allen — politics had a lot to do with the YF-23 not winning. Lockheed was better at the political game than Northrop was. The YF-23 had the fewest problems as a prototype, but Lockheed pulled all the right strings and had the support of the right people in the DoD and Congress.
The YF-23 was bigger than the F-22, and thus more expensive. Also, coming from Northrop which was busy making itsself infamous with cost over-runs on the B-2, versus Lockheed that still had a good bit of reputation for on time and under budget from the F-117.
The YF-23 was more future cool, but we would have built even fewer of them for even more money, if that contract had gone ahead.
Admin —
Great photo! I think I am going to use it as my desktop background. Thank you for sharing!
I always liked the looks of that better than the YF-22.
the YF-23 always looked like it had better potential than the YF-22. I wonder how much politics had to do with it not winning.
allen — politics had a lot to do with the YF-23 not winning. Lockheed was better at the political game than Northrop was. The YF-23 had the fewest problems as a prototype, but Lockheed pulled all the right strings and had the support of the right people in the DoD and Congress.
The YF-23 was bigger than the F-22, and thus more expensive. Also, coming from Northrop which was busy making itsself infamous with cost over-runs on the B-2, versus Lockheed that still had a good bit of reputation for on time and under budget from the F-117.
The YF-23 was more future cool, but we would have built even fewer of them for even more money, if that contract had gone ahead.