I think that the YF-23 and the YF-22 were both fine aircraft. They both were completely revolutionary in the early 1990’s when they were developed. The flyoff between them even had two prototypes each, one with GE and the other with PW engines. The US would have done well with either choice, IMHO. The most amazing thing here is that, in the end, you had Great and Great to make a decision from. Had the YF-23 won, there would now be a group saying how the YF-22 was the greatest fighter that never was.
You are most likely correct!
I strongly suspect that you are right.
What we need is a huge battleship. To this day, one would be useful. And it would be blown up domehow by something small.
These planes are great. They will be lown up on the ground by something small in their home country or on our aircraft carrier that looks like a seagull.
We need 10,000 drones that can link together to be one of these planes, carry the load, and then as soon as hit by a missile, or to land 9n the ground, disperse into 10,000 buggers, or to do a different mission.