Weird California sighting

a reply to: darksidius

Badger's sighting? No idea. I would think not, or at least not directly Maybe through a few degrees of separation mission wise? But you never know. That's a question for a Forum subject matter expert not me. Tosses ball in Zaph's court.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR

originally posted by: Badgered1
I'd mentioned previously that I swear I saw something similar to a YF-23 take off at Edwards just a couple years ago. It was with a couple of F-16s. All took off on a very steep climb, and veered off into the distance.
That was an "early 90s cancelled project...."
Is it a variation on that theme, Zaphod? (He asks knowing full well that Zaphod isn't going to tell him anyway...)

I'm with Samm on this one. For recent personal reasons I too would be VERY interested in your sighting.

Hi Bassplyr, you never know. Maybe a revamped version of Grey Ghost is in the works. Here's hoping. Tailless reworked larger frame, latest engines for quieter performance and EW package, better stealth and fricken lasers.

tacairnet.com...

Well, I can dream eh. ( waitin for the usual gang to step in and shoot me down now !!! )

a reply to: nelloh62

If something related did exist I bet she's real pretty.

a reply to: nelloh62

Cool link there. I'll take a look at it better when I get off work. Man the 23 was sexy.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

I know this post is old. But I came across it today.

You got me thinking!

Has anyone made a active signal cancelling stealth?

Like how they've made noise cancelling headphones.

That take the incoming sound wave and return a wave that is 180 degrees out of sync with the original wave?

a reply to: grey580

like some sorta bubble that surrounds the aircraft? no idea.

i would imagine though those guys are hard at work developing aural stealth.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Well not for sound but for EM.

detect incoming radar and then send back a signal that's out of phase.

a reply to: grey580

Like active dampening or something? Over my pay grade. I'm sure there are a few other members that could comment with more authority. But if there was a way to do that it would be closely guarded I'd think.

a reply to: grey580

Bedlam once alluded to that requiring a second plane lugging around a super computer to perform all of the necessary calculations lol. Some of the metamaterial redirection ideas sort of approach that idea however. Combine it with some sort of phase conjugation mirror and there might be something worth looking at.

a reply to: grey580

The best stealth would be a material that emulates the EM characteristics of free space.
Whether this is possible today is up for debate but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts it will be in short term future.

Plasma Stealth..

a reply to: Blackfinger

weren't the russians supposedly working on a "bolt on" plasma stealth system?

And wouldn't the plasma cloud be detectable?

oh wait. isn't the green lady using a plasma ball or something?

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: BASSPLYR

Well not for sound but for EM.

detect incoming radar and then send back a signal that's out of phase.

Called ECM, and been around for a long time, though I think that in practice they try to alter the signal to make it look like something else.


The basic enabling technology is 'digital RF memory'.
mrcy.com...

It's not as good as real radar absorbing or geometric-enabled stealth, as minor errors in cancellation would result in a significant signal.

originally posted by: mbkennel
It's not as good as real radar absorbing or geometric-enabled stealth, as minor errors in cancellation would result in a significant signal.

You can also sit off axis with a multistatic setup and see the emitter on the aircraft as it tries to send the wavefront back.

A lot of times RF memory is used to 'record' the chirp and repeat it back modified in time or phase so you 'bend' the aircraft track. The receiving radar is pretty cagey about not accepting echoes that don't look like itself, the memory trick helps a lot with that.

Also while 'current' radar looks at 'was there a reflection, and was it my signal', there is an interesting amount of information conveyed by the very leading edge of the return, which hit the target aircraft at various points at different times on the way out. Very closely spaced times, to be sure, but you get a leading edge component reflection from every feature. The fake return signal from ECM doesn't have the interesting extra structural detail you get back from that very brief interval as the echo first comes back. Interesting detail you might be able to resolve all sorts of info from. If people did that. If people did, they could tell lots of neat things, like which aspect the craft presented to the plane.

a reply to: Caughtlurking

Could not agree more: it's a travesty that today's best and brightest rarely see their future at Northrop, Boeing, General Dynamics or the like: rather its Facebook, Goldman Sachs or some hedge fund or law firm.

originally posted by: Borys
a reply to: Caughtlurking

Could not agree more: it's a travesty that today's best and brightest rarely see their future at Northrop, Boeing, General Dynamics or the like: rather its Facebook, Goldman Sachs or some hedge fund or law firm.

I wouldn't say that, you may find that the best and brightest are wired differently to the bankers and lawyers. Scientists seem to prefer the thrill of advancing mankind and science to making a fast buck.

Similar to special forces who could make a fortune as mercenaries who stick around for the teams rather than the money.

a reply to: Forensick

You're right in many cases, but think of it this way: the biggest paying graduate jobs these days are in places such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft etc and Goldman Sachs, as well as McKinsey and the venture capital firms. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the big software firms never existed, venture capital was almost unknown, investment banking paid well but certainly not the multiple it does today. The best paying jobs were engineering and medicine as well as law. The best and brightest back then almost HAD to go into the defense and aerospace arenas to be paid well and work on great projects. These days, the choices for the best are much greater and there are many paths for brilliant people other than the hard sciences.

Aaaaahhhchooo A12

the other forum

originally posted by: grey580
a reply to: BASSPLYR

Well not for sound but for EM.

detect incoming radar and then send back a signal that's out of phase.

The problem with this is, by the time you read the signal and begin processing it to figure out a phase-inverted signal, it has already reflected off of you and is on its way back. No way around that. The best you could do is confuse the signal after the fact, give them a weirder return. I can also see several other more technical problems with this.

So, early this morning around 4:30am, I was out letting the dog do her business and was kind of stargazing, when I saw a small but brilliant point of light moving from the SE to NW ish. I thought to myself its a satellite or ISS or something, when it made a big loop to the south and finished up by heading to the SW.
I lost sight of it after about 20 seconds.
Since it was making a turn that rules out satellites or the ISS, but it had the look of either of those.
Was it something so high up it was being illuminated by the sun? or is it propulsion that is shining.