What comes to mind when you think of the most important fighter jet ever built? Maybe something from World War Two — an aircraft that swung the balance of an entire conflict. Maybe the A-10, the ugly, indestructible ground-attack plane that became a legend in its own right. Or perhaps the pinnacle of modern aviation: the F-35 and the F-22, jets so advanced they have no real competition.
But the most important fighter jet ever built is none of those. In fact, it never entered service at all. Its name is the YF-23.
You might think that's a strange claim. After all, the YF-23 lost. It was beaten by the F-22 Raptor in one of the most consequential competitions in aviation history, and then it was quietly retired to a museum. Doesn't that make it a footnote - not a revolution?
Not quite. Because the YF-23 wasn't just a good aircraft. It was an aircraft ahead of its time. So far ahead, in fact, that the world is only now catching up to what it was trying to tell us. Its ideas are being resurrected in the sixth-generation fighters taking shape right now - jets that will be two full steps beyond anything flying today.
So what exactly did the YF-23 bring to the table? And why is it taking thirty years for people to recognize the revolution hiding inside a jet that never made it past the prototype stage? Let's find out.