West Texas Spanloader

LOL yup but now its got me thinking of ties with the Green Lady.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah, that was a neat little thing.

Heard it was a big success for Williams Intl. till they canceled in in 91'.

Coincidentally though that project is linked to the FB craze that's going on right now.

F-121

It's had to have been talked about on ATS somewhere. Maybe a thread around the mid 2000s by some of the old guard ars members.

Model based off of its descriptions.

dlr.thexhunters.com...

dlr.thexhunters.com...

Looks built for speed and early stealth. Love the valkrie looking variable wing tips in the anhedral. Good for trapping air and maximizing lift in high altitudes and high speeds.

Looks noisy as hell though.

Wonder if they still go with that shape for the current aircraft slotted for those missions or have moved on to newer planforms with newer tricks.


As for Bright Star it was rumored to be some lockheed private venture to get Darpa interested in certain technologies lockheed had developed and figured could solve some, at the time, current issues with some of the birds in service performing certain types of missions.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

It has been.

With all the cameras around airports these days its a wonder no real peek has been gotten of whats around.With the drones being spotted and tagged why not the blacker projects.

a reply to: Sammamishman

FB craze? Facebook?

a reply to: Blackfinger

The UAVs were allowed to be seen. The true secret projects are stepped on hard when they're seen.

A-11 Astra looks promising but I can see it morphed into the F117.Bright Star looks the most promising for High Speed recon.Or was Copper Coast continued?

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Yup.

a reply to: Sammamishman

I won't ask.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

ATS thread here: F-121 Sentinel :

Very old thread. May 2004 through November 2005.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Doesn't Williams build mainly small het engines for things like gulfstreams and cessnas? Sounds to me like they were supplying engines for UAV and maybe for aircraft that need to be light and quiet like a companion.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Yes they do.

Check out Tacit Rainbow for the F-121 reference.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Ah totally get it now. Thanks.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

They build a lot of engines for cruise missiles. The main one they build for is the Tomahawk, but I believe there are others.

a reply to: cmdrkeenkid

Yeah f121 is the name of the engine they used in the tacit rainbow. Which was a cool hybrid of ideas.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Things that make you go hmm...

"In the late 2000s, the engine was being used by the Naval Air Warfare Center at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake to test fuel performance and additives"

F121 wikipedia article footnote 3

a reply to: BASSPLYR

No small coincidence that Tacit Rainbow was cancelled at the same time as the TSSAM...

a reply to: darksidius

Could be...
Seems a bit more swept than the Witchita Dorito but it's just a conceptual drawing and the Douglass photos were at a fairly extreme distance so who knows?

The pics came from a Hughes Electric campaign...no idea on the year but looking at the style it looks 80's.

I dont think Michael Schratt is a particularily good source however if I was betting on what that Witchita thing was I'd go with his "Avenger AX12" guestimate in terms of role.

www.kgraradio.com...

Bing imagery shows the X-47B iron bird out behind a hangar at NG's Palmdale facility. More interesting is the iron bird in the North dirt lot behind LM's Palmdale facility. It's been there for quite a while, I'm surprised that no one has brought it up..Kinda dovetails nicely with the direction this thread has taken