(Northrop) YF-23 Black Widow II @·AIRCRAFTUBE

  • Northrop YF-23 Northrop YF-23
    Northrop YF-23
  • The only joint flight of both<br>prototypes over the Mojave Desert<br>(29 November 1990) The only joint flight of both<br>prototypes over the Mojave Desert<br>(29 November 1990)
    The only joint flight of both
    prototypes over the Mojave Desert
    (29 November 1990)
  • Diamond wing and V-tails Diamond wing and V-tails
    Diamond wing and V-tails
  • Northrop YF-23 Northrop YF-23
    Northrop YF-23
  • In-flight refuelling In-flight refuelling
    In-flight refuelling
  • PAV-1 taking off in afterburner<br>(Pratt & Whitney YF119 engines) PAV-1 taking off in afterburner<br>(Pratt & Whitney YF119 engines)
    PAV-1 taking off in afterburner
    (Pratt & Whitney YF119 engines)
  • PAV-2 "Spider" (light gray) and PAV-1 "Gray Ghost" (charcoal) PAV-2 "Spider" (light gray) and PAV-1 "Gray Ghost" (charcoal)
    PAV-2 "Spider" (light gray) and PAV-1 "Gray Ghost" (charcoal)
  • PAV-2 (87-0801) PAV-2 (87-0801)
    PAV-2 (87-0801)
  • The Lockheed YF-22, winner of the ATF competition The Lockheed YF-22, winner of the ATF competition
    The Lockheed YF-22, winner of the ATF competition
  • Compared planforms of the YF-23 and YF-22 Compared planforms of the YF-23 and YF-22
    Compared planforms of the YF-23 and YF-22
  • Cockpit Cockpit
    Cockpit
  • PAV-1 at the USAF Museum (Dayton, Ohio) PAV-1 at the USAF Museum (Dayton, Ohio)
    PAV-1 at the USAF Museum (Dayton, Ohio)
  • Tile-lined exhaust troughs Tile-lined exhaust troughs
    Tile-lined exhaust troughs
  • Test pilot<br>Paul Metz Test pilot<br>Paul Metz
    Test pilot
    Paul Metz

Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II

The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 is an American single-seat, twin-engine stealth fighter prototype and technology demonstrator designed for the United States Air Force (USAF). With Northrop as prime contractor and McDonnell Douglas as partner, the design was a finalist in the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) demonstration and validation phase, competing against the Lockheed YF-22 developed by Lockheed, Boeing and General Dynamics. Unofficially nicknamed "Black Widow II", two YF-23 prototypes were built.

The YF-23 was considered stealthier and faster, but less agile than its competitor. After a four-year development and evaluation process, the YF-22 team was announced as the winner in April 1991; its design was developed into the F-22 Raptor, which first flew in 1997 and entered service in 2005. In 2004, Northrop Grumman used the second YF-23 as a display model for a proposed regional bomber, a project dropped when longer-range bombers were preferred. Both prototypes are now museum exhibits.

Development

Concept definition

In the late 1970s, American reconnaissance satellites spotted the new Soviet Su-27 and MiG-29 fighters, which threatened to equal or surpass the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon. Combined with new Soviet systems such as the Beriev A-50 airborne early warning aircraft and modern surface-to-air missiles, these late Cold War threats led the USAF to begin developing in 1981 a new air superiority fighter able to exploit emerging technologies: composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight-control systems, more powerful engines and stealth.

The ATF request for information was issued in May 1981 under the code name "Senior Sky". In 1983 the ATF System Program Office was formed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base; air-to-air combat became the primary mission and, as the Air Force became aware of the very low radar cross section (RCS) obtained by "black world" programs such as Have Blue and the F-117, stealth gained much more importance. At first the USAF also required short take-off and landing capability, which implied thrust reversers.

Drawing on its experience with the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, Northrop studied three concepts: the Agile Maneuverable Fighter, the Ultra Stealth Fighter and the High Stealth Fighter (HSF). By 1985 the HSF had evolved into a configuration recognizably similar to the future YF-23, offering the best balance between stealth and aerodynamic performance. Chief engineer Robert Sandusky and chief scientist Yu Ping Liu, who shaped its curved stealthy surfaces, were key figures of the Northrop team.

Demonstration and validation

The November 1984 Statement of Operational Need called for a fighter with a take-off weight of about 50,000 lb (22,700 kg), combining stealth, supercruise (sustained supersonic flight without afterburner), long range and the ability to operate from short runways. The request for proposal was issued in September 1985 and, following the recommendations of the Packard Commission, the construction of flying prototypes was added in May 1986. The USAF then planned to buy 750 ATFs at a unit cost of 35 million dollars (1985 dollars), while the US Navy, under its Navalized Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF) program announced in 1988, planned 546 aircraft to replace the F-14 Tomcat.

Proposals were submitted in July 1986 by Lockheed, Boeing, General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas, Northrop, Grumman and Rockwell. Northrop's submission, Design Proposal DP110, was derived from the HSF. On 31 October 1986, the Lockheed and Northrop proposals were selected as finalists. Each team received a fixed-price contract of 691 million dollars (1985 dollars) and 50 months to build and flight-test two prototypes; the Lockheed aircraft became the YF-22 and the Northrop aircraft the YF-23. In parallel, Pratt & Whitney and General Electric developed the competing YF119 and YF120 engines.

Northrop teamed with McDonnell Douglas, with which it had previously developed the F/A-18 Hornet. The partners invested about 650 million dollars of their own funds, and each engine maker 100 million. Northrop built the aft fuselage and tail surfaces in Hawthorne, California, and carried out final assembly at Edwards Air Force Base, while McDonnell Douglas built the wings and forward fuselage in St. Louis, Missouri. The configuration was frozen in January 1988 as DP117K. By then thrust reversers had been dropped, the take-off weight goal had risen to 60,000 lb (27,200 kg) and the internal missile load had been reduced from eight to six. The prototypes did not carry mission avionics, which were tested in ground laboratories and in a modified BAC One-Eleven flying laboratory.

Design

The YF-23 had an unconventional appearance, with diamond-shaped wings whose leading and trailing edges were both swept 40°, a strongly area-ruled fuselage to reduce wave drag, and two all-moving V-tails canted 50° from the vertical, nicknamed "ruddervators". The tails rotated in opposite directions for pitch and in the same direction for yaw, while roll was controlled by differential deflection of the flaps and ailerons; deflecting the flaps down and the ailerons up on both sides at once acted as an airbrake. Aligning all edges along a few directions concentrated radar reflections into a small number of narrow lobes. The aircraft was statically unstable and relied on a fly-by-wire system, whose control laws were refined on a large simulator and on the Total In-Flight Simulator (TIFS), a modified C-131 Samaritan.

The forward fuselage featured a chined nose whose sharp edges generated vortices to improve handling at high angles of attack. The nose and canopy had continuously curved surfaces designed for low radar signature. The cockpit, placed high near the nose for good visibility, had a centre stick and side throttles, and the in-flight refuelling receptacle was located on the spine of the forward fuselage. The aircraft was built "outside-in", the large composite skins being made before the internal structure. To limit costs, off-the-shelf components were used: F-15 nose wheel, F/A-18 main landing gear parts and F-15E forward cockpit components.

The two engines were housed in separate nacelles with flat upper surfaces, nicknamed "bread loafs", on either side of the fuselage. Their fixed-geometry, trapezoidal inlets fed S-shaped ducts that hid the compressor faces from radar, and porous suction panels in front of each inlet bled off the boundary layer. The nacelles kept the volume originally planned for the abandoned thrust reversers. As on the B-2, the exhaust from the single-expansion ramp nozzles flowed through troughs in the aft deck lined with heat-abating tiles made of "Lamilloy" by Detroit Diesel Allison; transpiration cooled by engine bleed air, they reduced the infrared signature seen from below. Unlike the YF-22, the YF-23 did not use thrust vectoring. A single large weapons bay was located under the fuselage, between the nose gear and the main landing gear.

The first YF-23 (PAV-1, serial number 87-0800), powered by Pratt & Whitney YF119 engines, was painted charcoal gray and nicknamed "Gray Ghost". The second (PAV-2, 87-0801), powered by General Electric YF120 engines, was painted in two shades of gray and nicknamed "Spider". The unofficial name "Black Widow II" came both from the radar cross section plot, which looked like a spider, and from Northrop's World War II P-61 Black Widow night fighter. PAV-1 briefly had a red hourglass painted around its ram air scoop to warn ground crews; resembling the marking under the body of the black widow spider, it was removed at the request of Northrop management.

Testing and evaluation

PAV-1 was rolled out at Edwards Air Force Base on 22 June 1990 and made a 50-minute maiden flight on 27 August 1990, flown by Northrop chief test pilot Alfred "Paul" Metz; the F-16 chase aircraft had to use afterburner to keep up with it during the climb. PAV-2 followed on 26 October 1990 with Jim Sandberg at the controls. On 18 September PAV-1 supercruised at Mach 1.43, and on 29 November PAV-2 exceeded Mach 1.6 without afterburner; the highest supercruise speed reached was Mach 1.72. By comparison, the YF-22 reached Mach 1.58 in supercruise. The two prototypes flew together only once, for a photo session over the Mojave Desert on 29 November 1990.

On 30 November PAV-1 completed a fast-paced combat demonstration of six flights in about ten hours, during which it reached Mach 1.8 in afterburner, its highest recorded speed; the maximum speed remains classified, but is believed to exceed Mach 2 at altitude. The maximum angle of attack tested was 25°. Unlike Lockheed, which fired AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles from its YF-22, Northrop fired no missiles from the YF-23; its weapons bay was only used for acoustic tests. Flight testing ended in December 1990: the two YF-23s had flown 50 times for a total of 65.2 hours, demonstrating Northrop's predicted performance.

Evaluation

Both designs met or exceeded the performance requirements; the YF-23 was stealthier and faster, but the YF-22 was more agile. On 23 April 1991, Secretary of the Air Force Donald Rice announced that the Lockheed team and Pratt & Whitney had won the airframe and engine competitions. The Lockheed proposal was judged to offer better technical features, lower risk (the YF-23 had flown far fewer sorties and hours) and more effective program management. Aviation observers also suggested that Northrop's cost overruns and delays on the B-2 and AGM-137 TSSAM programs counted against it. Some press reports added that the Lockheed design was considered more easily adaptable to the Navy's NATF requirement, although the Navy abandoned the NATF program by fiscal year 1992 because of rising costs.

Aftermath

After the competition, both YF-23s were transferred without engines to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. NASA planned to use one of them for load calibration research, but this never happened. The two airframes remained in storage until mid-1996 and were then transferred to museums.

In 2004, Northrop Grumman proposed a YF-23-based bomber, the FB-23 "Rapid Theater Attack", for the USAF's interim regional bomber requirement, against the Lockheed Martin FB-22 and the Boeing B-1R. PAV-2 was modified as a display model for the proposal. The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review favoured a long-range strategic bomber instead, which ended the project. In 2018 there was speculation that Northrop Grumman might offer a modernized F-23 for Japan's F-X fighter program, but Japan did not pursue it.

Variants

  • YF-23A : Two prototypes built for the ATF Dem/Val phase, PAV-1 (87-0800) with Pratt & Whitney YF119 engines and PAV-2 (87-0801) with General Electric YF120 engines.
  • F-23 : Proposed production version for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase (DP231 and DP232), with two weapons bays in tandem, an M61 cannon, an AESA radar, and single-seat and two-seat versions. Not built.
  • NATF-23 : Proposed naval variant (DP527) to replace the F-14 Tomcat, with folding wings, canards, a tailhook and two-dimensional thrust-vectoring nozzles. A wind tunnel model accumulated some 14,000 hours of testing. Not built.
  • FB-23 : Proposed two-seat regional bomber derived from the YF-23 (2004), about 100 ft (30 m) long, with a combat radius exceeding 1,600 nmi (2,960 km), an internal payload of 10,000 lb (4,540 kg) and axisymmetric nozzles. Not built.

Aircraft on display

  • YF-23A PAV-1, serial 87-0800, registration N231YF, "Gray Ghost" : first displayed at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards, it was brought to the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio, in 2000, and is now displayed in its Research and Development hangar.
  • YF-23A PAV-2, serial 87-0801, registration N232YF, "Spider" : on loan from NASA, it was exhibited at the Western Museum of Flight until 2004, when Northrop Grumman reclaimed it for the FB-23 proposal. It returned in 2010 and is displayed at the museum's new location at Zamperini Field, Torrance, California.

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This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Northrop YF-23 of Wikipedia ( authors )

Northrop YF-23 Black Widow II

  • Role : Stealth fighter technology demonstrator.
  • Manufacturer : Northrop - McDonnell Douglas.
  • First flight : 27 August 1990.
  • Status : Cancelled, aircraft retired.
  • Primary user : United States Air Force (testing).
  • Produced : 1989 to 1990.
  • Number built : 2.
  • Variants (proposals) :
    • F-23 (production version).
    • NATF-23 (naval version).
    • FB-23 (bomber).
  • Competitor : Lockheed YF-22.

    • Specifications (YF-23A)

  • Crew: 1.
  • Length: 67 ft 5 in (20.55 m).
  • Wingspan: 43 ft 7 in (13.28 m).
  • Height: 13 ft 11 in (4.24 m).
  • Wing area: 950 sq ft (88 m²).
  • Empty weight: 29,000 lb (13,150 kg) (contractor figure, without engines).
  • Gross weight: 64,000 lb (29,030 kg) take-off; 51,320 lb (23,280 kg) combat weight.
  • Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney YF119-PW-100N (PAV-1) or General Electric YF120-GE-100N (PAV-2) afterburning turbofans.
  • Thrust: 23,500 lbf (105 kN) each dry, 30,000 to 35,000 lbf (130 to 160 kN) with afterburner.
  • Maximum speed: Mach 2.2 (1,450 mph, 2,335 km/h) at altitude.
  • Supercruise: Mach 1.72 (1,135 mph, 1,825 km/h) at altitude.
  • Ferry range: 2,400 nmi (2,760 mi, 4,400 km).
  • Combat range: 700 to 800 nmi (800 to 920 mi, 1,300 to 1,500 km).
  • Service ceiling: 65,000 ft (19,800 m).
  • g limits: +7.1 (highest tested).
  • Wing loading: 67.4 lb/sq ft (329 kg/m²) (54 lb/sq ft, 264 kg/m² at combat weight).
  • Thrust/weight: 1.09 (1.36 at combat weight).
  • Armament: none fitted on the prototypes; provisions for 1 × 20 mm M61 Vulcan cannon, 4 × AIM-120 AMRAAM or AIM-7 Sparrow and 2 × AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles in the internal bay.

— — — = = — — —

This text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License
Source : Article Northrop YF-23 of Wikipedia ( authors )
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    Reading should start by itself, but nothing happens.

    Many browsers do not allow a page to speak before the visitor has clicked somewhere. Reading then starts at your first click (or key press) anywhere on the page. You can also click the reading button directly.

    I hear music while the text is read.

    This is the "Music while reading" option (ticked by default): soft background music, chosen at random, goes with the voice and stops with it. Untick this option in the Options page if you do not want it.

    HELP PAGE

    Why this site?

    Discovery

    This website is dedicated to one's aeronautical passion (which I hope we share) and was realised mainly as an educationnal tool. Knowing that, you'll notice that each new visit brings random topics for the purpose of making new discoveries, some achievements or characters certainly not deserving the oblivion into which they have sometimes fallen.

    By these pages, we also want to pay tribute to all those who gave at one time or another, their lives or health in the name of freedom, aeronautical security or simply our comfort.

    Centralisation

    Internet is full of websites dedicated to aviation, but most are dedicated to subjects or periods that are very limited in space or time. The purpose of this site is to be as general as possible and thus treats all events as well as characters of all stripes and times while putting much emphasis on the most significant achievements.

    The same years saw birth of technologies like photography and cinema, thus permitting illustration of a large part of important aeronautical events from the start. Countless (and sometimes rare) media recently put online by enthousiasts finally give us access to these treasures, but the huge amount of information often makes things a little messy. A centralization effort is obviously most needed at this level.

    All persons who directly or indirectly contributed to the achievement or posting of such documents are here gratefully acknowledged.

    General

    Fluid website

    This site automatically fits the dimensions of your screen, whether you are on a desktop computer, a tablet or a smartphone.

    Bilingual website

    You can change the language by clicking on the flag in the upper left or via "Options" in the central menu. Of course, the videos remain in the language in which they were posted ...

    Browser compatibility

    The site is not optimized, or even designed to run on older browsers or those deliberately deviating from standards. You will most probably encounter display issues with Internet Explorer. In this case, it is strongly recommended installing a modern (and free!) browser that's respecting the standards, like Firefox, Opera, Chrome or Safari.

    Cookies and Javascript

    This site uses cookies and JavaScript to function properly. Please ensure that your browser is configured accordingly. Neither of these technologies, or other means shall in no case be used on the Site for the retention or disclosure of personal information about its Visitors. See the "Legal" page for more on this subject.

    Website layout

    Left menus

    Because of the lack of space on smartphones and small tablets, these menus are hidden. Everything is nevertheless accessible via the main menu option, located between the video and photo sections. This menu is placed there for compatibility reasons with some browsers, which play the videos over the menus.

    "Search" and "Latest" :
    The link "In Titles" restricts the search to the titles of different forms. Use this option if you are looking for a plane, a constructor, a pilot or a particular event that could have been treated as a subject.

    The link "In Stories" will bring you to a search in all texts (the "Story" tab) and will take more time. The search term will appear highlighted in green when opening the corresponding story.

    Would you believe, "Timeline" will show all subjects in chronological order.

    "Random" will reload the entire page with a new random topic.

    The bottom section keeps you abreast of the latest five entries. New topics are added regularly. Don't hesitate to come visit us often : add bookmark.

    Blogs and Comments central section

    Under the photos section comes the comments tabs window :

    You can enter general comments in your own language via one of the two buttons on the left (BLOG EN and BLOG FR). Note that these buttons are accessible regardless of the language to allow some participation in the other language.

    All comments are subject to moderation and will be published only if they comply with the basic rules of decorum, while remaining relevant to the purpose of this site.

    The third tab allows you to enter comments on the shown topic and is bilingual. Personal anecdotes, supplements and other information questions will take place here.

    The "Story" tab shows the explanatory texts. They are most often taken from Wikipedia, a site where we participate regularly.

    The "Data" tab is reserved for list of features and specifications.

    Right menus

    On a smartphone, the lack of space is growing and this menu is moved to the bottom of the page to give priority to videos and pictures.

    The top right icons are links to videos posted by third parties (on their own responsabilities) or by ourselves. The link below these icons will take you to the channel of the one who posted the video. Feel free to suggest other videos if you think they are of some interest (Use the BLOG button or the "Contact" link).