The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23
is an American single-seat
twin-engine stealth fighter aircraft technology demonstrator designed for the United States Air Force
The design was a finalist in the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) competition
battling the Lockheed YF-22 for a production contract
At the end of the competition, the YF-22 were the winners
Even though the YF-23 was less agile than its competitor
but It was stealthier and faster
Even in 1991, in terms of raw performance
the General Electric-powered YF-23 was acknowledged to have been the best performer
even compared to its Pratt & Whitney YF119-powered twin
The YF-23 had much better supersonic cruise performance
stealth, and was only slightly less maneuverable at extremely low airspeeds
Interestingly the YF-22 and YF-23 had exactly the same trimmed AoA of 60°
The YF-23 could do it without thrust vectoring
Those V-tails were very powerful especially when coupled to an unstable airframe
said one source who is intimately familiar with both the YF-23 and the Raptor
The YF-22 probably had an advantage at very, very low airspeeds
but neither company had enough time to investigate dynamic low speed
The source added that in some ways
it might have cost Northrop the Advanced Tactical Fighter competition
barring the other factors involved in the selection
ACC (Air Combat Command) pilots were enamored with dogfighting
and Lockheed gave a good visual demonstration of high AOA
albeit a very limited and benign test, the source said
Northrop chose not to do high AOA during DemVal and that was a mistake
Both airplanes could do the same exact maneuver—trimmed, high AOA
As it was, the YF-22 appeared better
because they did something visually exciting and Northrop couldn't
or so it was inferred
The final operational version of the F-23 would have offered much better range than the Raptor
especially at supersonic speeds, especially if powered by the YF120
That would have come in handy over the Pacific
It would also have been stealthier
and it would have been almost as maneuverable as the Raptor
or possibly more so at different speeds and altitudes
Ultimately, the Air Force ended up with an excellent plane with the Raptor
but both the YF-22 and YF-23 were outstanding designs
Had Northrop won the competition, the
F-23 might have been a better overall performer
but it would have likely been more expensive
With the F-23, the Air Force would have a greater margin of superiority
over potential threats like the Chinese J-20 and the Russian MiG-29 or Su -37
But would that have been worth the price differential?