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Gents:

Although I'm not one of those Dreamland conspiratory theory nuts it would be hard for me to not believe other stealth aircraft haven't flown. Both the YF-22 and YF-23 are '80's era technology. That's twenty year old technology! Any corporation that needs to be competitive in the aerospace field would need to keep design teams together and have them well excercised in developing new technology. The AF and the firms both know this so I'd assume there have been R&D aircraft built and flown just to keep as they call it "the industrial base warm".

I agree completely with that. The PoleCat was recently released in the public, and of course there's plenty of people that shuttle back and forth from there every week... So obviously stuff is being worked on. Probably even stuff that doesn't have a lot to do with flying. But I think the original comment made, was that the 23 was flying in secret, comparable in nature to the 117 program. That's the kind of comparison people often make, and my feeling is that something of that magnitude could not be kept secret in todays environment... A full blown operational program with numerous production planes that is... Same goes for the "Aurora", which is an aviation tale that refuses to die. Unless it consists of two planes or something, but I don't think that would be enough to really accomplish anything. The amount of support that would be needed for a program like that would be huge, and very hard to hide. Personally, I think if there's anything that's secret, it would be a stealth UAV bomber. The technology is already there (Polecat, DarkStar), and numerous prototypes have already been done. The AF went from saying they would support their existing bomber fleet for decades to come... to saying that they would retire half of it (including all of the 117s) over night. Seems like something fairly significant may have happen for them to reverse their decision so abruptly.

Dave

The North Spin - Dedicated to Aircraft Flight Test for the Aviation Enthusiast

http://www.thenorthspin.com

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If I remember correctly, the YF-23 had an edge in performance, but the YF-22 was much closer to a "Production Ready" design - and look how long it's taken still. The Government is also going to try and keep that "even-hand" so that one company doesn't disappear for lack of projects, and keep our industrial capability available.

I still think the YF-23 looked better, and am looking forward to Zactos model :coolio:

Hitch

Older today, but probably not any wiser...

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