Message posted by Sundog on July 26, 2004 at 18:43:02 PST:
Actually, As for the YF-23 prototypes, the one at Edwards was sent to Wright-Patterson to have the rest of the Classified tech removed and prepared for display. My friends saw it at the annex being prepared as such around 2000 and once it was complted, it was shipped back to Edwards for display at the museum. The other one is at the Museum for Northrop Aircraft. As for the reason the YF-22 was chosen over the YF-23, those in the industry know it was mostly political. The YF-23 met all of the maneuver requirements and the speed (Around Mach 3 with A/B and Mach 2.2 supercruise with the GE engines), stealth and supercruise maneuverability were superior to the YF-22's. The main reason given for the selection of the YF-22 over the YF-23 were the requirements for the NATF (Naval ATF). Everyone in the industry knew there wasn't going to be a NATF and in fact, in less than one month after downselect the NATF was cancelled. The main reason was both aircraft met the requirements, but Dick Cheney, who made the final choice, is a memebr of the Carlyle group and they have large investments in Lockheed Martin. So if both aircraft meet the requirements, then why not choose the one you'll make the most money off of? That's how it works in Washington. In fact, many of the YF-23's features were incorporated into the F-22A's production design and thankfully the F-22A has a higher supercruise speed than the prototypes. Don't get me wrong, the F-22A is an excellent aircraft, but the YF-23 had the superior performance overall.
There have been reports that there were two aircraft based off of the technology used in developing the YF-23, the YF-23 being one. The other aircraft is reportedly the design that crashed on take-off at Boscombe Downe in 1994 (http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/boscombe.htm).
In Reply to: Re: YF-23 out of mothballs posted by The Observer on July 15, 2004 at 20:26:55 PST:
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