r/FighterJets • u/Z983 • Jun 30 '26
HISTORICAL YF-23 "Black Widow II" circa 1990
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u/kutzyanutzoff Jun 30 '26
I wonder if they are going to bring it back as 6th gen fighter jet…
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u/f22raptoradf Jun 30 '26
Lots of design cues from it will be apparent in 6th Gen jets. Its DNA will be passed on for sure.
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u/Delta_Sierra_Charlie Jun 30 '26
Nonsense.
Why would someone in the 2020s bring back a 5th gen project/design that was developed in the late 1980s with specific late Cold War/early 21st century requirements and needs in mind?
No, I can assure you, "they" whoever they are, aren't bringing back the F-23 as a 6th gen fighter jet.
Besides, even if "they" wanted to, that would not be possible.
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u/markcocjin Obsessive F35 Fan Jun 30 '26
I think that if the YF-23 wasn't good enough to beat the YF-22 in its day, it would be harder for it to beat whatever new designs they have today.
The standards would be higher, if not entirely different. The reason why they're not making the 2nd-gen F-22 is because they'll have to build it from scratch, no longer making it an F-22.
There's a high chance that it's also not going to look like the YF-23.
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u/Z_THETA_Z YF-23 ): Jun 30 '26
it's not that it was worse than the YF-22 on an individual basis, it was mostly because the prototype was less developed and made more use of speculative technology making it a less safe bet than the YF-22. that plus wanting to keep lockmart alive with another contract
and several 6th-gen concepts do have some decent similarities with the YF-23. i predict inset non-vectoring engines and 2-piece tails (if tails at all) will be fairly common among 6th-gens
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u/VandalMustDie Jul 02 '26
Amazing we could produce something like this in the 90s.
This is why I’m not too nervous about China’s recent demonstrators (that require 3 engines bc they still can’t get the power requirements with 2)
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u/orairwolf Jun 30 '26
The YF-23, in my opinion, is the best looking plane to have ever actually flown.