im sorry but i cant see how the f-22 won, the black widow 2 is faster, prettier, more stealthy and cheaper i think
then again, i am a bit bias, it is my favourite american aircraft!

Mr. Husteds' information is 1,000% accurate and truthful in that it's all confirmed by hundreds of first person eye witness accounts, flight test reports and actual missions flown from Edwards and Nellis AFB re: the YF-23 vs. the YF-22.
The Northrup aircraft was and is superior all around to the Lockheed submission and just now in early 2008 the
F-22 is coming into squadron service.
That's 15 years BEHIND schedule and I don't want to know the cost ovveruns on this program.
Again, Northrop and the American people got the shaft.

It's "aircraft" for singular or plural use, not "aircrafts." (think "deer")

Why was one chose over the other? There is not simple answer to that one. It's too bad that the Navy and Marine Corps did not choose to go with the YF23 instead of the JSF...but that decision was made for them in the early 90s by the Clinton Administration.

Well, I agree the Yf-23 should have won and I think the YF-23 looks batter than the F-22 raptor.

Absolutely right. As was mentioned earlier, Sam Nunn was the Chairman of the Armed Service Committee, and Sam happens to be from Georgia where Martin Marietta is based. No surprise there. Janes said that the F-23 was the better plane, and more in line with what the Air Force wanted.

The F-15 is a great fighter, and one of the few aircrafts that can fly completely vertical and accelerate at the same time. You've probably seen the comments from the test pilot of the 23 that have said that when he took off, he was pulling away from F-15's while the 15's were in full "re-heat". But speed was just one of the amazing attributes of this plane- the avionics were unmatched and are still unmatched today.

I believe the main reason was politcal for this reason. Northrop just rolled out the B-2, and the powers to be were not going to give the two largest advanced next generation stealth contracts to the same company. That would have meant we were going to single source stealth to one company for the next 20 years. While the F-23 was the better plane Northrop should have teamed up with another contractor to prevent the decision.

My Dad was the chief engineer for the F-23 at McDonnell Douglas. I think he would be very pleased with the comments that you folks have made about this aircraft. He was an amazing man, and he was sure this aircraft was the best in the world. It was a hell of a plane, and I hope that the plan for this is still alive.
Thank you all.

Jim Smith, there are no YF-23 Blackwidow IIs in service sadly. This is becaue only the F-22 was given a production contract. Though both the F-22 and YF-23 are great aircrafts, only one was allowed to go into production. Though in my oppinion, the YF-23 could have easily been made the replacement for the F-117 Nighthawk.

Anyone on this website if you could find out how many are in service that would be great?

how many are in service

Dennis Hussted is correct. In today world is not the best aircraft get the contract. Is the most political and cheapest. I beleive the YF-23 will make a come like the YF-17 as F/A-18

I was taking a computer programming class in college and I was required to give a report on technology applications in the 21st Century. I chose the ATF competition and read all I could and studied both planes and read everything I could.
1.YF-23 was faster than the YF-22.
2.YF-23 could out accelerate a clean F-16 in afterburner going vertical.
3.The first time the YF-23 took off it reached a speed that was immediately classified which impressed the Air Force. 4.The YF-23 was much stealthier than the YF-22.
5.The YF-23 had a far less drag penalty than the YF-22 because of it's thrust vectoring nozzles which had a significant weight penalty.
6.The YF-23 proved to be much more maitainable by not having any flight delays due to maintenance problems which resulted in the YF-23 finishing all flight tests almost two months earlier than the YF-22.
7.The YF-23 had fewer parts to maintain versus the YF-22.
8.1000 fighter pilots were polled and asked which was more important to them in a dog fight:Speed or manuverability, over 90% chose speed!
9.The YF-23 had a greater range and was more aerodynamic and could fly farther are less fuel than the YF-22.
10.Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia was Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and the Lockheed-Martin plant is in Georgia whereas Northrop is in California. Sam Nunn influenced the Air Force to select the F-22 or their may not be enough money to fund any other program. Even though Northrop would have added 3000 more jobs over Lockheed, Nunn
was not concerned about generating more jobs for the country as a whole as he was for Georgia to improve his chances or re-election. The F-22 decision was political.

Politics made this decision. Texas connection factored in...

the YF-23 was agreat looking fighter, it had a greater mass than the F-22 AND ALSO LEFT WATER VAPER TRAILS IN ITS FLIGHTS THAT COULD BE PICKED UP BY RADAR THAT WAS THE BIGGEST REASON IT WAS NOT PICKED AND IT WAS FASTER THAN THE YF22.

I do remember hearing that the plane also prooved much less reliable during the testing compared to the Raptor

The Yf-23 lost the contract for several reasons.
-It was slightly harder to maintain than the F-22.
-The YF-23 was less manuverable that the F-22.
-It was also a more expensive aircraft over all, but not by much.
-A possible sub reason is that the Yf-23 is large in size compared to the F-15 that it would have replaced had it got the contract. (YF-23 Length:67 feet, 5 inches [20.6 meters]; F-15 Length:63 feet, 9 inches [19.43 meters])
On the other hand, the YF-23 had a slightly better radar cross section than the F-22, though debatable, many say that the YF-23 was the better looking plane.
many people thatI have talked to thingt the Yf-23 should have been given a contracts to replace the F-117 Nighthawk, but that probably wont happen.

the Yf-23 lost the contract because the F-22 has a more convential looking plane than the F-22 and the F-23 was considered to radical for the time
What i have read about the atf competition it was the airforces heirachy that decided that
That is why the airforce has the F-22 and not F-23
i think the F-23 should have won and not he F-22

why did the YF23 loose the contract. what are the pro's & con's of this plane.

why did it loose the contact. what were the pro's & con's of the YF-23

well i like planes alot and im realy up to date with all new models f-22, and all the other, but wow this 1 never eraly heard of it.