I'm not sure why people would attribute all these different sightings across so many years to a single 'aurora' project. I've little doubt that plenty of experimental aircraft are being and have been developed over that time and that we're unlikely to hear about those that are still in development and ought to be kept secret or those that were tried and later scrapped. We might well find out about some in years to come, probably long after they become operational.
Aurora Spy plane
- Thread starter TrafficMaster
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Soldato
I wouldn't be surprised if the US did try to develop such and aircraft as it's alleged flight characteristics would make it a logical successor to the SR-71.
However I had always assumed that it had never been made made operational / had a very short operational life due to the supposed sighting of it drying up in the late 90s
However I had always assumed that it had never been made made operational / had a very short operational life due to the supposed sighting of it drying up in the late 90s
Soldato
Still the U2
it's such a good aircraft it kept going. It's so called replacement, GLOBALCHICKEN, is crap.
Soldato
Satellites are expensive when you look at the number needed for decent coverage, the opposition know where they are and when they are due to pass their location so they can hide during the pass, they can't be moved to a new location without a huge amount of effort (and only a very limited amount of times due to fuel) and if you do need to move one they don't move quickly so time sensitive Ops are out.
On the other hand satellites are great for optics and for Loiter time. A geosynchronous orbit will watch the same patch of ground forever.
A manned hypersonic aircraft will be will be much better at covering the satellites weak points and drones can cover the aircraft's weak points (low loiter time etc) so a combination of all 3 is a sure fire winner!
On the other hand satellites are great for optics and for Loiter time. A geosynchronous orbit will watch the same patch of ground forever.
A manned hypersonic aircraft will be will be much better at covering the satellites weak points and drones can cover the aircraft's weak points (low loiter time etc) so a combination of all 3 is a sure fire winner!
Me too, it's fascinating to think what there could be put there.
I do maintain these UFOs people see are these secret planes.
probably not a lot since satellites do all the work and it takes america how long to build there new plane? like 20 years? lol
thought lockhead were building a sr72 that they announced a few years ago though?
You expect someone to survive mach 25 horizontally, what would be the point anyway?
You can't really steer it and sudden deceleration is instant death.
It is entirely the realm of UAVs, this fascination with manned vehicles isn't policy anymore, its just a necessary evil of budget constraint.
Still the U2
Never heard of GlobalChickhen. Care to expand on it?
I am guessing it isn't KFC.
But to answer the original question.
I honestly don't know if there is an Aurora / SR-72 Plane.
But I have every confidence that America is working on multiple supersonic prototype planes, when or if we'll every officially know of them, who knows...
Saying that there is ample evidence, that objects are traveling at supersonic speeds, across america and other parts of the world.
There is a military need for such planes, given america's agenda to push it's brand of liberty and freedom across the world.
And there is the technical and theoretical methods to achieve such speeds.
So time will tell on that front.
The one project I am most intrigued be is Skylon.
A join project with America and the UK, to build a SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) Plane.
Capable of taking off and flying like a conventional plane at about Mach 5-7 using air. Then switching to a compressed air and hydrogen mixture to achieve low earth orbit.
Potentially a similar usage and capacity as the Space shuttle, but significantly cheaper per flight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylon_(spacecraft)
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The best looking Aurora aircraft that I have ever seen!
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/Chilipantz/Aurora-lg-1104762-0-4267_zpswyoodrvc.jpg
Flew one once many moons ago, she was a real dream to fly and I still have the plan to build another.
http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/Chilipantz/Aurora-lg-1104762-0-4267_zpswyoodrvc.jpg
Flew one once many moons ago, she was a real dream to fly and I still have the plan to build another.
Soldato
Never heard of GlobalChickhen. Care to expand on it?
I am guessing it isn't KFC.
All the American military I've ever worked with renamed the Global Hawk to Global Chicken because it wasn't particularly any good. That was a few years ago mind, it may well have been improved since.
Well they stopped a couple of production blocks as they were more expensive to operate and the sensor package was worse than the U2.
SR71 really shouldn't have been retired, but the fleet was getting on and was deemed too expensive and it's job could be taken over by satellites. Shame, I loved watching it go overhead.
Satellites can take a while to retask, plus there's the fuel limit they have to take into account too. So the nearest satellite that's capable may not be the best option to move.
In that time, SR71 could have been over there and back twice.
As for Aurora, not sure. There's certainly experimental aircraft that we don't know about. Associating everything with a single aircraft.... seems a stretch.
Northrop were involved in a show about the Horton 229 a few years back and they put a replica on their radar test range, the mounting ring they used they freely admitted had been used for other experimental designs. But that's all they were willing to say.
Lockheed's Skunkworks and Boeings Phantom Works will have projects going. For their own technology testing and for government contracts.
Soldato
Not sure about Aliens..
However - you could just visit the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works web site (which is actually very cool). This page refers to speed projects.
http://www.lockheedmartin.co.uk/us/what-we-do/emerging/advanced-aeronautics/speed.html
However - you could just visit the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works web site (which is actually very cool). This page refers to speed projects.
http://www.lockheedmartin.co.uk/us/what-we-do/emerging/advanced-aeronautics/speed.html
Two reasons for this, firstly flying high/fast wasn't enough to survive spying on the USSR but this could be done with satellites, secondly flying high/fast was enough to survive spying on any enemy not the USSR.
So basically no point replacing the SR-71 (apart from with satellites).
Soldato
I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were developing or have developed a replacement for the SR-71.
However rumours about the Aurora have been going since the nineties so it may well be a black project that got discontinued but remains classified. Of course it may well be flying under very top secret conditions.
It is true that satellites probably put the SR71 into retirement but the US keeps or at least kept some U2 planes operational as it takes time to position satellites and in combat situations you may need reconnaissance quickly.
For that reason there may well still be a need for high flying fast aircraft. I doubt the US would fly a U2 over a country with a sophisticated air defence network. I read an article (not sure how true it was) that even the SR-71 became hugely vulnerable over the USSR after they started using MIG 29 that performed well as a high altitude interceptor. Some even say that after the MIG 29 release not a single SR-71 was flown over the USSR.
However rumours about the Aurora have been going since the nineties so it may well be a black project that got discontinued but remains classified. Of course it may well be flying under very top secret conditions.
It is true that satellites probably put the SR71 into retirement but the US keeps or at least kept some U2 planes operational as it takes time to position satellites and in combat situations you may need reconnaissance quickly.
For that reason there may well still be a need for high flying fast aircraft. I doubt the US would fly a U2 over a country with a sophisticated air defence network. I read an article (not sure how true it was) that even the SR-71 became hugely vulnerable over the USSR after they started using MIG 29 that performed well as a high altitude interceptor. Some even say that after the MIG 29 release not a single SR-71 was flown over the USSR.
Wouldn't have said hugely vulnerable - on paper the later MIGs with the R33 with sufficient heads up and timing could have feasibly got a firing solution - in reality that doesn't take into account the reliability of the soviet computational hardware/systems, actual effective chance to hit of the missiles or countermeasures - which were never deployed but available in the instances where MIGs did get lock ons.
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Well there's the unmanned space planes that the US have called the x-37.