Black Widow (Aircraft)

The YF-23 Black Widow was GDI's most advanced air fighter during the First Tiberium War, matching Nod's own F-22 Raptors and built by the United States of America. The YF-23 was designed with all-aspect stealth as a high priority. It was an unconventional-looking aircraft with diamond-shaped wings, substantial area-ruling, and a V-tail. The YF-23 was designed for survivability, supersonic cruise (supercruise), stealth, and ease of maintenance.

It introduced the novel feature of rear jet nozzle troughs lined with heat ablating tiles, which shielded the exhaust from IR detection from below. All the control surfaces were coupled together via the VMS to provide 'net effect' aerodynamic control. The wing flaps and ailerons deflected inversely on either side to provide yaw, while the tail provided pitch. Aerodynamic braking was achieved by deflecting the flaps and ailerons on both sides simultaneously.

The fighter performed well on the battlefield, supplementing the F-18 Super Hornet and the newly introduced ORCA Assault Craft protecting bombers like A-10s and transports like C-130 Hercules and providing GDI with a powerful tool in it's war against the Brotherhood. However, it was still quite vulnerable to ground based anti air defences and only matched Nod's fighters. With the development of VTOL technology, it was gradually phased out in favor of the Orca Fighters.