FB-23 Rapid Theater Attack

Tacamo · 09-20-2005, 03:52 AM

Personally I've always prefered the YF-23's design over the YF-22 or the F/A-22 Raptor. The only thing that killed the project IMO was lack of thrust vectoring and politics stemming from the cost overruns of the B-2 bomber program. Northrop recently unveiled pics and the existence of a concept they've sent to the USAF. By any chance does anyone have access to the Janes article about this concept aircraft.

Also any info on the B1-R would be appreciated as well. B1 with supercruise F/A-22 engines and AIM-120C/D's seems like an odd combination.

Doug97 · 09-20-2005, 05:52 PM

Can you post why you think the YF-23 is a better design, especially when it lacks thrust vectoring?

Does anyone know of the fate of the F-35 competitor? I saw a documentary about the competition between it and Boeing's X-32, and the X-32 looked to me like the better aircraft, especially for the export market.

1. Simpler (thus cheaper) delta wing design

2. Simpler (thus cheaper) direct vertical thrust design, no fancy fan required

3. Only one engine = cheapness

The show didn't seem to give any reasons at all for the X-35 being chosen.

Anyone know if Boeing is planning to offer it for export even though it didn't win?

Tacamo · 09-20-2005, 06:02 PM

The flight stats are still classified, but supposedly they were pretty much neck to neck. Not a big enough advantage that would give the YF-22 huge advantage over the YF-23. The YF-23 had a smaller radar cross section as well not to mention that it's engines are shrouded nuch better against IR detection. I'm not sure if the flight trial YF-22 had thrust vectoring either since there's quite a few internal and external differences between the YF-22 and the F/A-22.

09-20-2005, 03:52 AM	#1
Tacamo Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 603	FB-23 Rapid Theater Attack Personally I've always prefered the YF-23's design over the YF-22 or the F/A-22 Raptor. The only thing that killed the project IMO was lack of thrust vectoring and politics stemming from the cost overruns of the B-2 bomber program. Northrop recently unveiled pics and the existence of a concept they've sent to the USAF. By any chance does anyone have access to the Janes article about this concept aircraft. Also any info on the B1-R would be appreciated as well. B1 with supercruise F/A-22 engines and AIM-120C/D's seems like an odd combination.
Tacamo Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 603
	Last edited by Tacamo; 09-20-2005 at 04:09 AM..

09-20-2005, 05:52 PM	#2
Doug97 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Montreal, Canada Posts: 396	Can you post why you think the YF-23 is a better design, especially when it lacks thrust vectoring? Does anyone know of the fate of the F-35 competitor? I saw a documentary about the competition between it and Boeing's X-32, and the X-32 looked to me like the better aircraft, especially for the export market. 1. Simpler (thus cheaper) delta wing design 2. Simpler (thus cheaper) direct vertical thrust design, no fancy fan required 3. Only one engine = cheapness The show didn't seem to give any reasons at all for the X-35 being chosen. Anyone know if Boeing is planning to offer it for export even though it didn't win?

	Last edited by Doug97; 09-20-2005 at 05:55 PM..

09-20-2005, 06:02 PM	#3
Tacamo Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 603	The flight stats are still classified, but supposedly they were pretty much neck to neck. Not a big enough advantage that would give the YF-22 huge advantage over the YF-23. The YF-23 had a smaller radar cross section as well not to mention that it's engines are shrouded nuch better against IR detection. I'm not sure if the flight trial YF-22 had thrust vectoring either since there's quite a few internal and external differences between the YF-22 and the F/A-22.
Tacamo Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 603

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