Northrop YF-17

In 1971, the United States Air Force’s Lightweight Fighter (LWF) program was announced. As a response, the aircraft manufacturer Northrop reformed the P-530 into the P-600 that would be given the designation YF-17A. Although the P-530 was for multi-role operations, the P-600 was intended to be purely an air-to-air demonstrator, and in consequence, the cannon’s position was changed from the bottom part of the fuselage to the higher portion.

The Northrop YF-17’s airframe was mainly built of aluminum in a typical semi-monocoque structural system, however, more than 408 kg of it was made of graphite and epoxy composite. The aircraft has an external length of 16.92 meters, an exterior height of 3 meters, and a fuselage diameter of 0.9 meters.

The cockpit is equipped with an ejector seat that inclines at eighteen degrees. It also features a bubble canopy for a wider and unobstructed view and a head-up display that provides important data. The slim wings had a wingspan of 10.67 meters and a wing area of 33 square meters and were constructed of composite face sheets over a Nomex honeycomb core. The leading edge as well as the trailing edge were also of the same construction as the wings. A speedbrake made of composite was positioned on top and in the middle of the engines.

The YF-17 was powered by two General Electric YJ101-100 engines. It was an afterburning turbofan specifically developed for the aircraft with a maximum thrust rate of 14,400 lbf each. The aircraft has a maximum speed of 1,150 knots at 40,000 feet. It has a travel range of 2,400 nautical miles and a service ceiling of 60,000 feet. The rate of climb is 50000 feet per minute. The YF-17 has a maximum takeoff weight of 13,894 kg and a maximum payload of 4,369 kg. The aircraft was armed with a 1×20 mm M61 Vulcan Gatling gun and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles.