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Black Widow
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One of the few recent built American fighters i actually liked.
Out Classed the F-22 in almost Every way.
But Politics gave the F 22 the contract instead.
Such is the Way of US Military Contracts..
It had problems with the nozzle shielding layer, which was fragile and complex.
The F 22 had issues with Stability, and Avionics...Which it Belly landed..Twice..
But Lockheed Knew people ....and had more lobbyists it is the only reason the YF-22 won.
It did not win on it's Merits.
The Airforce and Navy both wanted the YF-23..when the YF-22 was selected guess what? The Navy no longer wanted the ATF and pulled out.
I Bet Congress and the DoD as a whole really wishes they had the YF-23 now with all the cost over runs of the f-22 and it's issues.
Not to mention that YF-23 could scare the hell out of America's enemy just with his look =P!!!
I think the FB-22 has a ton of potential to be fair and perhaps the F-22 in a role similar to the Strike eagle or F-4 wild weasels of old.. The FB-22 and the Wild Weasel/ Strike roles have been proposed but as usual Congress and the DoD shut down projects..
The raptor also IMO is not a True Gen 5 fighter but a 4.5. The Rafale and The SU-37 not only have the capability to Detect it with Passive Doppler, but defeat it in Air To Air Combat. The PAK-FA and SU-47 likely be able to Defeat it as well at half the price!
Another way to save the F-22 program is to Make a "Light" version for export. Japan has expressed interest in the plane for example.
Just my 2 cents. But Lockheed has had 2 misses with the Raptor and F-35. Politics should stop playing a role in these projects or The US Taxpayer will continue to suffer with Turkeys.
the YF-23 and the SU-47 are defiantly the coolest planes out there. if looks could kill then the YF-23 and SU-47 would be on top.