reply to post by sovietman
The TR-3 and TR-3b are both versions of the x-44, the tr-3 and 3b were contracted and designated after they realized that the x44 which was originally
going to be a bomber, when at desired speed was not accurate with the bomb launches. The reason for the pulse drive has to do with the material the
plane is made of to begin with, the material is classified but I can tell you its classified name "Fogbank". The problem is the engineers who
created Fogbank have recently retired, the reason they will never go into full swing with the x-44 / tr-3 is because no one knows how to build the
stuff anymore. It was the major ingredient for the control package for w-88, they figure the last effort to get these planes in production is to get
these missile designers to recreate the fogbank material and if that works then we will have full production x-44s and tr-3s.
Why do I know this tid bit of information? I have been around the block a few times hehe and the planes were being tested at the base I served out of
for 17 years near Qatar, which is now Special Operations Command for the area.
I will U2U you further specs about the pulse drive, sovietman, and how and why they decided to use it.
On the last note, the accuracy of that article by global security is not exactly 100%. The timelines there are completely fabricated lol, subtract
10-15 years on everything and you get a good representation of when those planes were being created. One could also call the f22 a backwards
engineered x-44.