The YF-17 fighter prototype

The US military started to number their fighter aircraft sequentially after the 100 interceptor designations were superseded; the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon and F-18 Hornet filled a number of differing roles.

The F-17 never made it into production with the F-22 Raptor released as the fifth generation fighter jet, I wondered why the F-17 never made it into production. I am certainly no expert on the matter, I am just a little inquisitive - that's all.

Then there is the 19, 20 and 21 designation aircraft that also never reached the production phase either. The Northrop YF-17 prototype looks like a smaller version of the F-18 Hornet currently in service with a number of military around the world.

The aircraft was to supplement the navy F-14 interceptor/air superiority role. The aircraft had to fulfill the attack capacity that was then covered by the Vietnam era A-7 Corsair II and F-4 Phantom, these aircraft were to be phased out.

To enable the aircraft to reach production, Northrop teamed up with McDonald Douglas to redesign the aircraft to operate on the flight decks of an aircraft carrier allowing the F/A-18 to enter service with the US Navy and air forces around the globe.