From any angle it is a cool looking plane. Sorry WestPoint it smokes the Raptor. Only lost by a hair in the ATF comp as well. The Raptor is a kick ass plane but the YF-23 would have been a better choice IMHO

Originally posted by FredT
From any angle it is a cool looking plane. Sorry WestPoint it smokes the Raptor. Only lost by a hair in the ATF comp as well. The Raptor is a kick ass plane but the YF-23 would have been a better choice IMHO

Right on, Fred! I still think politics was the main reason the YF-23 lost. Yes it had some disadvantages, but it also had some areas where it was clearly a better plane then the F-22. Given the choice I'd rather fly an F-23 into combat then an F-22. The F-22 might have been cheaper,but that doesn't mean it was better. Also, the biggest lessonfrom this is: Don't Believe Everything The Government Tells You!

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

Originally posted by ghost
Right on, Fred! I still think politics was the main reason the YF-23 lost. Yes it had some disadvantages, but it also had some areas where it was clearly a better plane then the F-22. Given the choice I'd rather fly an F-23 into combat then an F-22. The F-22 might have been cheaper,but that doesn't mean it was better. Also, the biggest lessonfrom this is: Don't Believe Everything The Government Tells You!

It was a total political decision. Rmber that at the time Northrop had the B-2 production and they were still waffling on how many they were going to produce. As with the B-2 decision, they did not want all of thier stealth eggs in one basket

F/A-18 is th most sexy but since it's not the list I would choose something other than F-16

[edit on 30-9-2004 by AtheiX]