Key Points and Summary on F-22 History – The Northrop YF-23 “Black Widow II,” a revolutionary stealth fighter prototype from the early 1990s, was arguably a superior aircraft to the YF-22, which would go on to become the F-22 Raptor.
-The YF-23 boasted superior speed, stealth, and supercruise capabilities.
-However, it lost the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition in a decision that many still consider a mistake.
-The choice was likely influenced by a combination of factors, including the YF-22’s perceived superior dogfighting agility, Lockheed’s more effective “salesmanship,” and political pressure to support a contractor with fewer active programs at the time.
F-22 Raptor vs. YF-23: A Battle for the Soul of the Air Force
The F-22 Raptor was such a good fighter jet when it first flew that the United States decided it could never be exported. It is one of the stealthiest airplanes in the world, and it puts the “superior” in air superiority.
This hot rod can dogfight with the best of them, and its total agility is a pilot’s dream. But what if I told you there was another airplane considered by the U.S. Air Force that might have left the F-22 as a historical footnote?
Showdown Between Two Great Airplanes
I’m referring to the Northrop Grumman and McDonnell Douglas YF-23, which competed with the YF-22 that later became the F-22. The YF-23 airplane was unconventional.
Like the F-22, it had diamond-shaped wings for better radar evasion, but the YF-23 had a different nose and tail.
“The YF-23’s nose [was] striking, with its cockpit pushed forward on the airframe for improved visibility and a drooping duckbill of a nose adding to the platform’s alien aesthetic. On the back, an all-moving V-tail gave the fighter incredible maneuverability despite the platform lacking in the F-22’s thrust vectoring capabilities,” according to SOFREP.com.
Were Two Prototypes the Right Choice?
There were two YF-23 prototypes. One was painted black and called the “Black Widow 2.” Two Pratt & Whitney YF119-PW-100 engines allowed a supercruise speed of Mach 1.43.
The second was dubbed “Grey Ghost” and painted, funny enough, all grey. Its General Electric YF120 engines could reach a higher supercruise speed of MACH 1.58.
Chuck Yeager Wanted the YF-23
The YF-23 had its fans. The brilliantly confident Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager endorsed the YF-23 in commercials. The “Advanced Tactical Fighter,” as he called it, was going to dominate the air in a post-Cold War threat environment that wasn’t so easy to analyze at the time.
According to other experts’ opinions, “the YF-23 was the better performer of the two, including better supersonic cruise performance, better stealth, and only slightly less maneuverability than the YF-22 at extremely low airspeeds,” at least according to SimpleFlying.com.
They Were Almost the Same Airplane
It’s just that the airplanes were so similar. They had almost the same fuselage length. The wingspan was nearly identical. Empty weight for both was around 33,000 pounds, and gross weight was also similar.
The F-22’s two Pratt & Whitney YF119-PW-100 afterburning turbofan engines had the same thrust as the YF-23’s two General Electric YF120 afterburning turbofan engines. Maximum air speed was Mach 2.2 on each jet.
The airplanes also had the same service ceiling. The YF-22 did have slightly better combat radius.
One Defense Contractor Was Seen as More Desirable to Run the Program
Some thought that the defense contractor would make a difference in the overall future of the program.
Lockheed was seen as the company that would do a better job with the YF-22. Northrop had just gone over budget with the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber and had made some enemies on Capitol Hill. More members of Congress supported the F-22 in part as a result.
Performance-wise, there was not much difference between the two fighters. During its flight demonstration, the YF-22 showed that it had superior angle-of-attack maneuvers, and for some reason the YF-23 did not choose to show off that kind of agility.
The biggest factor in my opinion was that the YF-22 came from Lockheed’s famous Skunk Works program. This was a huge selling point. Skunk Works had been instrumental in the birth of stealth flight with the F-117 Nighthawk.
They also developed the SR-71 Blackbird, an icon. Skunk Works engineers and technicians had a stellar reputation and gave a confidence boost to the testers and evaluators in the competition.
I am glad the Air Force chose the F-22. I’m not one to second-guess the outcome of the competition.
This was a difficult choice for evaluators. The YF-23 could have been chosen, but fate did not smile upon that airplane, despite Yeager’s valuable endorsement.
It may have been a mistake to produce two YF-23 prototypes. This required more money and effort that could have been focused on a single airframe. I would have been fine if the YF-23 would have been chosen.
It was a real coin flip, and the Air Force probably could have made the YF-23 into a stalwart fighter. The F-22 may have been slightly stealthier, and this is probably an important difference.
Maybe the testing and evaluation period should have been extended to allow for more flights to compare performance. It seems that the YF-23 did not get a chance to show off all of its maneuvers.
Yet, the competition produced a great fighter jet in the F-22. The YF-23 had its advantages and charm, but the Air Force made the right choice.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
