the green flame

Sorry been keeping an eye on this for a while. May I pose a question 'if you were trying to hide a bird then you wouldn't want to fly into an airbase with either a heavy civilian or military population. Thus avoiding too much unwanted attention. Maybe scheduling flights to land at about 12.30 am causing some noise on descent but not enough for people to complain' so where would this strange place be? Maybe somewhere with a very very small airforce? in a reply to: Zaphod58

a reply to: Zaphod58

Surprised at how pragmatically low-tech the 90's craft might be?

I've always said they if you wanted a killer ISR platform, a YF-23 with a 30 degree delta planform and massaged engines for a Mach 2 supercruise would be an absolutely killer solution.

What it would lack in raw speed compared to the blackbird would be more than made up for by the stealth factor.

originally posted by: Barnalby
a reply to: Zaphod58

Surprised at how pragmatically low-tech the 90's craft might be?

I've always said they if you wanted a killer ISR platform, a YF-23 with a 30 degree delta planform and massaged engines for a Mach 2 supercruise would be an absolutely killer solution.

What it would lack in raw speed compared to the blackbird would be more than made up for by the stealth factor.

Now wouldn't that be interesting.....Kinda like an F/B - 23

So about how many people total know about this aircraft?

a reply to: TStoops88

However many have been written in on it.

I doubt there would be any more than a handful of airframes built.Maybe half of the Sr-71 numbers.Is the Green Lady a direct replacement for the Sr71 and a step towards the Sr72 with Stealth,avionics and airframe while awaiting ADVENT to mature a bit more.

a reply to: Zaphod58

And Zaphod... how convenient

a reply to: BlackDog10

Just at the right place at the right time and know the right people. Although anything I know about this is a tiny fraction of what it can do.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hmm, so since our uncle is in the megawatt range reliably, are any of these people flash vaporizing aluminum compounds?

K~

a reply to: aethertek

There's lots of fun in that area. Heh. Scary stuff.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Aw damn now I'm jealous, did they crack the partial field containment yet?

K~

originally posted by: stratsys-sws

originally posted by: Barnalby
a reply to: Zaphod58

Surprised at how pragmatically low-tech the 90's craft might be?

I've always said they if you wanted a killer ISR platform, a YF-23 with a 30 degree delta planform and massaged engines for a Mach 2 supercruise would be an absolutely killer solution.

What it would lack in raw speed compared to the blackbird would be more than made up for by the stealth factor.

Now wouldn't that be interesting.....Kinda like an F/B - 23

...or an AX-17

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: aethertek

There's lots of fun in that area. Heh. Scary stuff.

TArget go poofy!!!! lol

I wonder how these pilots can just go back to their normal lives when not flying these things. How can they use normal civilian tech and be satisfied? They have to wonder what other kind of amazing gizmos exist if they're flying these advanced planes around.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

That's not their job to worry about or wonder anything, beyond the scope of their job(s) at hand. That's why they've gotten to where they are now. Doing what they're told to do, and excel at it.

originally posted by: weavty1
a reply to: MystikMushroom

That's not their job to worry about or wonder anything, beyond the scope of their job(s) at hand. That's why they've gotten to where they are now. Doing what they're told to do, and excel at it.

"So I don't get to take this home with me huh? Damn. My car seems so boring to drive now, even though it has a HUD and can park itself."

a reply to: weavty1

Same goes for the engineers and manufacturing techs who spend large chunks of their careers building things they know they'll probably never be able to talk about to anyone but their bosses and their immediate coworkers.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Well I'm sure that might've crossed their minds once or twice before. I understand what you're getting at.

a reply to: weavty1

And I bet long after they've retired they probably smile at "new" technology that we all go nuts over. They probably think to themselves, "Ha, we were playing around with stuff like that on the F-14 back in the day ..."

a reply to: MystikMushroom

The 509th lost almost 300 people in 1982 into 1983 to Nellis, ostensibly to work on upgrading the A-7 into a night capable aircraft.

Many years later it came out that they were one of the first group of operational F-117 pilots and ground crews. It came out after the F-117 was unveiled and a friend of one of the pilots put things together. The pilots didn't talk about it until much later and even then very reluctantly for awhile.

That's how they got into these projects. They don't wonder, or speculate, or talk. They go out day after day and do their job, go home when it's time, and don't talk about work.