Many people now wonder if this quiet demonstrator (the YF-118G Bird of Prey) is the spiritual mother of Boeing’s newest sixth-generation fighters—the Air Force’s F-47 and the Navy’s FA-XX. The Bird of Prey helped Boeing master tailless stealth shaping and rapid, cost-conscious prototyping. Those skills and design instincts reappear in the company’s current sixth-generation concepts. In that sense, the odd little plane that flew only a few dozen times over Area 51 helped prepare the ground for the fighters that will shape American air power in the coming decades.
Source: YF – 118G Bird of Prey: The Mother of the F/A – XX and F – 47?
