Weird California sighting

a reply to: Astr0

Not quite right though from what my crystal ball tells me.

Ive just watched a programme on the SR71 (well done sir!!!) and recalling seeing the craft in the museum in Washington, its a lovely looking and futuristic aircraft today, over 40 years old, 40 years before that we were only just flying - it is madness to think just how quickly we could advance aerodynamics once we understood the basics.

I didnt realise the timeframes really but operational during the Vietnam War! Of course there must be something 1 or 2 (or more) generations advanced that we ( well I ) dont know about, if technology can advance from basic BiPlane to Mach 3+ Stealth Jet in 40 years from 1918 to 1958 - imagine what it can do from 1958 to 2014.

The programme I am watching now is saying the President at the time used the SR71 as a political tool and most on the project were amazed he announced it. So with lessons learned, they dont let the president know so it cant be used as a political tool, just a military one - makes sense.

So basically there must be a 50 years advancement on the SR71 in terms of engine, airframe and stealth which could be generation 2 and 3 of aircraft never to have emerged from the black.

What bugs me though is that we still seem to be struggling with JSF and AESA missiles from Russia when rumour and sense seems to point towards the ability (in others words) to kill a bug with a nuke.

a reply to: IamSirDrinksalot

Because sometimes you need to use a scalpel instead of an FAE.

a reply to: Zaphod58

how exactly?

a reply to: BlackDog10

One major difference, a couple minor.

any clues?

a reply to: BlackDog10

Well the....damn, let me get the door first.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Bahahahahaha

Dinnnng donggg

whats FAE? Federal aviation employee? Fuel air explosive. Fast Attack something with an E. And whats AESA or whatever the other poster typed? I'm asking cause I'd like to follow along with the conversation.

FAE- Fuel Air Explosive

ASEA - Active Scanning Electronic Array

ASEA is the new and best radar available right now - can act as radar, communications, electronic attack and other 'stuff' too.

Two videos from BAe.

I'd advise folks to mull over what they are looking at.

www.youtube.com...

www.youtube.com...


Triangles and squares linking in for longer flights, and self healing graphene skins.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Maybe the successor to the successors, successor. ...successor?

Please read my entire post as total speculation based on what I'd expect to have happened with the sr71's family lineage up to date concerning the aircraft that have been asked to and are probably now fulfilling the sr71's mission profile.

I've always felt that from the sr-71 they quickly built another aircraft from what they had learned about metallurgy and engines from building the sr71. Like the oxcart and sr71 were more likely test beds to develop the initial technology. Built a dozen or so and then started up on production of the real spy plane. from there I think it's likely they built something similar to the sr71 just slightly better and that flew for few decades. Like a sr71 2.0 maybe even a "sr72" if one were to make a arbitrary lineage number system for craft with this type of mission profile.

meanwhile the idea of very fast and very high took off and they made a more radical propulsion design and needed a totally new body or shape to house it in, abandoning the sr71-72 type of aircraft for more "aurora" looking craft. Something i'd call SR73-74 on my made up numbering system for the planes lineage. It was probably much faster and flew much higher than the sr71/72 could have but it was loud and semi obvious. earthquakes, sonic booms, weird ass contrails. Can't just fly that over russia or china or even allied nations with skywatchers and things like seismographs. People wee noticing.

SO work on quiet boom technology and that yielded lots of neato applications besides quiet boom and maybe the whole quiet boom thing was adapted from technology attempting to do something else and all of it has opened lots of corridors to explore technology wise. So they built the new thing that everybody is beginning to see and or wonder about that can do the fly very high and fast thing like it's old man could but it has this new quiet boom and maybe much more using this new technology and is magnitudes stealthier and quieter and probably faster than anyone else in the family.

And the best part is unless you spent 60+ years building up the institutional knowledge on the intricacies of the manufacturing of all the components, logistics, and experience along with one massive military industrial complex you aint never going to build one, or even come close to really duplicating it. That means you china and russia.

originally posted by: Astr0
Two videos from BAe.

I'd advise folks to mull over what they are looking at.

www.youtube.com...

www.youtube.com...


Triangles and squares linking in for longer flights, and self healing graphene skins.

Want to be watching these. Seriously go have a look.

a reply to: Astr0

Those are some cool links there. I like the transformer. It's similar to my dream for the the drone sidekick/dog I'd like to see escort the new B3. Also some other cool videos on that BAE link. Liked the directed energy weapons systems video too.

Imagine that the survivor video would be good for repairing the skin of the craft so that as a lifting body it still functions and the plane can fly home. But will it do anything to repair the structural integrity of the wing if a hole is blown through the internal struts and ribbing? Or are the wings like shells these days and much stiffer then I'm thinking and can maintain the structural integrity of the wing enough to handle the forces needed to maintain lift and get the plane home. I could see this tech in things lie fuel and hydrolic lines too. to stop them from leaking when nicked or possibly burned. Doubt it could bond to now totally detached pieces of hose. How would it find the other part to link up with. Maybe the tech is more further along than that and thats why they are all drinking the hateraid regarding the A10 and keep trying to cancel it. Like we have a new nearly undestroyable cas type of drone or plane. Still have a hard time seeing it outkill a a10 though. Imagine reworking the a10, call it the a11 and put that sorta skin on the aircraft.

Man I'm rambling this morning. Sorry guys.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

That's why, many years ago, they developed a learning capable neural net for aircraft.

a reply to: Astr0

ANd this brings up another thought. If you can "repair" the skin of a plane why not play with the material and the chemistry a little and see if you can get the wing to flex like muscle. contract and expand creating different shapes for different types of flight. blend the wing and the material with the fuselage like a spanloader and you have a plane that can be 100% stealthy, and have "variable geometry" wings/fuselage. Like I said take a triangle and contract the sides and now you have a star like shape. Triangle for high lift, star shape for higher agility. Just contract the sides in and then you have a nice delta wing for high speed dash. Watchout all you tomcats and aardvarks, theres a new sheriff in town. That what I'd like to see.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yeah I get the neural network for the electronics and stuff. It can rework the signal like a damaged brain can. Thats pretty cool. but what about for the physical skeleton of the plane? I get we can rework the way signals are sent around the aircraft and communicate. I get that we have a way to patch the skin and small components using some cool nano tech or whatever was in that video link. But what about the actual structure under the skin?

a reply to: BASSPLYR

It isn't for electronics. It learns how the plane is supposed to fly, and keeps it flying in the event of significant damage, or even damage of any sort.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Software to adjust the flight controls to attempt to keep the plane aloft. ANd if it can't then thats where the repairing skin comes in. Plus that reduces what the software has to calculate to keep the plane flying. I still say I wouldn't be surprised if they have figured out a way to wire the plane like a human nervous system with redundancies so that if a hole gets blown through the plane at lest some wire somewhere can be used to get the signal through to the component and keep all parts talking to each other.

a reply to: Astr0

Bring on the cool links astro. More, more. I had fun checking out the videos on BEAs page and the story about the fast walkers is fun too. What other cool stuff can you point us to. Really liked the transformer video. It's a lot of what I've been imagining. Just one question how do they safely relink while in flight. And do you think whatever engineer came up with this idea was watching waaaay to much saucer separation video of the NCC1701-D and got inspired.