Northrop ATF evolution

[overscan]

So in the beginning was the P-530

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Then McDonnell-Douglas uglified it into the F/A-18 (bleurgh).

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Northrop seem to have been convinced lightweight was good- hence the F-20.

The ND102 was a nice little US/German collaboration;

[overscan]

The 1983 ATF RFP saw Northrop submit these ideas;

[overscan]

These images from a Northrop US patent appear to show a fighter combining the "Missileer" and "Agile" concepts.

[overscan]

3 View

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last one

[Ollie]

F/A-18 ugly?

Not at all...

It really looks mean and wicked, and that's exactly how it's supposed to look!



Thanks for the History lesson Overscan!

B)  

[elmayerle]

What you don't see here is some of the alternates examined at Northrop that took advantage of the R&D they'd done on efficient dorsal inlets for the US Navy.  I had some bosses who'd worked those alternate studies and they were interestingly different.  As I remember, it had outwardly canted twin-verticals, a rear-mounted trapezoidal wing like the ND-102, very large and tailored LERX, and dorsal half-cone inlets with vectoring nozzles; in some ways it looked like a "big brother" to th Draken.

[overscan]

While much of the F-22 evolution is well documented, the YF-23 evolution remains unknown. I'd love to read an article on all the different ideas they tried...

[elmayerle]

While much of the F-22 evolution is well documented, the YF-23 evolution remains unknown. I'd love to read an article on all the different ideas they tried...

Well, fi the data has migrated to public domain, it'd most likely be in either the Western Museum of Flight, Hawthorne, CA, or the library of Northrop Institute, Inglewood, ca.  I know the Western Museum of Fligth has a website and presumeably an email address for contacts but I don't know about the other possibility.  This is one of those times I wish I could just hop out ther on a weekend.