European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday april 22, 1991 the stars and Stripe next air Force Hecim on Horizonyf-22 or yf-23 will be fighter of future Page 3 by Barton Gellman. The Washington Post Washington a in the Early 1980s, when Ami Icay a Premier f-15 Eagle fighter Jet was still Young the air Foree already dreamed of a More advanced plane that could soar Over All the old limitations of aviation design. Military officials envisioned a next general sort fighter that would be not Only More agile but faster not Only faster but capable of flying farther and not Only All those things but also a a Stealthy that is composed of. Exotic shapes and materials that would make the aircraft significantly harder to see with enemy radars. This week the air Force is expected  which companies will realize that dream awarding what could be the last great defense contract of the Century. A 54-month Competition Between two contractor teams a one led of Northrop the other by Lockheed a comes Down to a Winner take All announcement scheduled for tuesday. The $65 billion advanced tactical fighter Ata technological Marvel that grew from fantasy to prototype in less than a decade has apparently overcome the old engineering Trade offs that had forced designers to choose Between stealth and High performance. What it cannot overcome is a Trade off of another kind a the fiscal one Between paying for future generations of weapons while maintaining current systems a Trade off made More difficult by the shrinking defense budgets of the 1990s. Defense analysts in Congress arid elsewhere Are questioning whether the Pentagon is striking the right balance. To pay for the 750 ats that Are projected for example the air Force has had to Stop production of f-15s and Al 6s Long before it wanted to and forget about a Long planned ground attack version of the f-16. It is also forgoing what the Industry Calls a pips and mods a product improvement programs and modifications a that Couk quickly improve performance of americans existing fighter Fleet already regarded As the Best in the world. What the . Government will get for its Money a provided the at works As Well As prototypes so far have suggested it will a is undoubtedly the hottest fighter Jet Ever made. In the Macho world of a tactical air machines that counts for a lot. Fred Haeffner a former fighter Jock who Heads a Lockheed planning team told an in House Magazine that an at Pilot will Fly into combat a with the Confidence that he has the top fighter strapped to his butt. This Bird of prey will kill and maim anything the enemy can get airborne and our Guy will return Home safely and  the hard angular prototype yf-22 made by Lockheed Boeing and general dynamics and the smoothly curved yf-23 built by Northrop and Mcdonnell Douglas reflect quite different design philosophies but both Are said to meet air Force specifications. Among other things both models can a super cruise without afterburners at Well above the Speed of sound a at least Mach 1.43 for the yf-23 and Mach 1.56 for the yf-22. Current fighters can go that fast but not without using fuel hungry afterburners which reduce Tota flight time to a matter of minutes and make attractive targets for heat seeking enemy missiles. Both Are also More agile than current fighters with higher climbing rates and. Turning acceleration. The improvement is even More pronounced above the Speed of sound where the physics of flight make control surfaces less effective. The ability to turn sharply at supersonic the hard angular yf-22, made by Lockheed Boeing and general dynamics can  at Mach 1.56. Speed a dubbed a a super turn by the ply i the next Century. A. Jane s advocates could revolutionize fighter tactics in the next Century. Most revolutionary however is the combination eni bodied in both prototypes of High performance with a Low Observables a air worlds term for stealth. The air Force association an organization of retired officers estimates the at a a radar signature will be 1,0 m times smaller than the f-15�?Ts. Stealth technology itself is nothing new. Lockheed a Stealthy Al 17 fighter was one of the heroes of the persian Gulf War flying nearly 1,300 missions Over Baghdad without once being touched by anti aircraft fire. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the Al 17 was a a invisible to iraqis sophisticated radars. But the boxy Al 17 is incapable of supersonic flight and is not particularly Maneu Merable. With the at the competing manufacturing teams have each found ways to incorporate radar deflecting shapes and radar absorbing materials into a High performance design. A congressional source said either at Model Wal be Ste Althier than the Al 17, even at High speeds. The implications of High performance stealth Are Radical. Today Stop fighters a americans f-15 and f-16 and the soviet unions Mig-29 and Su-27 a can detect and destroy each other from about the same distances making Victory in combat largely a matter of strategy tactics and skill. A stealth fighter when matched against a less Stealthy Ope would have what air Force doctrine Calls a first look first kill a the Opportunity to see and destroy an opponent before the opponent even knows he is in danger. Historically said air Force maj. Gen. Joseph w. Ralston who is supervising the at acquisition a the person who you did no to see is the one that killed you a Paul Metz chief test Pilot for Northrop said the at could also transform what have been Basic fighting practices for More than a generation of pilots. Since a Sovie surface Tor air missile shot Down Francis Gary Powers in his u-2 spy plane in i960, pilots have been trained to  missiles by flying Low and fast into defended airspace Metz said using terrain As cover a skillful Pilot can avoid radar detection until he is nearly past the threat. But Low Altitude flying Metz said Means a pilots Field of View is limited his sensors Are blocked by the in a a vf1 a 1 the smoothly curved yf-23, built by Northrop and Mcdonnell Douglas can super cruise at Mach 1.43. A same terrain that protects hint and his air to air missiles Are slowed by the need to Fly a tip the Gravity  nor can he dive to gain Speed. A what this at generation of air planes docs for us Quot Metz explained a is it lets Yon go Back upstairs and  after satisfying minimum air Force requirements for the at Northrop and Lockheed made quite different compromises in their final designs. Northrop a prototype has emphasized raw Speed and stealth on the Assumption that such qualities will make close in dogfights an anachronism. Lockheed a designers thought otherwise and stressed agility. James a. A a Mickey Blackwell project manager for Lockheed a prototype said his team believes stealth technology will be Only one part of the air Battle of the future. Combat aircraft of tomorrow he predicted May not be Able to  All opponents from a Dis �?T5 Tance and so May end up in Shorter Range fights in which agility will be a critical Factor. A once the Guy sees you with eyeballs then you be got to have an air plane that fights like a fighter a Blackwell said using four Tail surfaces and pivoting Jet nozzles for a thrust vectoring a the Lockheed plane can Fly straight and level with its Cheney belly to the wind at a 60degree Angle of attack a position Blackwell likened a vearing up on a horse. In combination with a tight Roll to the left or right that Man Euver allows the plane to Chase Down a fleeing opponent by turning inside the opponents evasive Man Euver. Unlike some controversial weapons systems the at has a military Mission of undisputed importance. Air superiority a the ability to control the airspace Over and adjacent to combat a has been a fundamental military objective since the invention of flight. What air superiority Means to an army in combat Ralston said is the ability to keep a enemy bombs from falling on Friendly soldiers Heads a the Freedom to Man Euver and the ability to resupply. The decimation of iraqis army and defense Industry in 43 Days of. Bombardment during the persian Gulf War he said could not have been accomplished without first achieving Freedom of movement through iraqi skies. But the Gulf War raises a question if . Air forces Are this Good already Why is the at needed the air forces answer is that the f-15, now 17 years in service will be pushing 30 by the time the at is due to become operational in the year 2002, nothing stands still in technology Ralston said and intelligence estimates predict two new generation soviet fighters a better than the f-15, not As Good As at a around the turn of the Century. A we Are u years away from the first combat Reudy at of and that a if we get every Nickel that a requested and everything son time a Ralston said. Other analysts Are More sceptical of the soviet threat arguing that Early development and production of advanced technology warplanes is inconsistent with the soviet unions worsening economic collapse. Gor. Don Adams of the defense budget project argues that the at should be kept As a research project and the production Money spent on improving current planes. A congressional staff member who spoke on condition of anonymity said production of the at is inevitable