Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter Demonstrator Family
The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Black Widow II was an Advanced Tactical Fighter demonstrator family built by the Northrop and McDonnell Douglas contractor team for the U.S. Air Force. Its distinctive diamond wing, canted tails, and low-observable design explored a stealthy high-speed air-dominance concept; the two prototypes flew in 1990 before the competing YF-22 was selected for development.
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Identity
- Aliases
- YF-23YF-23ABlack Widow IIPAV-1PAV-2
- Family Name
- Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Black Widow II
- Full Name
- Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Advanced Tactical Fighter Demonstrator Family
- Roles
- militaryexperimentaltechnology_demonstrator
- Status
- retired
- Type
- aircraft
Details
- Aircraft Specs
- Configuration
- fixed_wing
- Operating Modes
- land
- Takeoff Landing Capabilities
- conventional
- Description
- The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Black Widow II was an Advanced Tactical Fighter demonstrator family built by the Northrop and McDonnell Douglas contractor team for the U.S. Air Force. Its distinctive diamond wing, canted tails, and low-observable design explored a stealthy high-speed air-dominance concept; the two prototypes flew in 1990 before the competing YF-22 was selected for development.
- First Flight Year
- 1,990
- Manufacturer
- Propulsion Configurations
- Entries
- Count
- 2
- Placement
- fuselage
- Propulsion System
- Role
- main
- Variant Notes
- The U.S. Air Force records the first YF-23/PAV-1 with Pratt & Whitney YF-119-PW-100 engines. The linked canonical node is the existing family-level F119 record; the exact YF-119-PW-100 development variant is retained in notes without inventing a duplicate node.
- Name
- YF-23 PAV-1 two-engine YF119 installation
Links
Assets & Meta
- Creation Time
- August 1, 2026 at 13:11:59 UTC
- Updated Time
- August 1, 2026 at 13:11:59 UTC