Another Black Project?

[Glider]

I know that this is possibly one of the best kept secrets in that a lot of people believe this is happening but no one has ever had any hard evidence, but this might just be a crack in the secrecy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/5079044.stm

 

[cheddar cheese]

I watched that story on Newsnight a few days ago, very interesting story...

 

[syscom3]

If theres one thing the pentagon (through its DARPA organization) likes to do is to invent all these advanced technology weapons and systems that are on paper only (or at least at sub scale testing) and make the rest of us think they actually do exist.

In the mean time, the real stuff is secretly hidden away.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Bingo!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Ive heard about this one. There are probably more things than we can think of going on, but as syscom said, most probably never leave the paper or mock up stage.

 

[evangilder]

Rumors of the Aurora have been around for years. Is it real? Who knows.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I think it's BS - the same way we had the F-19 of the 1980s, it was supposed to be the REAL stealth fighter...

kitparade

LMSW

 

[evangilder]

You are probably right, Joe. I remember those models.

 

[Twitch]

It's really, really, really obvious that they had "something," call it the Aurora, who cares, because they retired the SR-71s. They never ever retire anything unless they have a replacement.

The Aurora, or whatever, probably took to the air and was ultimately found lacking. Remember the SR- 71s were reactivated for some reason.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

It's really, really, really obvious that they had "something," call it the Aurora, who cares, because they retired the SR-71s. They never ever retire anything unless they have a replacement.

They did have a replacement, it's called a satellite, so my Lockheed friends have told me...

 

[Twitch]

Why were the SRs reactivated? Surley not because the satellite imaging was too poor. If it was they'd never have put the Blackbirds out to pasture before orbiters could do the job in the 1st place.

They had a big official public retirement of a ship that no one ever admitted existing, the Tacit Blue stealth spy plane! It flew from 1982-85 but wasn't publicly acknowledged until 1996.

I figure the smartest thing is a UAV or UCAV for doing the SR-71's duties but we'll see.....eventually

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Why were the SRs reactivated? Surley not because the satellite imaging was too poor. If it was they'd never have put the Blackbirds out to pasture before orbiters could do the job in the 1st place.

Because at the time there was a problem positioning satellites within the allotted time requirement. That's still a problem but its not cost effective to continue to operate the SR-71.

They had a big official public retirement of a ship that no one ever admitted existing, the Tacit Blue stealth spy plane! It flew from 1982-85 but wasn't publicly acknowledged until 1996.

I figure the smartest thing is a UAV or UCAV for doing the SR-71's duties but we'll see.....eventually

Tacit Blue was a proof of concept aircraft similar to have blue, it was used in the RCS development of the B-2.

Northrop

You're correct about the UAVs. That's all I could say right now.

 

[davparlr]

Why were the SRs reactivated? Surley not because the satellite imaging was too poor. If it was they'd never have put the Blackbirds out to pasture before orbiters could do the job in the 1st place.

They had a big official public retirement of a ship that no one ever admitted existing, the Tacit Blue stealth spy plane! It flew from 1982-85 but wasn't publicly acknowledged until 1996.

I figure the smartest thing is a UAV or UCAV for doing the SR-71's duties but we'll see.....eventually

They didn't acknowledge Tacit Blue until 1995 because it was so ugly (see my pictures in the "most beautiful plane" thread)!! Actually, I would not be surprised about a replacement for the SR-71. Satellites are just not as flexible. However, a UAV would make a lot of sense.

 

[syscom3]

A small UAV with stealth charachteristics, flying very high well above any conceivable missle threat, that could loiter for hours on end and has a modular payload for flexability. Maybe even cheap enough to make it a throw away if needed.

Thats what the follow on to the SR71 would be like (in my judgement).

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I think a replacement for the SR-71 would be a UAV as well.

 

[johnbr]

Remember Lockheed has said most of the aircraft it has made are still top secret.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Remember Lockheed has said most of the aircraft it has made are still top secret.

Very few...

 

[HealzDevo]

What do you mean very few? If as someone said they are that skilled at keeping black projects, the Lockheed comment does make sense. In producing aircraft to new designs for a different type of warfare there has to be a lot of prototype concept aircraft along the way and there just don't seem to really be that many in the case of some of the modern Stealth Aircraft so could these be kept secret at the Area 51 Airbase? We are talking in reality a massive leap in design and yet there don't seem to be that many failed designs. I know there are computer simulations etc, but still there has to be data gained from actual models, etc. to fuel that computer simulation properly.

 

[syscom3]

I bet many of those designs were paper studies or deliberate misinformation to fool the ruskies, or smoke out a traitor or two.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

What do you mean very few? If as someone said they are that skilled at keeping black projects, the Lockheed comment does make sense. In producing aircraft to new designs for a different type of warfare there has to be a lot of prototype concept aircraft along the way and there just don't seem to really be that many in the case of some of the modern Stealth Aircraft so could these be kept secret at the Area 51 Airbase? We are talking in reality a massive leap in design and yet there don't seem to be that many failed designs. I know there are computer simulations etc, but still there has to be data gained from actual models, etc. to fuel that computer simulation properly.

I worked there for over 10 years and I was in the Skunk Works - there aren't a lot of proof of concept aircraft built because many times its done at company expense. Someday you may see a "few" items pop up that were kept secret for many years (the Have Blue prototype and the D-21 drone) but don't hold you're breath, I doubt you'll see much more than that...