Key Points and Summary – YF-23 “Black Widow II” chief configurator Darold Cummings has sketched three upgrade tracks to push the F-35 beyond today’s jet.
-Short term, an “F-35EX” stretches the fuselage 60 inches, swaps tails for canards plus multi-axis thrust vectoring, and adds ~5,500 lb fuel (4,000 internal + gun-pod-shaped tank) for ~30% more fuel vs F-35C and potential supercruise.
-Mid term, an X-44 MANTA-style tailless clipped-delta with a stealthy 3D nozzle lowers RCS and boosts internal fuel to ~30,000 lb (~50% over F-35A).
-Long term, an FX layout refines chine/inlets, clips tips, and aligns aft edges for maximum LO—complementing planned “Ferrari” F-35 coatings, rear-aspect fixes, EW/network/autonomy, and NGAD-derived weapons.
-Bonus – We have included original photos and videos of our various visits with the only two YF-23 fighters in Dayton, Ohio, and outside of Los Angeles, California.
YF-23 Designer’s Bold Plan to Evolve the F-35: Stretch It, Add Canards, Ditch the Tail
As the National Security Journal has noted in several previous articles, the Northrop YF-23 “Black Widow II” is one of the great “what if?” stories in American military aviation history.
It lost to the Lockheed YF-22 – the future F-22 Raptor – in the competition for the U.S. Air Force’s Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program in the early 1990s, and the Raptor became the world’s first operational fifth-generation stealth fighter.
Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works division would score a double coup when its F-35 Lightning II became the second operational fifth-generation fighter.
The two Black Widow IIs that were built have been relegated to museums for the purposes of posterity. However, we haven’t heard the last of the YF-23 story just yet. Its designer has recently come forth publicly with some ideas for – would you believe it – the F-35.
YF-23 Black Widow II Fighter Gray Ghost. Image Credit: National Security Journal.
YF-23 National Security Journal Close Up Photo
The Basic Story
The latest & greatest comes to us from Graham Warwick in an Aug. 7 article for Aviation Week:
“Darold Cummings, who was chief configurator for Northrop’s YF-23 fighter, has some ideas about how the F-35 could be evolved. Still an active aircraft designer, he this year helped Aviation Week analyze both the F-47 and China’s latest combat aircraft: ’I believe one way Lockheed Martin can meet its goals is by employing two strategies,’ he says. ‘One is stretching the airframe to add fuel and improve fineness ratio, as well as adding lifting area with a canard or more wing area. The second is to use thrust vectoring to eliminate the tail.’”
Of note, Darold Cummings is now the founder and president of ForzAero, which “specializes in conceptual design for a broad range of air vehicles, including fighters, trainers, commercial airliners, [Vertical Take Off and Landing] aircraft, [Unmanned Aerial Vehicles], and electric propulsion vehicles.”
A Triumvirate of Additional Ideas
Cummings conjured up a trio of conceptual designs for evolved F-35s that were based on past Lockheed experimental projects and geared toward boosting stealth capabilities and overall performance:
-Short Term Concept: The so-called F-35EX (an alphanumeric designation that presumably draws its inspiration from the Boeing F-15EX Eagle II) would take a page from the book of the old F-16XL concept.
The fuselage would be stretched 60 inches, like that of the F-16XL, and vertical and horizontal tails would be replaced by a canard foreplane and multi-axis thrust vectoring.
This fuselage stretch would add 4,000 lbs of fuel volume, Cummings calculates.
Sideview of YF-23A Black Widow II. Image Credit: Harry J. Kazianis/National Security Journal.
YF-23A Black Widow Outside. Taken by Harry J. Kazianis for National Security Journal on August 16, 2025.
Another 1,500 lbs of fuel would be housed in an external tank with the same outer mold line as the F-35C’s external gun pod. Together, they would increase fuel capacity by 30 percent over the baseline F-35C (the U.S. Navy variant) and give the Lightning II the ability to supercruise, i.e., go supersonic without resorting to afterburners.
-Medium-Term Concept: This would employ concepts from the X-44 Multi-Axis No-Tail Aircraft (MANTA ) while building up the F-35EX’s core fuselage.
In the spirit of the MANTA, the prospective tailless variant of the Lightning II would employ a clipped-delta planform that would lower the Radar Cross Section and improve supersonic area distribution. It would also incorporate an advanced, stealthy 3D-vectoring nozzle.
Cummings calculates that the stretched fuselage and larger wing would increase total internal fuel volume to about 30,000 lbs, a whopping 50 percent more than the F-35A (the U.S. Air Force variant).
-Long-Term Concept: This iteration would maximize low observability by starting with the F-35FX layout and modifying the forward fuselage shape to a straight 70-degree chine – the inlets are relocated under that chine. The wing tips would be clipped to match the chine angle, and all aft edges – wing, fairing, and nozzles – would be aligned to reduce radar signature.
Compatibility with “Ferrari” F-35?
It remains to be seen if Lockheed Martin decides to buy into their former competitor’s ideas. If they were to do so, such upgrades would presumably be compatible with, and serve as a force multiplier for, the upgrades being included in the so-called “Ferrari” version of the F-35, such as:
-New infrared and radar coatings applied on the surface of the airframe to improve the warbird’s low-observable qualities and likely also its maintainability.
-More invasive design changes that would address parts of the fighter’s core structure and strengthen its relatively weak rear aspect radar signature.
-As-yet-unspecified improvements in the arenas of Electronic Warfare, networking (data-linking), and autonomy.
-Potential for introducing unspecified weapons that have been developed, or which are in development, for the F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) sixth-generation fighter jet program.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
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