On Wed, 07 Jul 2004 15:53:51 +1000, Richard Stewart
wrote:
Hi Guys,
Just wondering what the alternate (losing) choices were for the main US
older fighter aircraft?
eg. I know the YF17 lost out to the F18...
But what were the competitors to the rest (you don't need to go back too
far) - that's if they actually HAD competitors...
F14?
F15?
F16?
A10?
F117?
(have I missed any?)
and any pix?
Cheers,
Richard
F-15:
Boeing, Fairchild Republic, General Dynamics, Grumman, Lockheed, LTV,
McDonnell Douglas and North American / Rockwell all submitted
proposals for the F-X competition, but only the winning entry
(McDonnell Douglas) was built, as the F-15 Eagle.
A-10:
Boeing, Cessna, Fairchild Republic, General Dynamics, Lockheed and
Northrop submitted proposals for the A-X competition. Fairchild
Republic and Northrop were selected to build competing prototypes, as
the YA-10 and YA-9, respectively.
See:
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/resea...k/a6/a6-10.htm
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/resea...k/a6/a6-11.htm
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/resea...k/a6/a6-12.htm
F-16:
Boeing (Model 908-909), General Dynamics (Model 401-16B), LTV
(V-1100), Lockheed (CL-1200 and CL-1600) and Northrop (P-600)
submitted proposals for the LWF competition (LightWeight Fighter).
General Dynamics and Northrop were selected to build competing
prototypes, as the YF-16 and YF-17, respectively. The YF-16 was chosen
as the winner. Northrop further developed, with McDonnell Douglas, the
YF-17 into the F-18, which was selected by the USN (over a navalized
F-16).
See:
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/resea...ghter/f16a.htm
http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/fighter/f17.htm
F-117:
Northrop and Lockheed submitted proposals for the XST program
(eXperimental Survivable Testbed). Only the Lockheed entry was
selected to build two prototypes, which were developed into the F-117.
See:
http://www.f-117a.com/XST.html
I don't have much data right at hand about F-14 development. No other
competing designs were built, though. As for others: F-15E vs F-16XL,
A-16 vs YA-7F, YF-22 vs YF-23, X-32 vs X-35 are the only recent ones
that come to mind