Looking back on the F-22 program’s evolution, the Air Force probably made an error in selecting Lockheed’s YF-22 in the advanced tactical fighter competition in the late 1980s, since Northrop Grumman’s YF-23 was the better model, Barry Watts, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said Tuesday at the Center for National Policy’s forum on the F-22 in Washington, D.C. Watts said Northrop’s engineers spent a lot of time making sure the YF-23 could be easily transitioned with little modification into a fighter bomber boasting a 1,500-mile combat radius without much effect on its low-observable capabilities. In hindsight, Watts said, the Air Force probably went with the Lockheed design due to the overruns associated with Northrop’s B-2A bomber program since it would avoid the appearance of putting all the eggs in one basket. (For more Daily Report coverage on CNP’s Raptor forum, read The Raptor Numbers Game)
Anduril and General Atomics will develop their Collaborative Combat Aircraft for the Air Force, beating out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman, the service announced on April 24. But any of the non-selected companies can compete to actually manufacture the eventual design, the Air Force said.