YF 23 Black Widow Could it Return?

let's take a look at the stealth fighter that should have been produced and still might be the northrup yf-23 the yf-23 was northrup and mcdonnell douglas's entry into the advanced tactical fighter or atf competition which went up against the lockheed yf-22 notable features of the yf-23 include twin angled tails a trapezoidal shaped wing underwing engine air intakes and engine exhaust channels let's take a look at some key specifications for the yf-23 length 67 ft 5 inches wingspan 43 feet 7 inches height 13 feet 11 inches empty weight 29 000 pounds maximum takeoff weight 62 000 pounds maximum speed classified estimated to be above mach 2 with a mach 1.6 supercruise range 2424 nautical miles engines each general electric yf120 produces 23 500 pounds thrust dry or 35 000 pounds thrust with afterburner thrust to weight ratio 1.36 in 1981 while the f-15 was still relatively new the air force put forth a requirement for an aircraft to eventually replace both the f-15 and f-16 this was driven in advancements in soviet air defenses along with increasing numbers of mig-29s and su-27 fighters in what became known as the advanced tactical fighter or atf program requirements included the use of advanced materials including composites high performance with supercruise and all aspects stealth technology by 1986 the competition had been narrowed down to two competitors lockheed and northrup to build such an advanced airplane northrop teamed up with mcdonnell douglas while lockheed teamed up with boeing and general dynamics this resulted in two design submissions lockheed's yf-22 and northrop's yf-23 additionally general electric and pratt whitney each developed an engine which would be used in both designs the engines being designated the yf-120 and yf-119 respectively and while the two designs both met the competition's requirements of survivability supercruise stealth and ease of maintenance they each had very different design philosophies seen as more conventional it's not hard to view the yf22 as an evolution of the f-15 with both utilizing twin vertical tails horizontal stabilizers and side air intakes meanwhile the yf23 was a more cutting edge design with a trapezoidal shaped wing and an all-moving v-tail which performed double duty as a horizontal and vertical stabilizer one interesting feature of the yf23 was the way in which it solved the boundary layer air problem boundary layer air is important to engine performance as during certain flight regimes the air can move at a different speed and even direction potentially causing reduced engine performance or even an engine flame out in certain conditions this becomes more pronounced than supersonic speeds traditionally splitter plates were used to separate air from the fuselage and the intake but this solution is not very stealthy the yf23 had to be both stealthy and have the ability to super cruise which pose some major design challenges the engineers at northrop came up with a brilliant two-part solution the first component was the use of s-shaped air ducts which slowed down the airflow getting to the engines as well as hid the turbine fan blades from radar thereby reducing the radar cross section or rcs additionally the intakes were situated one engine fan diameter below and to the side of the engine further ensuring that radar beams would not detect the fan blades as there was no direct line of sight to the blades the second component involved the use of small holes that were drilled out of the fuselage to ingest the boundary air layer before it could enter the air intake the ingested air would then be automatically vented out of the top of the aircraft this solution became known as the boundary layer control system and can be seen as panels under the fuselage just before the air intake aircraft such as the eurofighter and super hornet both use a similar solution but the yf-23 was the first to integrate the holes into the fuselage interestingly the f-22 still uses splitter plates but with radar-absorbent coatings to offset the disadvantage while stealth aircraft are inherently difficult to detect on radar their infrared or heat signatures usually are easier to detect and lock onto to reduce this infrared heat signature the yf-23 made use of heat absorbent line channels or troughs where the engine's exhaust flowed and while this greatly reduced the ir signature of the aircraft it did make the installation of thrust vectoring nozzles such as those found on the y22 not possible another somewhat overlooked feature was the contributions of the v-tail the v-tail surfaces were quite large in fact each tail section is larger than an f5's wing and almost as large as an f-18s wing these tail surfaces could rotate plus or minus 40 degrees and effectively acted as secondary wings allowing the yf-23 to perform extreme maneuvers without the use of thrust vectoring the cockpit of the yf23 was situated high and forward on the fuselage to provide the pilot with better visibility and featured a side throttle along with the center stick and some of the most advanced fly-by-wire computer systems of its time unlike the yf-22 side and underneath weapons bays the yf-23 placed all of its weapons bays underneath the fuselage while larger than the yf-22's base and capable of carrying large air-to-ground munitions which presented risks since missiles had to be stacked on top of missiles and a reliable weapon egress solution would have to be developed in contrast the yf22's bays were simpler to operate and by extension posed less of a risk in developing and finally to save on costs the yf23 prototypes were built using the nose wheel landing gear of an f-15 the main landing gear from the f a-18 hornet and some cockpit components from the f-15e strike eagle by 1990 a fly-off between the yf-22 and the yf-23 had begun for the competition two yf-23 prototypes were used the first was known as prototype air vehicle one or pav1 and was painted charcoal gray and nicknamed black widow 2 after the world war ii era northrop p-61 black widow pav-1 was powered by the pratt whitney f-119 engine and first flown in august of 1990 and was piloted by alfred paul metz interestingly for a brief time pav1 had a red hourglass painted on the underside such as those found on a black widow spider the second prototype known as pav 2 was painted in lighter grays and nicknamed grey ghost pav 2 was powered by the general electric yf-120 engine and first flew in october of 1990 while being piloted by jim sandberg thus began the now infamous competition between the yf-22 and the yf-23 the atf competition would now enter its final phase along with the air force the atf competition initially had input from the navy which was undergoing its own navy advanced tactical fighter or natf program the idea was to replace the f-14 tomcat with a fifth generation stealth fighter that could operate out of carriers while the prototype version of the yf-23 was not seen as carrier-ready several concepts were envisioned at the same time a navalized version of the y-22 was also considered and while the navy withdrew from the natf competition in 1992 many speculate that the yf-23's advantage in range would have likely gone a long way in the navy's selection process performance wise the yf23 design was faster and more stealthy while the yf22 was slightly more maneuverable at low speeds possibly due to thrust vectoring the yf-22 is also generally seen as less of a risk when it came to manufacturing costs and in 1991 the yf-22 with the pratt whitney engine combination were chosen as the winner of the atf competition so why did the yf22 beat the yf-23 in a debate that still goes on to this day many have felt that the y-23 was the better airplane and should have won the competition essentially you could say it came down to 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 yf23 could perform the same maneuver by not demonstrating it the implication was that the y of 22 could perform the maneuver while the y 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 upon the evaluators there are many other theories as to why the yf23 lost some include concerns over the y23's unconventional design which would have led to cost overruns production as issues were resolved not to mention the cost overruns which had been associated with the b2 spirit bomber in the end some lawmakers felt that lockheed was more reliable and ready to begin production on the y of 22 where the perception was that northrop may have needed more time as the yf22 went on to become their production f22 raptor the two yf-23 prototypes black widow and grey ghost were put away and now reside in museums and lastly although planned for 350 flights only 50 combined flights were flown between pav 1 and pav 2. how much more could have been learned had 350 flights been flown to this day many still consider the y of 23 way ahead of its time 30 years after it first flew today there are rumors that the usaf is already flying a sixth generation platform could this be based on the yf-23 some concept art that has been shown appears to validate this additionally japan is already working on its own sixth generation fighter designated the f3 after years of internal studies japan has reached out to other corporations to assist with this development of the sixth generation fighter one such company that has responded was northrop grumman and there is speculation that it could offer a modernized version of the y23 to japan in an era of global uncertainty and increasing tensions it may be time for the black widow to take to the skies once more what do you think should the yf23 have been built is it being worked on today let me know in the comments below thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more go ahead and subscribe and click the bell for notifications if you'd like to support this channel consider patreon where you will get exclusive behind the scenes photos and video clips stay safe and see you next time

Channel: PilotPhotog

Views: 317,077

Rating: 4.9120302 out of 5

Keywords: 2020, DIAMOND, Eurofighter, F18, F22, F5, Freedom fighter, General dynamics, Lockheed, Mcdonnell Douglas, Northrop, RHOMBUS, Raptor, SHAPED, Stealth fighter, Super Hornet, TRAPEZOIDAL, Tiger, Typhoon, WINGS, YF-22, YF-23, advanced tactical fighter, airplane, atf, aviation, aviator, b2 bomber, b2 spirit, black widow, boeing, competition, contest, documentary, electronic warfare, f 23, fly, fly off, navy, northrop grumman, photography, pilot, plane, planes, stealth, us navy, usaf, yf, yf-23 declassified

Id: iKeZdX1JLmw

Length: 12min 9sec (729 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 23 2020