Tag: Advanced Tactical Fighter program
PAV-2 made its first flight on Oct. 26, piloted by Jim Sandberg. The aircraft was painted in two shades of gray and nicknamed “Gray Ghost”. The video in this post features an interesting interview with YF-23 PAV-2 (Prototype Air Vehicle 2) Test Pilot Jim Sandberg about the PAV-2 first flight (landing gear problem)....
Northrop Grumman's bid would compete with Lockheed Martin proposals that include a hybrid stealth design based on its F-35 Lightning II and F-22 Raptor Three anonymous sources told Reuters that Northrop Grumman is interested in helping Japan build its replacement for the F-2 fighter. Northrop has already responded to Japanese requests for information and has held preliminary talks with Japanese defense...
The YF-22A was Lockheed Martin's design for the ATF Competition for the USAF where it was picked over its competitor, the Nothrop YF-23A The interesting photo in this post shows F-22 less known older brother, the YF-22A. Actually the YF-22A was the Raptor's technology demonstrator. This fighter in fact was Lockheed Martin's design for the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) Competition...
"The USAF ATF requirements did not require the ATF design to have a lot of agility. Northrop for the design of their YF-23A chose stealth over agility to meet the USAF specifications. Northrop's aft deck design shielded the aircraft from horizontal and look up threats by hiding the exhaust. Lockheed did the opposite, they chose agility over stealth for...
The extensive flight tests conducted demonstrated that the YF-23 was stealthier and faster while the YF-22 was more agile The Northrop YF-23A and the Lockheed YF-22A, which of course are the two cool aircraft you see in the photos of this post, competed against each other in the late 1980s/early 1990s in the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program. As we have...
Rumours persist that a classified strike variant of the YF-23 was developed to fulfil a role similar to that of the F-111 During the late 1970s, a new generation of Soviet fighters and Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) prompted the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to find a replacement for the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. For this reason in 1986, the USAF awarded...
