The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 is an American single-seat, twin-engine, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft technology demonstrator designed for the United States Air Force (USAF). The design was a finalist in the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) demonstration/validation competition, battling the Lockheed YF-22 for the full-scale development contract. Two YF-23 prototypes were built.
Northrop YF-23
Top view of the YF-23, showing the trapezoidal wings and separation between the forward fuselage and engine nacelles
A front view of 87–0800 showing the curving exterior of the design.
A rear view of a YF-23, showing its tile-lined exhaust channels
Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, all collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft explicitly designed around stealth technology. Other examples of stealth aircraft include the B-2 Spirit, the B-21 Raider, the F-22 Raptor, the F-35 Lightning II, the Chengdu J-20, and the Sukhoi Su-57.
F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft explicitly designed around stealth technology.
Vehicles like this RAH-66 proved challenging to design stealth capabilities for.
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber of the U.S. Air Force
In a 1994 live fire exercise near Point Mugu, California, a U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit dropped forty-seven 500 lb (230 kg) class Mark 82 bombs, which represents about half of a B-2's total ordnance payload in Block 30 configuration