April 24, 201313 yr F-23 Black Widow [#] Another "what if" platform...what if the Northrop YF-23 Black Widow was adopted instead of the F-22 Raptor (or if someone else, like Australia or Israel, had bought them)? "The Northrop YF-23 or Northrop–McDonnell Douglas YF-23 was an American single-seat, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force (USAF). The design was a finalist in the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition, battling the Lockheed YF-22 for a production contract." --Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YF-23 http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=270 ANW HUD-4 v1.11
April 27, 201313 yr Author A brief follow-up... I'm assuming the F-23 Black Widow would be as stealthy as the Raptor. I also wonder if there might not be a carrier-capable version, perhaps the F-24 Gray Ghost [#], effectively a "next generation Tomcat," designed as a fast, stealthy interceptor capable of clearing the skies so that the F/18Es can deliver precision munitions with less risk, and probably also capable of helping protect ships from incoming cruise missiles.
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