Chris Roberts

The production version of the Northrop Grumman F-23 Black widow II.

Concept art of "what-if" the USAF had gone with the YF-23 instead of the YF-22.

"You will notice that the F-23A would have been longer and more smoothly molded than the prototype technology demonstrator that came before it. The YF-23's big trapezoidal nacelles would become more blended into the F-23's fuselage and its engines would be spaced closer together at slightly toed-in angles. Without the requirements for thrust reversers, which was baked into the YF-23 design but the hardware was never fitted, a more efficient low-observable flap-nozzle could be installed and the flat exhaust troughs would get updated heat-resistant coverings."

"The F-23's nose would be redefined to accommodate a powerful active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar and its intakes would be drastically changed. Gone was the innovative but high-risk 'gauzing panels' that worked to separate turbulent boundary layer air from entering serpentine intakes. In their place was a diverterless supersonic intake-like configuration similar to what is seen today on the F-35 and J-20, among other aircraft. The intake leading edges would be serrated as well, giving them a menacing look and enhanced low-observable properties."

The F-23's boat-tail would also be simplified, with a simpler overall 'w' shape, with the additional indentures found on its YF-23 predecessor deleted. The F-23A's weapons capacity was expanded and offered more relevant weapons storage than the single bay found on the YF-23. The bays were arranged to carry a pair of AIM-9 Sidewinders in the front bay and four to five AIM-120s in the rear bay. Air-to-ground munitions could also be carried, including much larger weapons than what the F-22 is capable of carrying today due to the greater depth of the F-23's rear weapons bay."

"Beyond being more refined, the F-23A is a narrower and somewhat elongated design iteration of the YF-23, which would have likely helped improved its already blistering kinematic performance and excellent radar cross-section metrics. But still, as you can see in the scaled illustrations below, the F-23 was to be a beast of a fighter that was overall larger than the F-22 Raptor—the aircraft that became the end result of ATF competition."