YF-17 Cobra
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The Northrop YF-17 Cobra was a prototype fighter aircraft designed for the United States Air Force. It was a modernized version of the P-530-Fighter designed without any funding from the government. The first flight of the YF-17 prototype was in 1974.
In 1972 the United States Air Force sought proposals for a light fighter that was small, low-cost, lightweight and easy to maintain, in response to the soaring costs and projected limited production run of the brand-new F-15 Eagle (an idea that would repeat itself decades later in the development of the Joint Strike Fighter project in response to the cost and time overruns of the F-22 Raptor). Northrop had experience with such requirements through its very successful F-5 Freedom Fighter and T-38 Talon.
In a 1975 fly-off, the Cobra competed against the General Dynamics F-16 Falcon. The USAF reported slight advantages of the F-16 over the YF-17 in a number of areas of range and maneuverability. Aviation Week General Dynamics had gambled by gearing up for immediate production, and so won the contract. The YF-17 is said to have initially been a joint project between the US Northrop Grumman and the Iranian government.
Though not selected by the Air Force, the Navy nevertheless saw more growth potential and over water safety in a twin engine design. Northrop teamed up with McDonnell Douglas and developed the YF-17 Cobra into the U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet, which later became the primary fighter and strike aircraft of both the US Navy and the US Marine Corps. Subsequently, the Navy named McDonnell Douglas the prime contractor, giving them access to all plans for the aircraft and tooling. Differences between the YF-17 Cobra and FA-18 Hornet are that the Hornet has foldable wings for tightly spaced parking on aircraft carriers and a stronger undercarriage with a distinctive "legs back" look that may have inspired the Hornet name, along with a tailhook for carrier landings. The Hornet also has a longer radome for Navy radar to control the Sparrow medium range guided missile for which the F-18 has 2 conformal carrying hardpoints.
Design
In a 1970s Aviation Week article, the F-17 design is said to be new design based on the wing and nose of the F-5 Freedom Fighter. The small leading edge extensions of the F-5E are extended to the front of the cockpit, with a tunnel to let air through a gap between the extension and fuselage. The twin tails are moved far forward (which would enhance the survivability of the F-18 from hits to the tailpipes from IR missiles) to minimize the effects of vortices which get larger as they get farther back. The horizontal tail is oversized for maneuverability. The aircraft can be rolled by using only the tail fins, so the aircraft is only partly fly by wire. This 21,000 lb design, which was scaled up from the Cobra, which was itself a scaled up F-5 redesign would be stretched into the production F/A-18 and again for the Super Hornet, which would ultimately replace the nearly 80,000 overload gross weight F-14 Tomcat.
Specifications (YF-17 Cobra)
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