The YF-23 never had an gun. Had it been excepted Northrop was planning to extend the front add another weapons bay and mount an M61. So if they were to add a pure YF-23 it would only have missiles.
no, i want basic YF-23 prototype with YF120 engine, dropping AIM-9 or AIM-120 (no radar, so for AIM-120 would need to pitbull)
i dont really care, i like it because its cool, would make it even better for stealth fighter testing anyways so it could come even sooner
I mean that feature, as much as I would like it for launching AMRAAMs through IRST doesn’t exist and from Gaijin’s past actions is unlikely to be added
YF-23 would be perfect testbed for high supercruise, better stealth, and pitbull, its a great combo for gaijin
If they give the YF-23 a Mach 1.7 supercruise then they need to give the Eurofighter its 1.6
Also this isn’t coming until after the F-35, giving the US an AMRAAM slinging stealth fighter before any of the rest of the nations in game is a big no go
If the YF-23 is added it would probably be an event or squadron vehicle.
1.6? eft max supercruise is 1.5 idk what ur talking about
and i would grind it out either way
And there was many essential and specific parts of F-X like part of the fuselage, engines and TVC, alongside fully functional radar (tested with weapons from ADTW F-2 platform) and weapons bays (release tests with AAM-4 TDR mock ups, using AAM-4 seeker as the radar was tested with too).
And before you ask, yes there were functional AAM-4 TDR prototypes so it wouldn’t be armed with fictional missiles either.
So arguably while the airframe may have been along further assuming little changes from YF-23 to F-23 compared to the known changes between X-2 and 26DMU, specifically testing of radar and armament was along further with F-X.
And once again, any vehicle specific part is enough. Even if it was just the radar, just the TVC, just the weapons bay or just the fuselage are enough by that standard. YF-23 had an armed plan? Congrats, the whole prototype is a vehicle specific part now.
Both planes could be added if that’s what Gaijin feels like.
Wikipedia says Block 52 for the F-16D’s, but yeah. F-16V for Taiwan would probably be even better than both, right?
For reasons geopolitical, I think Taiwan will get F-15EX’s, and likely in the next few years, that’s all I’ll say about that for respect of the forums.
blk 50-52 is just different engine (with only 100lb thrust diff in AB)
yeah, the F-16V would be far better.
we will have to see
its still totally possible to just add the prototype? which didnt exist for the F-X
oops yeah, misremembered
Actually, if we go by that standard as the lowest bar for addition I’d have to agree. X-2 as built is not a combat aircraft.
sure, the prototype with no weapons capability.
You want to make tweaks to the YF-23 to make it just barely game worthy, but you won’t allow those same tweaks for the X-2
I get that from the outside the YF-23 looks more complete, but from the sounds of it, it’s actually missing more than the X-2 is, you have an airframe and engines, but no avionics or weapons whereas all the X-2 was missing was a finalized airframe, everything else was just as or more developed than the YF-23 and given those CAD images we have a good idea of what that could have looked like.
I don’t particularly agree with either being added but I can’t really see how you can argue for the YF-23 and against the X-2
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well the YF-23 had avionics, just not the final advanced ones, those were being tested on flying labs
iirc it shared a lot with the strike eagle cockpit wise
If that is the standard he is asking for (even if Gaijin isn’t), then he is right, X-2 was unarmed and past one windtunnel model there is no known armed configuration that wasn’t an at least slightly upscaled model (since X-2 didn’t have space for the weapons bay)
Spoiler
Windtunnel model with weapons bay. This seems to be an impossible configuration since it cuts into the space for the landing gear. The nose is also not enlarged, so the radar wouldn’t fit.
23DMU, closest to armed X-2. It is larger to fit the weapons bay and radar, and uses more powerful XF9 engines compared to the X-2s F7s to offset the additional weight. Other notable changes are the delta wing, the new canopy replacing the one taken from the T-4 and the swept rudders and elevators more similar to those of the F-2. Thrust vectoring is also no longer the paddle style of the X-2, but a mpre conventional design.
Overall this is a lot of changes, just to get to the closest armed X-2 configuration.
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I would say the issue with the X-2 is it was never intended to receive weapons. It was a proof of concept that Japan could manufacture Stealth aircraft.