Weird California sighting

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: StargateSG7
Jet engines are airbreathers.
They are not rockets. There are fuels which are suitable to rockets.

---

That I knew about jets being air breathers
but one interesting possibility that crossed my
mind is large purchases of JP-7 being used as
a BASE ingredient for another more secretive
type of fuel be it for rockets OR for enhancement
of the jet engine combustion process.

.....Hmmmm..... I wonder what else
could be mixed with JP-7 to enhance it?

a reply to: StargateSG7
Why use JP7 when there is actual rocket fuel?

a reply to: Phage

Or boron for that matter?

Turbined based combined cycle my ass.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: StargateSG7
Why use JP7 when there is actual rocket fuel?

---

Sorry! I didn't mean using JP-7 as rocket fuel but rather where
a public DOD purchase agreement being publicly disclosed
which HIDES the higher-level purpose of mixing it with
other compounds to enhance specific fuel performance
parameters. The large recent/yearly purchases of JP-7
could be used as a RUSE to get a large amount of
BASE fuel component at a reasonable cost BUT then
change it in a more secretive manner to a fuel used
for or within special-performance aerospace platforms!

THAT might be the real reason WHY so much JP-7 was bought!

But again, what performance parameters in JP-7 could
be enhanced by the addition of WHAT compounds ???

If this is correct.

www.centennialofflight.net...

The development of the A-12 OXCART spyplane in the late 1950s created another problem for aircraft and engine designers. The high speeds reached by the A-12 would cause the skin of the aircraft to get hot. Temperatures on the OXCART ranged from 462 to 1,050 degrees Fahrenheit (239 to 566 degrees C). The wings, where the fuel was stored, had external temperatures of more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 degrees C). Even with the lower flashpoint, fuel stored in the wings could explode. As a result, the engine designers at Pratt & Whitney sought a fuel with an extremely high flashpoint. Working with the Ashland Shell and Monsanto companies, the engine designers added fluorocarbons to increase lubricity (or slipperiness), and other chemicals to raise the flashpoint. The resulting fuel was originally known as PF-1 but later renamed JP-7. It was used only by the A-12 OXCART (and its sister YF-12 interceptor) and later the SR-71 Blackbird. JP-7 has such a high flashpoint that a burning match dropped into a bucket of it will not cause it to ignite.

Engine designers and fuel chemists created JP-7 with a high flashpoint that would not explode in the aircraft's tanks, but this also made the fuel hard to ignite within the engines themselves. Because JP-7 is so hard to ignite, particularly at the low pressures encountered at high altitudes, these planes used a special chemical called tri-ethyl borane (TEB), which burns at a high temperature when it is oxidized (combined with air). Another problem that the A-12 encountered was that the engine exhaust (particularly shock waves created in the exhaust when the engines were at full afterburner) was easily seen by radar. The engine designers added an expensive chemical known as A-50, which contained cesium, to the fuel for operational flights that reduced its ability to be detected by radar.

a reply to: StargateSG7

THAT might be the real reason WHY so much JP-7 was bought!

How much was bought? When?

a reply to: Phage

Zaph brought that up in a post a while ago.


www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: grey580

Yeah but boron burning out the back isnt going to remain a bright green for miles and miles behind the aircraft.

Could something else be responsible for the green? Could it hint at something much more impressive than borob zip fuels.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

hrmm....

I wonder.....

what's that stuff called .... starts with a p.

a reply to: grey580

Potassium? Phosphorous. I dunno....what?

a reply to: BASSPLYR

freaking a.... my old timers is kicking in bad..

Jeez. there's a nasty lightning storm here. my house is rumbling.

oh..... i think i recall a second letter

Pl.... something

a reply to: grey580
A "huge amount" for delivery in 2010.
en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: Phage

wow.

that's a nice cover story for ordering jp-7. well done.

a reply to: Phage

They ordered more than the X-51 could use, and at least two aircraft currently flying require a KC-135T specifically to refuel them, which means other than JP-8 fuel.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Ok.
So other very high altitude aircraft.

No rotaries? No ground effect types?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: Phage

Maybe something new is out and everybodys gunna want it under the hood. And it likes jp7.

a reply to: Phage

Of course not. JP7 is a pain in the ass to use. Getting it just ignited is hard. A crew chief on Okinawa put out a hangar fire with the stuff because it's so hard to ignite.

a reply to: Phage

Something that flies so fast that the skin might heat up to a very high temperature.

hrmm....

a reply to: Zaphod58

lol.

that's spectacular.

do you have an article or soemthing that talks about that?

a reply to: grey580
hmmm, indeed

?