Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security
The YF-23 Was Stealthier and Faster. The Air Force Picked the F-22 Anyway. We Got Up-close the Black Widow II. Maybe the Air Force...
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The YF-23 Was Stealthier and Faster. The Air Force Picked the F-22 Anyway. We Got Up-close the Black Widow II. Maybe the Air Force...
The YF-23 represents a fundamental design philosophy that prioritized all-aspect stealth and high-speed persistence over dogfighting agility. In the 2026 strategic landscape, where long-range...
The YF-23, Northrop Grumman's "diamond-winged" contender for the Advanced Tactical Fighter contract, remains the ultimate "what-if" of the fifth-generation era. While the F-22 Raptor...
The Navy’s flirtation with a carrier-based Advanced Tactical Fighter sprang from a late–Cold War problem: replacing the F-14 with something stealthier, longer-ranged, and optimized...
Summary and Key Points: The Northrop YF-23 “Black Widow II” is often remembered as the loser of the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition against...
The Real Reason the YF-23 Lost: It Wasn’t About Performance, It Was About Change For thirty years, the YF-23 Black Widow II has lingered...
The Advanced Tactical Fighter competition pitted Lockheed’s YF-22 against Northrop’s more radical YF-23 as the Air Force sought a successor to the F-15 built...
Key Points and Summary – The Northrop–McDonnell Douglas YF-23 “Black Widow II” was the stealthier, longer-legged rival to Lockheed’s YF-22 in the Advanced Tactical...
In the Research and Development Gallery at the National Museum of the United States Air Force there are some truly spectacular aircraft that never...