subscribe and click the bell for notifications stay safe everyone and see you next time you

Channel: PilotPhotog

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Keywords: Arrow, Avro, Avro Arrow, Canada, F-107, F-14, F-16 XL, F-16XL, F107, F16, F16XL, F23, Navy, RCAF, X-29, X29, YF-23, YF23, air force, airplane, arrow cancelled, arrow fighter jet, aviation, aviator, black widow, experimental, f 14 tomcat, f-20, f-20 tigershark, f14 tomcat dcs, f16xl aircraft, f20, f20 tigershark, fighter, himat, nat geo, northrup, pilotphotog, plane, planes, rockwell, sabre, super tomcat, super tomcat 21, supercruise, thrust vectoring, tomcat, top 5, top 5 fighters that should have been built

Id: 8luPq3K2_jE

Length: 14min 17sec (857 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020