Worlds Apart: The YF-22A and YF-23A in Contrast

To meet the very same specifications that had been listed by ATF planners in September
1983, the seven ATF airframe contractors came up with fundamentally similar designs in
terms of wing area, sweep, and general size. The Lockheed and Northrop designs were perhaps
the most different of all, with the YF-23A appearing slim and almost sensuous in
design, and the YF-22A appearing shorter, with an angular muscularity. TheYF-22A's angularity
provides a stealthy quality, and stems from its F-117 Stealth Fighter ancestry.
YF-22A
The Lockheed YF-22A features a single-seat cockpit covered by a large, high-visibility
canopy. The two engines are mounted close together on the centerline of the 38-ft-long
fuselage, which is 20 ft wide at its broadest point. The engines are fed by diamond-shaped
intakes. There are three internal weapons bays: one on either side of the fuselage, and the
other mounted ventrally on centerline. The airplane has two fixed, outward-canted vertical
stabilizers with large-area trailing-edge rudders, and twin all-movable tailplanes that double
as horizontal stabilizers and elevators (stabilators). Its all-movable, close-coupled stabilators
mount in line with the very thin, semi-trapezoid-shaped wings and actually overlap
Both Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23A ATF prototypes fly in formation in the
summer of 1990. The YF-23As featured the all-moving V-tails. This unique feature
helped reduce the aircraft's radar cross section while eliminating the unwanted
mechanical devices and weight of conventional horizontal tailplanes. (USAF/HO.)