YF-23’s Stealth Legacy and the Navy’s F/A-XX Gamble

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How can a fighter plane that lost a contest thirty years ago continue to influence the most fiercely debated naval aviations program of the present? The reason is that the YF-23 Black Widow II represented a one-of-a-kind combination of stealth lines, range, and supercruise effectiveness requirements that can still have life on the flight decks of U.S. carrier ships.

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1. The Political Crossfire Over F/A-XX

The F/A-XX sixth-generation fighter program of the Navy is where strategic need meets political opposition. The Department of Defense attempted to put it on hold in favor of the Air Force F-47 based on capacity needs within industry. Congress has resisted, with the Senate Appropriations Committee authorizing $1.4 billion to maintain its development. For the Navy, the requirement is existential: without a survivable, longer-range carrier air fighter, its air wings simply won’t survive outside the DF-21D and DF-26 killing envelope of China’s anti-ship ballistic missiles.

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2. The YF-23’s Enduring Allure

Northrop Grumman’s recently unveiled F/A-XX concept art weaves design DNA from its 1990s YF-23 demonstrator. The latter are seen particularly in nose and canopy shaping to minimize radar cross-section (RCS), a technology that combines planform alignment, edge treatments, and radar-absorbent materials to scatter or absorb incoming radar energy. The initial YF-23 even employed diamond wings and low-canted “ruddervators” to reduce side and rear radar returns features the F-22 Raptor did not have and which eventually won the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition.

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3. Stealth and Supercruise: Years Ahead of Its Time

Flight testing in 1990–91 discovered that the YF-23 featured a smaller overall RCS than the YF-22, particularly from the sides and rear, and could sustain supercruise speeds above Mach 1.5 at supersonic conditions without afterburners. Its GE YF120 adaptive-cycle engine variant was described as being efficient over several power settings, a theory now set to return in sixth-generation propulsion research. The aircraft’s planform minimized drag, permitting greater unrefueled range a feature that is extremely attractive to the Pacific theater missions of today.

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4. Why the Black Widow Lost

Despite with many positive aspects, the YF-23 was not as maneuverable. The YF-22’s thrust-vectoring nozzles and increased number of test sorties impressed test subjects concerned with in-visual-range maneuverability, a focus of the majority of air-to-air victories still taking place at close range throughout the early 1990s. Lockheed’s offering was also considered lower-risk, more integrated, and politically beneficial to maintaining its fighter production line. As a follow-on computer-generated creative solution proposed, the two designs were so closely matched that the decision could have been one of the closest in Air Force history.

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5. NATF-23: The Carrier Variant That Never Flew

The NATF-23 design by Northrop modified the YF-23 to operate from carriers. This involved reducing the fuselage for Nimitz-class elevator housing, extending and folding diamond wings, supplementing with canted canards for low-speed lift, and incorporating thrust-vectoring for better approach management. The weapons bay was bisected in order to accommodate a centerline pylon for heavy naval missiles. A wind tunnel model was tested intensively but budget cuts and changing priorities canceled the project along with the A-12 stealth fighter. The Navy would have to wait almost 30 years for its first stealth fighter, the F-35C.

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6. The F/A-XX Vision

The Navy has made public statements only of generic requirements: multi-mission capability, carrier-based Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone compatibility, and at least a 25% increase in range over existing fighters. That is, a combat range of more than 750 nautical miles still not what some analysts had in mind but significantly better. It will have folding wings, strengthened landing gear, and corrosion-proof structures, but at low observability. Whether it will use adaptive-cycle motors for supersonic cruise without fatigue or not is to be determined.

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7. The CCA Factor

The Navy’s surprise award of five CCA concept contracts to Anduril, Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman has the potential to redefine the F/A-XX mission. CCAs are considered unmanned, modular platforms that would execute ISR, strike, and air-to-air missions, controlled by manned fighters. They could allow F/A-XX to be a networked command node, extending sensor range and weapons engagement ranges. Critics caution that CCA funding may undermine manned fighter development.

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8. Stealth Material Science and Naval Challenges

Stealth conversion to a carrier environment is no easy task. Shipboard activities subject airframes to saltwater corrosion, which means high-performance composite coatings and sealants to maintain radar-absorbent properties through multiple deck landings. Engine intakes need to be protected to suppress radar and infrared returns while withstanding ingestion of salt spray. The YF-23’s flush intakes and serpentine ducts were designed for land-based applications; navalization would need redesign for maintainability and longevity at the expense of low observability.

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9. Industrial Capacity and Strategic Risk

Industry refutes the Pentagon argument that it cannot make two sixth-generation fighters simultaneously with past instances of simultaneous programs. But combining developing engines, next-generation avionics, and stealth in two distinct airframes is a new thing. For the Navy, a slip on F/A-XX threatens to prolong dependence on F/A-18E/Fs with a 370-mile radius, pushing carriers into adversary missile arcs.

The question now is whether Northrop Grumman’s offer possibly sullied by the YF-23’s stealth pedigree is robust enough to withstand the budgeting furnace. If so, the Black Widow’s darkness may at last descend upon a carrier deck, three decades after its maiden flight over the Mojave Desert.

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