What's up with AX-17 ?

I just would like to know if someone well informed (Zion, intelG) here on ATS have some news of the AX-17 project. Is it still actual ? Does AX-17 will be used on day by the US-army (I hope not... ) ?

Thanx

Do you mean the F-111 Aardvark replacement? Haven't heard anything. All there is is rumours and conjecture, nothing solid. Coulda been cancelled, who knows?

It's a good concept, and my little finger tell me that USAF wont stop such a good project so easily.

Hrmmm, maybe for a few squadrons of these things but not really a full scale production - can't hide too many billions of dollars disappearing come budget time.

Hmmm looks quite impressive
I would like to know more too...I just wonder why the air intakes are under the wing(that's not very stealthy)

Originally posted by vorazechul
Hmmm looks quite impressive
I would like to know more too...I just wonder why the air intakes are under the wing(that's not very stealthy)

yeah, i noticed that too. i'm guessing it was just scratched. it would explain why no one has heard of it...

But then again, nobody had heard of the F-117 until several years after it had been in production.

Originally posted by vorazechul
Hmmm looks quite impressive
I would like to know more too...I just wonder why the air intakes are under the wing(that's not very stealthy)

Helps the engines aspirate better, I imagine. If you look at the diagram, the intakes don't lead straight to the engines. Probably they go through an S-duct to avoid reflections from the engine compressor faces. The F-22 and F-35 both employ a simialr system, although the ducts go around not up (I'd imagine). But you are right, it does reduce stealthiness. Anyway, this drawing is really more based on conjecture than anything else.

Why would the Air Force be considering the FB-22 if they are developing this in secret? I think its a recon plane that replaced the Sr-71.

I scoured the internet for info on the AX-17 and I even called another ATS member who is far more informed on things like this than I am, she (Intelgurl) pointed me in what I believe is the right direction.
She suggested that the AX-17 and the "Switchblade" were one in the same. So after doing more digging this is what I came up with:

The Patent:
In November of 1999 Northrop Grumman patented a "swingwing" airplane with wings that can be swept forward so that the trailing edge of the wing becomes the leading edge and in that configuration the aircraft turns into a delta shape perfect for dashing away at speeds up to Mach 3.
source: Air-Attack.Com

The Sightings:
The Switchblade was at first sighted only near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, at Langley Air Force Base, and Armarillo, Texas.
source: Air-Attack.Com

Bird of Prey Revealed:
Secret aircraft enthusiasts thought that this swing wing stealth aircraft was a project called the "Bird of Prey". (Popular Science, month unknown, 1995) But when it was revealed in October 2002 that the Bird of Prey was a small tailess stealth demonstrator for Boeing then it became obvious that whatever was being sighted and revealed in patents was anything but the Bird of Prey.

A few things to consider:
The Bird of Prey was a Boeing product, the "Switchblade" was a Northrop-Grumman design.
The Bird of Prey was a tailess technology demonstrator that led to the development of the X-45 UCAV, niether the "Switchblade" sightings nor the patent in any way resemble the Bird of Prey.
The Bird of Prey cost $67 million to develop and test, and if there are any AX-17/Switchblades flying around then there is probably a squadron.

One thing that came up in my phone conversation with Intelgurl was that Northrop Grumman seemed to stay busy without many layoffs after the B-2 finished it's production run, and if you want to know more about the AX-17/Switchblade you should follow the money trail at Northrop.

It's something to consider anyway,
.bios

Northrop-Grumman's "Switchblade"
Possibly the AX-17 in question

[img]




[Edited on 30-3-2004 by bios]

Hey Bios,
Air Attack.com is run by Zion Mainframe, one of the moderators here at ATS. Its a great source of info!

I agree with you on the Switchblade, although Roniii makes a good point, why have the swingwing medium bomber if the FB-22 is being considered?

But hey, there's billions of dollars out there in the Nevada deserts


mo000000000se

By the way Bios, I can tell Intelgurl taught you how to format your posts, very well organized ,ya know.
good effort on that Ucav post too!


[Edited on 30-3-2004 by Mo0se]

Originally posted by roniii259
Why would the Air Force be considering the FB-22 if they are developing this in secret?

I think its a recon plane that replaced the Sr-71.

Which one? the Ardvark or the FB?

The Fb is a strike bomber HENCE THE B AFTER THE F.

The AX i do not know alot about.

advanced xperimental
attack xperimental


ax division
www.llnl.gov...
www.llnl.gov...

not finding a lot about it only that some call it the fb119
and some say its entering service in 2018

MarkLuitzen,
AX on such an aircraft would indicate "Attack eXperimental"

Nice thread...
In answer to Roniii's comments concerning why have an FB-22 if there is an AX-119...

if I had to guess I'd say that the FB-22 would fill a role between the F-35 and the B-2~

the AX-119 would probably play in the same battlespace that an F-35 would except with greater payload capacity and a high speed, high altitude ingress and egress to and from the target zone.

Judging from the Northrop design's swing-wing forward swept positioning, I would think that the plane is pretty maneuverable at lower speeds and in the delta-winged configuration it can probably light the candle and get the hell out of Dodge pretty quick...

typical "bash 'n dash" attack setup like the F-111 Aardvark...

intelgurl~

PS: I would also like to second what bios said, I really think the AX and the Switchblade are one in the same and that the Boeing Bird of Prey, whether intentionally or not, threw a lot of journalists off the trail of a real and operational secret aircraft.

I don't want to get all conspiracy minded here, but there is enough proof of the Switchblades' existence through circumstantial evidence to win in a court of law.

You have multiple sightings from people who know one aircraft from another, you have legal documents in the form of patents and you have work going on at the Northrop plant even after the B-2's production run was complete.


Gotta get back to work...
~later~

originally posted by: bios
I scoured the internet for info on the AX-17 and I even called another ATS member who is far more informed on things like this than I am, she (Intelgurl) pointed me in what I believe is the right direction.
She suggested that the AX-17 and the "Switchblade" were one in the same. So after doing more digging this is what I came up with:

The Patent:
In November of 1999 Northrop Grumman patented a "swingwing" airplane with wings that can be swept forward so that the trailing edge of the wing becomes the leading edge and in that configuration the aircraft turns into a delta shape perfect for dashing away at speeds up to Mach 3.
source: Air-Attack.Com

The Sightings:
The Switchblade was at first sighted only near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, at Langley Air Force Base, and Armarillo, Texas.
source: Air-Attack.Com

Bird of Prey Revealed:
Secret aircraft enthusiasts thought that this swing wing stealth aircraft was a project called the "Bird of Prey". (Popular Science, month unknown, 1995) But when it was revealed in October 2002 that the Bird of Prey was a small tailess stealth demonstrator for Boeing then it became obvious that whatever was being sighted and revealed in patents was anything but the Bird of Prey.

A few things to consider:
The Bird of Prey was a Boeing product, the "Switchblade" was a Northrop-Grumman design.
The Bird of Prey was a tailess technology demonstrator that led to the development of the X-45 UCAV, niether the "Switchblade" sightings nor the patent in any way resemble the Bird of Prey.
The Bird of Prey cost $67 million to develop and test, and if there are any AX-17/Switchblades flying around then there is probably a squadron.

One thing that came up in my phone conversation with Intelgurl was that Northrop Grumman seemed to stay busy without many layoffs after the B-2 finished it's production run, and if you want to know more about the AX-17/Switchblade you should follow the money trail at Northrop.

It's something to consider anyway,
.bios

Northrop-Grumman's "Switchblade"
Possibly the AX-17 in question

[img]




[Edited on 30-3-2004 by bios]

This thread may be 19 years old, but "A-17/AX-17" was a fictitious designation coined in in an article in a January 1995 issue of Popular Science regarding an alleged stealthy swing-wing bomber because the writers of that article claimed without any evidence that A-14 and A-15 were probably used for competing designs in the Navy's ATA competition that was won by the A-12 Avenger II (which was cancelled in January 1991 before any airframes could be built) and also were unaware that the designation A-16 for a proposed but unbuilt close air support version of the F-16 was not an official designation. The article also suggested that 1989 North Sea sighting could have been of the supposed "A-17" rather than a hypersonic replacement for the SR-71 (the late aviation historian Curtis Peebles wrote in his book Dark Eagles that the aircraft seen by Chris Gibson refueling from a KC-135 over the North Sea was merely an F-111 with its wings swept back).

The Switchblade patent had nothing to do with the "A-17" rumors, and the F-15E became the true F-111 successor after reaching USAF squadrons in 1986.