Where oh Where did my Black Projects Go?

Come on US Gov, I know your hiding some super secret aircraft, please release something. At least Show me an awesome looking jet and lie and tell me it's the fabled Aurora.

Forget all these UAVs and UCAVs I know your hiding maned aircraft none of the remote controlled toys.

Where is:

Brilliant Buzzard
Northrop's AMC Design
Senior Citizen
Aurora/ASTRA - I'm going to believe this still exists.
SHARC - Subsonic High Alpha Research Concept
The Black Manta - if I'm correct this is the spotter plane for the F-117 that is now retired, can we have some info?
TR3-B

Just a rant any one have some info on other Black Projects?

[edit on 6/6/09 by Djdoubt03 to add missing project]

[edit on 6/6/09 by Djdoubt03]

reply to post by Djdoubt03


Let's not forget the fabled TR-3B
uuhhmm..
Black triangle...
uhhmm cough...

Hoaxed video of TR-3B
TR-3B Thread

It's amazing with all the "wars" and crises going on you would think some information about some interesting new black projects would be surfacing.

Well not to give you a short answer but, a lot of Concepts were just that, and many never made it off a Power Point Presentation. Some were built and tested as concepts like the Bird of Prey, Tacit Blue, Lockheed ATB, etc...for later inclusion for future efforts.

You can be rest assured the data gathered from the Bird of Prey probably has found it's way into follow on studies as Tacit Blue found it's way into the B2.

But here is something to chew on:

Willing to bet money here that the B2 or Lockheed's ATB probably had a spin off of some sort and found it's way into a considerably smaller platform for recon only type missions. It would be worth digging into.

Originally posted by satcom

Willing to bet money here that the B2 or Lockheed's ATB probably had a spin off of some sort and found it's way into a considerably smaller platform for recon only type missions. It would be worth digging into.

Hmmm....Sounds like you might have some info? Care to elaborate or is this just an educated guess?

reply to post by Djdoubt03



I personally don't have any more info to give. One can only assume if the B2 was State of the Art in terms of White world aircraft at it's debut, then one would likely assume Intelligence agencies would probably want a smaller platform than the B2 to handle recon only type missions. You could even venture a guess that the Tacit Blue may have found its way into an operational stealth only platform. I may even venture so far out there that certain recon only platforms are only made by the handful, as that would only be required. We only have a hot spot..er a really hot spot or two every once a awhile where the Misty class satellites can't get to or we need a real time presence. We could even probably say these recon only type platforms were expected from the outset.

Let's say "insert Three Letter Agency (TLA) of your choice here" knows through DARPA or Air Force Acquisitions that next gen stealth is in the works, probably always in the works in reality. I'm sure the TLA has an ongoing need for intelligence collection. So they are probably constantly following all R&D and say hey, I want in on this too, but i need it only to support recon/deep penetration (Giggidy) so make me a smaller one only. In fact I believe the A12 and the U2 started this way only the reverse of that with them actually funding the initial project.

I guess I'm just theorizing here at best. I'm just taking a look at it from a money Vs. capability point of view. Every once in a while these "Technology Demonstrators" get revealed and it makes you wonder how they really were used in what way.

Conclusion

I believe a platform either utilizing the F117 or the B2, or the competitor platforms to each program found its way into a 3 or 4 unit production. The evidence I have is 0, but if I was betting on this in Vegas...I may just leave a winner, just as the TLAs continue to do with Black Projects.