v064lnev@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Zerxes Bhagalia) (11/14/90)
From: v064lnev@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Zerxes Bhagalia) Since the recent retirement of the SR-71 Blackbird supersonic high-altitude reconnaisance aircraft, the American people have been led to believe that the United States no longer supports an aircraft of that calibre. This may very well be true. However, I have recently heard in several back-channel discussions, much talk of another ultra-secret aircraft designed to be the Blackbird's successor in it's once prominent position as "Eye In The Sky". Supposedly, this aircraft has been code-named, the Condor, and may already be in service. Let me asure you that I hold this information very suspect of fantasy, but it has grasped my interest in a most peculiar way. If anyone has any opinions or facts on this subject, I would greatly appreciate receiving them through electronic mail. My electronic mailing address may be found below. +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | -------------- | | "He pulls a knife, _-------------_______________ Zerxes Bhagalia | | you pull a gun. ____________-------------____ V064LNEV | | He sends one of yours ________________------------_ UUCP: @UBVMS.cc.buffalo | | to the hospital. ______________-------________ BIT : @UBVMS.bitnet | | you send one of his ___________-------___________ State University of | | to the morgue." ________-------______________ New York at Buffalo: | | That's the American _------------________________ Aerospace Engineering | | way, and that's how ____-------------____________ Computer Science | | you get Hussein. _______________-------------_ Business Administration | | - quote by Sean Connery [The Untouchables] -------------- | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) (11/16/90)
From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) In article <1990Nov14.011703.16442@cbnews.att.com> v064lnev@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Zerxes Bhagalia) writes: >been code-named, the Condor, and may already be in service. Let me asure you I have heard rumors about an aircraft called the Lockheed Aurora, but the data seems similar. It is mentioned in the book Stealth: Deception, Evasion, And Concealment In The Air by Doug Richardson, published by Orion Books. There is an artists conception on pages 120-121 and some data. The drawing depicts what appears to be the SR-71's older brother. It has the chines and basicly the same nose. It has the same delta planform and the wing mouted engines, but there are four engines in two sets. The pods have inverted ramp intakes and standard looking adjustable nozzles. The fuselage has a definate 'wasp' look and it ends in a single verticle stabilizer. I like the looks. These are a few quotes about the aircraft from the book. "In February 1985, a budget document issued by the Pentagon accidently disclosed the existence of a secret multi-billion-dollar USAF programme code-named 'Aurora'. According to the unclassified 'P1' weapons procurement document, spending on the secret project would start in fiscal year 1986. [October 1985] with a funding of $80 million, rising to $2,270 million in the following year. Faced with press enquiries, embarrassed USAF officials refused to say any more about the programme, although unidentified Pentagon sources told the Washington Post that the programme might involve stealth technology or be linked in some way with the B-2 stealth bomber." "The designation 'Aurora' was already in use, having been applied to the then recently-delivered CP-140 derivative of the Lockheed P-3 maritime-patrol aircraft" "In January 1988, the New York Times published an article claiming that the USAF was working on an SR-71 replacement - a long-range stealth aircraft able to fly at more than 3,800mph (6,100km/h), five times the speed of sound, and with an cruising altitude of more than 100,000ft (33,500m). 'With the SR-71, they know we're there but they can't touch us', said one official quoted by the newspaper. "With the new technology, they won't even know we're there.'" "Further evidence for the new aircraft came the same month when Armed Forces Journal International revealed how reports by Sanford C. Berstein & Co had suggested that Lockheed sales associated with stealth programmes would peak that year, at about $1,120 million, then settle down to around $752 million through the early 1990s. AFJI suggested that these figures seemed 'consistent with a major programme such as an SR-71 replacement'." "In 1988, Aviation Week reported that Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Garrett, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney had all been cansulted by the USAF in a series of studies which had investigated the design of high-Mach aircraft." My opinion is that the USAF has now or is developing an aircraft to replace the SR-71. The USAF has stated that it wants a new manned aircraft recon system. Given the fact that the A-12/SR-71 was kept secrect for so long and more recently the F-117, it wouldn't surprise me if an Aurora was flying now. P.S. I have seen both A-11 and A-12 for the Blackbird, and have seen both argued as correct by different authors. Which is correct? ############################################################################### # "Calling Garland operator 7G," EVE Email megazone@wpi.wpi.edu # # MEGAZONE, aka DAYTONA, aka BRIAN BIKOWICZ Bitnet Use a gateway. Sorry. # ###############################################################################
DWN102@PSUVM.PSU.EDU (11/19/90)
From: <DWN102@PSUVM.PSU.EDU> In article <1990Nov16.054351.23977@cbnews.att.com>, megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) says: > >SR-71, they know we're there but they can't touch us', said one official >quoted by the newspaper. "With the new technology, they won't even know we're >there.'" > > I'm not quite sure how the Air Force expects to hide an aircraft that will be generating temperatures in excess of 1500 degrees (F) on its nosecone while fly ing at Mach 5-6. Temperatures on other areas of the body will be high also, no t the least of which would be the engine nozzles (scramjets, perhaps?). >the SR-71. The USAF has stated that it wants a new manned aircraft recon >system. Given the fact that the A-12/SR-71 was kept secrect for so long >and more recently the F-117, it wouldn't surprise me if an Aurora was >flying now. > You may be right, late last year I read an article on black programs in Aviatio n Week in which Aurora was mentioned. Supposedly there have been reports of a very loud airplane operating over the Mojave Desert in California, during preda wn hours. Aviation Week seemed to think that this was Aurora. They also said that a scramjet could account for the 'screeching' noise that the plane was rep orted to have. I believe they also quoted an unnamed Air Force source as say- ng "Aurora is so black, you won't here anything about it in public for 10-15 ye ars". That's all I remember about the article. David W. Neeld Penn State University
henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (11/19/90)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) >P.S. I have seen both A-11 and A-12 for the Blackbird, and have seen both >argued as correct by different authors. Which is correct? A-12 appears to have been the correct Lockheed internal project number. For a long time the public understanding was that it was A-11; this may have been some sort of disinformation, or it may have been yet another of LBJ's verbal typos. Neither is an official USAF designation, since the A-12's were CIA aircraft. ("Blackbird" is the closest there is to a generic name for all three types: "A-12", YF-12, and SR-71.) -- "I don't *want* to be normal!" | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology "Not to worry." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry