F-19 is a designation for a hypothetical United States fighter aircraft that has never been officially acknowledged, and has engendered much speculation that it might refer to a type of aircraft whose existence is still classified.
History
Since the unification of the numbering system in 1962, U.S. fighters have been designated by consecutive numbers, beginning with the F-1 Fury. F-13 was never assigned to a fighter due to superstition, though the designation had previously been used for a reconnaissance version of the B-29. After the F/A-18 Hornet, the next announced aircraft was the F-20 Tigershark. Northrop had requested the "F-20" designation, but the USAF proposed F-19 instead. The USAF finally gave approval for the F-20 designation in 1982.[1] There have been a number of theories put forth to explain this omission, but none have ever been confirmed.
The most prevalent theory in the 1980s was that "F-19" was the designation of the stealth fighter whose development was an open secret in the aerospace community. When the actual aircraft was publicly revealed in 1988, it was called the F-117 Nighthawk. There seems to be no evidence that "F-19" was ever used to designate the Nighthawk, although the National Museum of the United States Air Force website does include the entry "Lockheed F-19 CSIRS (see F-117)" as of 2011.[2] Another theory suggests that F-19 was the designation applied to the Have Blue technology demonstrator which led to the development of the F-117.
• Crew: 1 pilot
• Length: 48 ft 6
• Wingspan: 24 ft
• Height: 12 ft 10 in
• Wing area: 250 ft
• Empty weight 30.000
• Loaded weight: 40.000
• Max. takeoff weight: 40.000
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 Pitch Thrust vectoring turbofans
Dry thrust: 23,500 lb[315] (104 kN) each
Thrust with afterburner: 35,000+ lb (156+ kN) each
Fuel capacity: 18,000 lb (8,200 kg) internally, or 26,000 lb (11,900 kg) with two external fuel tanks
Armament
No comments:
Post a Comment