The Black Widow's Revenge: The Legendary YF-23 in a New Version May Appear Above the Far East
The first prototype of the YF-23 "Black Widow II" on the runway during the tests (summer-autumn 1990 of the year)
If you plunge headlong into the period of the design formation of the American tactical aviation 5th generation, rooted in the early 80s., You can pay attention to the fact that the promising program ATF ("Advenced Tactical Fighter"), which largely determined the vision of the world's leading aerospace corporations, research institutes and experimental design bureaus on the look of next-generation multi-functional fighters can boast not only such a crown of creation from the Lockheed Martin company (in cooperation with McDonnell Douglas), like the inconspicuous tactical fighter F-22A Raptor (flight demonstration index torus / prototype YF / A-22). After even 27 years, the almost forgotten ATF competition, won by the Raptor, continues to be accompanied by the “shadow” of the unique car, which by the end of the 90th year dropped out of this race. We are talking about the inconspicuous fifth-generation fighter of the 5th generation F-23 "Black Widow II" (index of flight prototypes YF-23).
This machine, developed by Nortrop Corporation in 1990, joined the competition in the framework of the Advanced Tactical Fighter program one month before the first experimental demonstration flight of the YF / A-22 Raptor. The Black Widow flew into the air on August 27, while the Raptor stepped on September 29's wing. Somewhat later, the second YF-23 prototype, the Gray Ghost (Gray Ghost), took to the air. From this point on, between the main contenders for the role of the world's first 5-made serial fighter and the “strategic asset” in performing covert electronic and radio intelligence intelligence in the US Air Force a fierce competitive fight ensued, represented by a whole series of tests aimed at testing electrical control systems, systems thrust vector deviations (in the case of YF / A-22), as well as the identification of deficiencies in the aircraft performance characteristics.
Due to the lack of a thrust vector deviation system for the Pratt & Whitney YF-119 and General Electric F120 engines, the Black Widow and Gray Ghost (YF-23) were inferior to the future F-22A in the angular rate of turn in the plane pitch, had a larger bend radius, and also could not perform such aerobatics as "Pugachev's Cobra" and "Frolov's Chakra"; The "Raptor" mastered similar figures. At the same time, the YF-23 flight prototypes, which have not only an integrated glider circuit, but also a "diamond-shaped" wing in plan, as well as a high-performance computerized fly-by-wire control system, had much better controllability at low speeds and at high angles of attack, a dangerous stall effect overtook these machines much less frequently than the prototypes of the early Raptors. They were not inferior to the YF-23 in terms of supersonic cruising flight speed without switching to afterburner operation: at maximum (without afterburner), a speed of 1700 km / h was reached, which at that time was an excellent indicator. Meanwhile, the US Air Force Evaluation Commission gave preference to the YF / A-22 (F-22A "Raptor"), after which the Northrop YF-23 project was immediately closed.
According to various sources, the refusal of the US Air Force from the “Nortropov” brainchild has several justifications. First, it is the extremely futuristic appearance of the F-23 "Black Widow II". Apparently, the “diamond-shaped” wing, as well as the presence of only two tail-turning, full-turning tail elements with a collapse angle of about 90 degrees (instead of the standard pair of vertical stabilizers / rudders and a pair of horizontal elevators) frightened the conservative representatives of the Air Force, accustomed to the F-15C machines "Eagle", its innovative design that looked like a fancy high-altitude glider fighter from a science fiction film. Secondly, this is a more unfavorable economic situation at Lockheed Martin at the beginning of the 90s, which required an infusion from the US Congress in the form of financing the purchase of a large F-22A series, while Northrop Corporation had already received an order for serial production of strategic bombers B-2 “Spirit”, which worthily filled the company's purse. Third, servicing the future F-23 would require the United States Air Force to create a new, more complex and expensive service base.
Meanwhile, the official folding of the YF-23 project does not at all mean that the unique design features and the elemental base of the first two prototypes of this machine will not be partially embodied in promising projects of next-generation tactical fighters from other manufacturers on the Eurasian continent. Confirmation of this was news to provide RFI (Request of Information) information at the Northrop Grumman Corporation in the interests of the Japanese program for the development of the X-NUMX generation fighter F-5. We remember well that the ATD-X project of the twin-engine low-profile fighter that reached the stage of creation and the first flight tests of the demonstrator was frozen by the Japanese in November 3, which was argued by the huge costs (about 2017 billion dollars) to organize high-tech facilities and build a series of several dozen machines. Moreover, despite the duration of the establishment of the ATD-X project, the specialists of the Japanese company Ishikavagima-Harima Heavy Indusries Co., Ltd. (IHI Corporation) could not master the design of a modern nozzle with a thrust vector deflection system for engines of national development XF40-5.
The three-folding (“three-lobed”) thrust vector deflection (OAT) system on the advanced Japanese ATD-X fighter is highly reliable, but antediluvian in terms of design; there is also a loss of efficiency when the thrust vector changes, which is facilitated by the impressive gaps between the moving flaps (it is through these gaps that a partial loss of the useful jet occurs)
Fancy 3-fold controlled nozzles of the antediluvian design were installed on the demonstrator. Now, experts from the Japanese Technical Research Institute (TRDI) and the corporation Mitsubishi Heavy Industries focused on getting ready-made technological developments from the companies Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. And it is “Northrop” that has among its American “aerospace trinity” an important trump card in the form of unique developments on the YF-23 project. Thus, in the Japanese ATD / F-3 program, this American company can finally take revenge from Lockheed Martin, which is trying to promote its F-35A Lightning-2, which is not very good at 1100 km, everywhere. Northrop specialists can offer Japanese developers such unique technological features of the Black Widow II as:
- a flat rectangular nozzle with a top-oriented cooling circuit (such a design will reduce the infrared visibility of a future Japanese fighter for infrared opto-electronic complexes placed on enemy low-flying fighters several times);
- “diamond wing”, which prevents the machine from sticking into a corkscrew when maneuvering with large angles of attack (35 or more degrees);
- double-tailing empennage with 90-degree camber, maintaining controllability at high angles of attack, as well as reducing fighter radar visibility to even lower than the F-22A "Raptor", ESR indicators (of the order of 0,05 square meters);
- ribbed overhangs, encircling the nose of the fuselage, up to the root of the wing (contributed to increased vortex formation to maintain manageability in the yaw at the angles of attack);
- constructive niches under the radio-transparent skin of the wing and elevators to accommodate additional radars of the decimeter and meter ranges with an active phased antenna array (the same radar architecture is present on our Su-5 fighter jets).
Both YF-23 flight prototypes in flight: black - board # XXUMX "Black Widow II", gray - board # XXUMX "Gray Ghost". The latter, equipped with more sophisticated, complex and expensive turbojet afterburner afterburner engine F800, with the ability to change the degree of bypass ratio in flight, was able to develop an afterburner supersonic speed in 801 km / h (the record was reached 120 in November 1900 of the year)
And this is only a small part of the entire list of technological "bells and whistles" and "buns" that the American company Northrop Grumman is ready to provide to the Japanese for taking revenge from Lockheed Martin for the fiasco in the ATF project and gaining prestige on the Asian arms market.
Information sources:
http://airwar.ru/enc/fighter/yf23.html
http://airwar.ru/enc/fighter/f22.html
http://forum.militaryparitet.com/viewtopic.php?id=21171
Information