Apr 162010
Northrop designed this highly-modified version of the F-23 back in 1990 for the US Navy. It differed substantially from the YF-23 prototype… the wings were moved aft, canards were added, the vertical tails were made more vertical and given a sawtooth trailing edge (done in part to allow the fins to be as large as possible, as far aft as possible, and as short in fore-aft length as possible, while retaining the trailing edge angles). As with the USAF F-23A design, a two-seater concept was also designed. Note that the forward fuselage is also substantially re-contoured.
10 Responses to “The F-23 goes to sea”
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There was speculation after the loss of Northrop YF-23 to Lockheed’s YF-22 that a derivative of it would be fielded by the US Navy because of its superior stealth characteristics over the Lockheed design.
In fact, that’s where the forward-swept VG wing “Switchblade” fighter that showed up in the movie “Stealth” came from, based on this Northrop patent:
http://xplanes.tumblr.com/post/75547639/northrop-grumman-switchblade-patent-via
Interesting “riblets” midwing, and a second one on the right wing. Gun fairing?
> Gun fairing?
Gun fairing. M-61.
Was going to ask this once before but got “distracted” ;o)
What are the advantages/disadvantages of the “diamond” wings? I’ve rarely seen them used on actual designs with the YF being the most recent example but I’m not really clear on why they are supposed to be all that much ‘different’?
“Stealth”??? I haven’t even managed to see it yet, (lots of music video’s though ;o) but I was aware of both the movie and the patent…
Which kept me rather busy for about 4 months “correcting” huge amounts of internet “News” where stills were used to “prove” that this was the Navy’s NEW fighter plane along with the Navy’s first female super-fighter-pilot!
I probably wouldn’t have been half as upset expect my work schedule (and overtime) was keeping me from making it out to see the movie which was still in theaters when the folks on the net went nuts :o)
Randy
Scott,
You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to see what the navalized F-23 proposal looked like. Seeing this post made my day a whole lot brighter. If somebody were to produce a 3-view poster of the F-23N, there’s no doubt I would buy it (hint, hint.) Are you able to divulge the source for this pic?
Randy,
Please don’t waste your time watching “Stealth.” It’s probably in my list of top ten worst movies EVAR. Its only redeeming value is the gratuitous use of Jessica Biel.
> If somebody were to produce a 3-view poster of the F-23N, there’s no doubt I would buy it
It will appear in a future issue of APR, in either or both of two articles now in the early stages.
> Are you able to divulge the source for this pic?
No.
I’m not completely sure about this, but I think the idea of the diamond wings is to maximize the area of the wingtip that is taken up by the aileron, as far from the aircraft’s centerline as possible, to give it an exceptional roll rate.
The concept is fairly similar to that used on the Spitfire’s elliptical wing.
Pat, your knowledge exceeds mine so…
Thanks for pointing that out to me :o)
CFE: Jessica Biel, was there actually any OTHER reason to want to watch the movie? (Ok, the “Switchblade” itself is kinda cool but really Jessica has it beat hands down {up?} in a halter-top)
Seriously? I feel these days I don’t HAVE to watch it, all the “good” scenes have been used for DragonForce music video’s :o)
I was “informed” on another blog/mailinglist/what-ever that a supposed ‘advantage’ of the diamond wing was better overall control in stall and/or unstable air flow with the radical manuevers allowed by thrust-vector control, anyone have comments on this aspect?
Randy
There are performance reasons , but one of the main reasons is “Plamform Alignment”, for RCS reasons. Mike
I have been looking for info related to Northrop’s NATF for awhile now. Thank you good sir.