TR-3A Black Manta- here's what I know!

a reply to: Zaphod58

If there's something more fun out there than this fantastical piece of Sci-Fi, I envy your knowledge of it a great deal, Zaphod.

a reply to: Revolvacron
More fun than this rendering whoua
The same shape for the LRS-B and I open a bottle of Champagne

originally posted by: Revolvacron
a reply to: Zaphod58

this fantastical piece of Sci-Fi

That's exactly what the TR-3 is. Meanwhile in the black world there's stuff that would put a lot of jaws on the floor.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Amen.

Stuff like 200+ foot wingspan UAVs, secret spaceplanes, stealth VTOL theater transports, and functional polywell fusion reactors trump flying saucer stories any day.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Northernhollow

Like the

Oooo, cookies!

And there's the

hang on, phone's ringing.

originally posted by: Zaphod58

originally posted by: Revolvacron
a reply to: Zaphod58

this fantastical piece of Sci-Fi

That's exactly what the TR-3 is. Meanwhile in the black world there's stuff that would put a lot of jaws on the floor.

Speaking of which, what haven't you heard much of since my last trip out of town on May 7?

a reply to: Bedlam

Where's that been at? I wondered about that.

originally posted by: Barnalby
a reply to: Zaphod58

Amen.

Stuff like 200+ foot wingspan UAVs, secret spaceplanes, stealth VTOL theater transports, and functional polywell fusion reactors trump flying saucer stories any day.

I'm going to admit, I've been following the Aircraft Projects forum in wonder over the past two years. Only recently decided to take the plunge and get involved. I met someone who works as a test engineer for Raytheon in the pub a couple of nights ago but couldn't get any really interesting gossip out of him other than how big Lockheed were as competitors. I asked him about LM's fusion reactor but he went strangely quiet

Speaking of which, I was quite surprised that the forum didn't lose their # when one of the "Big Three" announced that they were confident of having a prototype reactor within 5 years.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: Zaphod58

originally posted by: Revolvacron
a reply to: Zaphod58

this fantastical piece of Sci-Fi

That's exactly what the TR-3 is. Meanwhile in the black world there's stuff that would put a lot of jaws on the floor.

Speaking of which, what haven't you heard much of since my last trip out of town on May 7?

And what might that be an allusion to, Bedlam?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Bedlam

Where's that been at? I wondered about that.

Everyone's been out of town at the new hangout or the old one, if you were especially unlucky.

Maybe there will be noisy goodbyes for Halloween, depending on turn around time and upgrades. Preferably without me.

originally posted by: Revolvacron

And what might that be an allusion to, Bedlam?

Boom!

a reply to: Bedlam

I dig it. "haven't heard much of..."

originally posted by: Revolvacron
a reply to: Bedlam

I dig it. "haven't heard much of..."

We dropped one over Tampa on the way out of town. Hail MacDill!

a reply to: Bedlam

You boys and your fancy toys.

2015: I have a computer the size of a deck of cards that has more power than a Cray supercomputer -- and I use it as a phone. And despite this, we're hitching rides to a glorified tree fort (the ISS) in LEO with the Russians in a space craft first flown 38 years ago.

The priority of humans...

a reply to: Revolvacron

That announcement by Lockheed made it blatantly clear to me that there's some sort of fusion development arms race going on between EMC2/NAS China Lake and the USAF/LM.

Given how well the EMC2 WB-series tests were trending before publications from China Lake went dark, I take it as all but a given that they've made it work.

Since LM's design is nothing but a variation on the Polywell, there's no reason to believe that it doesn't work as well.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I'm reminded of the technology review article with Buzz Aldrin that went "You promised me Mars colonies. Instead, I got Facebook".

a reply to: Barnalby

Notice the wording of the Lockheed announcement. It was worded in a very specific way for a reason.

a reply to: Barnalby

Check out THIS and skip to 3:24. Watch his facial expressions when he talks about great military vehicles at 10 years. It's not the same as when he talks about 20 years. He knows something he wants to say but isn't allowed to.

a reply to: Sammamishman

Yup, the USAF wants it for some sort of extreme-loiter time UAV, or perhaps some sort of MHD-powered fastmover. Craft/concepts that are likely much closer to reality than they're willing to acknowledge.

The USN on the other hand, wants a compact container-sized 100MW plant that they could drop into a Zumwalt hull to power the electric drive, the railguns, AND the directed-energy weapons suite to create the TRUE successor to the Ticonderoga class. The fact that it would also make the successors to the Virginia and the Ohio classes that much smaller/cheaper/quieter while allowing them to fit EMALS and a directed-energy CIWS to a CDG-sized carrier is just the icing on the cake.

a reply to: Barnalby

We talk a lot about secret air craft and potential space programs...but have we ever really explored the possibilities of advanced under sea vehicles? I'm talking stuff like on the show Sea Quest (minus the talking dolphin).

We're all so enamored with the skies and space, we tend to forget the ocean. Maybe a new thread is in order...