fridgemagnet
Newly Enlightened
Extremely cool plane - maybe one of the most beautiful aircraft ever.
Secret Aircraft
- Thread starter StarHalo
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EZO
Flashlight Enthusiast
Defense technology blog Ares reports on a mysterious flying object—most certainly a military classified aircraft—flying over the skies of Amarillo, Texas, on March 10. Aviation Week's defense expert Bill Sweetman says this is unprecedented but he's convinced it's real. "This sort of thing has happened only once since 1956".
Interesting.......an actual secret aircraft to discuss!
Interesting.......an actual secret aircraft to discuss!
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Hm, but it's the middle of the day; I've seen manned craft do some funky things over the desert, but I don't know that they'd fly the secret stuff in the light of day..
EZO
Flashlight Enthusiast
I wouldn't have posted this if the source wasn't a well known authority at Aviation Week.
moldyoldy
Flashlight Enthusiast
heheh, Aviation Week is referred to as "Aviation Leak" for a good reason! Besides, remember that some reports surfaced very briefly from U-2 pilots about a cranked-wing A/C above them, and their mission altitude is 70000 ft. Also, remember that the popcorn on a string contrails showed up over England and over the SW of the US such as the flight track from that lake out to sea over Bakersfield.
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Not questioning the source or post, but you have to eliminate what it isn't before you can say what it is.. It's obviously not a silhouette of anything known, but could it be a paint job on a larger plane? The outline is certainly stealthy, but are we still testing new manned designs in the drone age?
EZO
Flashlight Enthusiast
Anything is possible regarding what it "could be" StarHalo but this is very different than your previous post which frankly comes across as being rather dismissive of both the post and the source. Your post here kind of sounds like you haven't bothered to look at the link I provided either. The speculation is that it is indeed a piloted craft and the blog post goes on to say, "The photos tell us more about what the mysterious stranger isn't than what it is.", whereas your comments seem to imply that some sort of conclusion was made as to what it is beyond being an unidentified military aircraft.
StarHalo
Flashaholic
I did look at the link, that's what's throwing me off; it's obviously jet engines, not small, and according to the link, manned, so what new manned aircraft would be tested when all we've seen for the past decade are drones?
EZO
Flashlight Enthusiast
Oh, I see.
According to Bill Sweetman there were two more planes and, after listening to the radio chatter, they believe the aircraft was not a drone. It seems there was a pilot in there. He also doubts "that you'd dispatch three large, classified unmanned aircraft anywhere in formation." He speculates that this could be a replacement for the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, a stealth ground-attack aircraft that was retired six years ago.
Edit: That last paragraph in the blog is a little thick to decipher but that's what he seems to be saying. "One avenue of speculation is to look at gaps in the USAF's line-up. One obvious example is high-precision stealth attack.", he says.
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The SR-71 acquired the name "Habu" and patch after the existence of the SR-71 became public.
Reportedly only pilots that flew an operational mission were allowed to wear the Habu patch.
My family lived on Okinawa for three and a half years during the mid-60's. My father was in the Air Force, stationed at Naha. Once when I was about six or seven, Dad and I drove to Kadena to see a friend of his. I called him "Uncle Ben". Uncle Ben worked at the airfield and took us to watch an SR-71 coming in for a landing. We were in his work truck, and parked right next to the runway. It was an awesome sight to see the SR land. A few seconds later we drove onto the tarmac and I got to help pick up the rubber bands from the SR-71's parachute.
~ Chance
Edit: The Rest Of The Story.
Almost forgot, another thing I witnessed on Okinawa, a Habu vs Mongoose fight. It wasn't something a young child should have seen. Dad showed poor judgment on that one.
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Ha, that's awesome. You get to keep them?
I've stuck my head into the wheel well of a parked SR-71, lots of NASA-esque gold foil in there..
Yep. But being only six, I didn't appreciate what I was witnessing, or what I had. Rubber bands don't last long when you're a kid. Probably shot them at my sister, then had em taken away.
~ Chance
~ Chance
I saw one up close and personal at McChord AFB here in Parkland. Maybe five years later. It was during a public air-show, and I was amazed they let people walk right up to it. I still thought it was a big secret.
~ Chance
StarHalo
Flashaholic
The guy who photographed/listened in on Ezo's mystery aircraft above posted a more lengthy commentary post today, where he goes into the logic of a daytime flight. This is becoming better than a Coast to Coast segment..
EZO
Flashlight Enthusiast
Good link StarHalo! Very interesting to read more about this story and about Steve Douglas. If anyone would know what he's looking at vis-à-vis a black budget military aircraft it would be him which is probably the reason this story is garnering attention. You know, correct me if I am wrong but I believe in the entire history of this thread this is the only "real time" reporting to surface about a secret aircraft. We usually learn about these things years after the fact. Of course, we don't yet know what it is but we know it exists.
moldyoldy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Mr. Sweetman evidently became tired of the USAF stonewalling his credible observations, so he raised the anti and took his observations on the 'new' black A/C out of the blog and put them on the front page.
BTW, the continuing difference between the US and Soviet A/C philosophy of fighter A/C design continues to be a subject of discussion. Ignoring who is making the points, the point is that the US advantage in stealth fighters is, in this pilot's mind, overemphasized. eg: Any fighter that can drastically change it's speed/direction can break the lock of most fighters/missiles (true). Furthermore, studies by US pilot tacticians admit that the supermanueverability demonstrated by the Soviet fighters starting with the SU-27 and thru the latest SU-35 have the ability to take out the best US fighters. It all depends on the initial engagement distance. I do agree that the supermanueverability demonstated by the latest Soviet fighters is awe-inspiring! Normal fighter A/C are simply not able to manuever like that, not even the US F-22!
BTW, the continuing difference between the US and Soviet A/C philosophy of fighter A/C design continues to be a subject of discussion. Ignoring who is making the points, the point is that the US advantage in stealth fighters is, in this pilot's mind, overemphasized. eg: Any fighter that can drastically change it's speed/direction can break the lock of most fighters/missiles (true). Furthermore, studies by US pilot tacticians admit that the supermanueverability demonstrated by the Soviet fighters starting with the SU-27 and thru the latest SU-35 have the ability to take out the best US fighters. It all depends on the initial engagement distance. I do agree that the supermanueverability demonstated by the latest Soviet fighters is awe-inspiring! Normal fighter A/C are simply not able to manuever like that, not even the US F-22!
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
Crashed drone in South Korea, believed to be from North Korea (how could they tell..)
StarHalo
Flashaholic
The DoD has a project called "Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System" that is planned to be an install on any helicopter that effectively turns it into a drone; current key applications focus on cargo, so that a cargo copter could be loaded, then someone on the ground would use an app that already has the flightplan ready. The operator just clicks and away goes the chopper on its mission, autonomous sensors on the chopper itself handle inclement or hazardous conditions.
StarHalo
Flashaholic
About those drone hunting licenses; Several machine guns (sounds like there's even a Ma Deuce in there) and several thousand rounds of ammo versus one "drone" r/c aircraft. Turns out you not only need a lot of money, but a lot of time:
