I’m writing a short story set in an alternate present when the Cold War never ended, the USSR never fell and the S-37/Su-47 and YF-23 went into production (instead of the F-22)
I’ve heard it called the F-23 Black Widow II but I don’t think that was official, if you could choose a name for it what would it be and why? (serious suggestions preferred!)
I thought this was a rather well done piece of art:
Thanks 
One word: Thundercougarfalconbird.
If you don’t like “Black Widow”, how about “Tarantula”?
Lightening. It was supposed to be the name of the F22 as well, but the release of Jurassic Park made them change it.
Cassowary
Fightey McFightface.
It is kind of annoying that all the good ones are reprises of the old ones (and some names would be by now on their 3d time around). (*) Though sometimes the crews come up with nicknames than stick better in people’s minds than officialdom’s (e.g. Warthog vs. Thunderbolt-II)
Yeah, Lightning would have been fine, it would be the third fighter with that tag (previously one US, one UK) now it went instead to the F-35.
(*It would take a lot of chutzpah for anyone to christen an untested plane the Mustang-II or Spitfire-II, though)
Since they didn’t use the Mamba moniker for a production fighter how about that? Fast, silent, and lethal.
Cobra is used, quite obviously.
Scimitar
Yeah, I’d think an alternative history F-23 would be the “Lightning II”, if the F-22 was never built.
Barring that, I’d think some sort of predatory bird would be appropriate, along the lines of the F-15 and F-16. Maybe Kestrel or Gyrfalcon would work.
It looks like a dolphin to me. Not a very scary name, admittedly…
Bingo.
Warlock
Wyvern
The YF-23 was the product of the Northrop-Grummon/McDonnell-Douglas team, with NG as the lead. Because of that, I guess the speculative name “Black Widow II” came from the famous Northrop WWII night fighter, the P-61 Black Widow.
Still, I prefer a submission from the other half of the team. Many of the features (e.g., higher top speed at the expense of dogfighting agility) definitely call to mind the legendary F-4 Phantom, which started out life as a “zoom out to the edge of the carrier task force air defense zone and missile the attacking air planes and missiles to pieces” fleet defense fighter. And since a Naval variant was in the offing, it just seems right to be flying the F-23 Phantom III off the decks.
But that’s pretty ambitious. It would be sad and unfortunate if the new plane fails to live up to the legend of its predecessor. The A-10 Thunderbolt II is a good example of one that lives up to the reputation it inherited with its name. The P-47 Thunderbolt was superb at the ground attack role, as well as very tough. And also, not very pretty, and also usually not referred to by its official name in the field. (The P-47 was often called the “Jug”, both for its short and broad fuselage shape and as a shorthand for its durability – “juggernaut”.)
Depending on where the timeline’s Point of Divergence is, maybe it could end up with “Tigershark” instead of the Northrop F-20?
Or, perhaps in the old tradition of “supernatural” names for McDonnell (who collaborated on the YF-23) aircraft, and not unlike the name of the Northrop B-2 “Spirit,” something like “Wraith”?
(I, personally, like “Black Widow” and “Lightning II” just fine, myself)
Scorpion II after the Northrup F-89.
Banshee II after the McDonnell F2H.
Wasp, because the YF-17 designed by Northrup was further developed into the F/A-18 Hornet by McDonnell Douglas, so a similarly themed name might appy.
Wolf
Venom
I have to say I’m kind of partial to Wraith, or maybe Windigo if you want to keep the supernatural theme.
Fruit Fly
“If something like that is named ‘fruit fly’, imagine what their real warbirds are like!” :eek:
From this article on military aircraft names:
YF-23 was Northrup/McDonnell-Douglas. I guess you could use any of these conventions.
On the other hand, if the YF-23 was selected *instead of * the F-22, maybe it would have been called the Raptor after all.