Advanced Tactical Fighter

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The winning Lockheed/Boeing/General Dynamics design.

The losing Northrop/McDonnell Douglas design.

The Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) contract was a demonstration and validation program undertaken by the United States Air Force to develop a next-generation air superiority fighter to counter emerging worldwide threats, including development and proliferation of Soviet-era Su-27 'Flanker' type fighter aircraft.

In 1981, USAF developed a requirement for a new air superiority fighter intended to replace the capability of the F-15 Eagle. It was envisaged that the ATF would incorporate emerging technologies including advanced alloys and composite material, advanced fly-by-wire flight control systems, higher power propulsion systems, and low-observable, or stealth technology.

In the early 1980s, the United States Navy considered a navalized version of the ATF but it fell out of favor before the EMD contract was awarded.

An RFP was issued in July 1986, and two contractors, Lockheed and Northrop were selected in October 1986 to undertake a 50 month demonstration/validation phase, culminating in the flight test of two prototypes, the YF-22 and the YF-23. Under terms of agreements between Lockheed, General Dynamics, and Boeing, the companies agreed to participate in the development jointly if only one company's design was selected. Northrop and McDonnell Douglas had a similar agreement. Grumman and Rockwell did not enter into such cooperative agreements and were shut out of development.

Following a hard-fought fly-off competition, in August 1991 the YF-22 was declared the winner and the Lockheed team was awarded the contract to develop and build the Advanced Tactical Fighter. The Northrop design was later considered by the company for modification as a bomber but such proposals have not come to fruition.

The production version of the aircraft, the F-22 Raptor was unveiled on April 9, 1997, at Lockheed-Georgia Co., Marietta, Georgia, and conducted its first flight on September 7, 1997. The Raptor achieved initial operational capability on December 15, 2005.