Best military project which never seen the service...

What do you think? Which military project could be the greatest but instead of it someone cancelled it or it has simply never entered the production? Post american, russian, european, aircraft, tank, misile... anything you want.
We could start with Advanced Super Tomcat ....


AST-21, proposed by Grunnman as F-14 replacement with added ground attack capability, should have larger redesigned wings (allowing it to carry more fuel), F-22 engines allowing it to reach supercruise speed (Mach 1.3). The aircraft should have vectoring nozzles giving it excelent dogfight ability and it should be able to take of fully loaded without any wind from the carrier deck. The radar was considered to be upgraded to have a range up to 350 Km (more than Awacs!) plus the aircraft should carry new AAAM missile with at least 300km range. Unfortunately this aircraft was replaced by F-18 E/F.


Image source : www.aerospaceweb.org...

[Edited on 25-5-2004 by longbow]

Very interesting subject, about items that the goverment has but are not in use, this remind me that my husband is in Quantico on a trip to discuss exactly this problem of having resources available, the goverment spend a lot of money on them and they are put away because no body can use them due to lack of training.

the submarine spitfire !
the most beautiful plane ever built in britain

Originally posted by devilwasp
the submarine spitfire !
the most beautiful plane ever built in britain

Some link or info? Has it been cancelled and why?

oh shizen wait
sorry misread title it was an actual plane that was in servece
the YF23 would be the best project that never seen service
YF23

In WWII the Japanes made 3 submarines that were capable of carrying, launching and landing 3 aircraft each. It was, in effect, a submersible aircraft carrier. The rest of the world scoffed at this (as they did the aircraft carrier in WWI) and after the Japanese were defeated, the idea just died completely.

Allegedly they sent one ship to Seattle, one to Los Angeles and one to San Diego to attack the Naval installations there but recalled them for some reason.

To me this is an ingenious piece of military equipment. Imagine what could be done today with the design!

modern subs carry cruise missiles.... essentially the same idea...

CF-105 Avro Arrow made in the 1950's

www.avroarrow.org...
www.avroarrow.org...

The specs
www.homestead.com...
www.aerospaceweb.org...

The USA managed to talk Canada out of making it.
6 made, 5 destroyed, one missing.

The Jappanese had a lot of interesting projects in WWII.

especially with biological weapons... "red crescent" which was supposed to be a bomb that spread the bubonic plague. They actually tested it in China, and that is part of the reason why the plague is still around in some remote areas.

And a next one : Sikorsky S-67. This project started in 1970 just with Sikorsky iniciative (no goverment involved). It breaked the speed record during the prototype flight (355 km/h!). It was 2 engine battle/transport helicopter. In forward section have been pilot and copilot/gunner and in the rear cabin could be up to 15 fully armed soldiers. Both pilot and copilot had ejecting seats (long before Hokum). The S-67 was also equpped with advanced avionics (including on-board computer, night vision,and helmet integrated targeting device (later introduced by Mig-29). The main gun under the nose could be 6 barrel 7.62mm Minigun, 3 or 6 barrel 20 mm Gatling, 30 mm revolver canon, or 40 mm high speed granade launcher (bofors gun). Under the wings it could carry TOW missiles or AS.12 (french) missiles, Sidewinders or Hydra rockets. The photo shows over 152 rockets!!!
This helicopter was offered for export to the EU countries (because US have been interested for smaller helicopters like Cobra in this time) but It unfortunately found no buyers so S-67 never gone into the full production.
www.military.cz...

[edit on 12-9-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Originally posted by devilwasp
oh shizen wait
sorry misread title it was an actual plane that was in servece
the YF23 would be the best project that never seen service
YF23

Nice plane and longbow can you post any links or anything about your plane? It looks awsome!!

[Edited on 29-5-2004 by AD5673]

the tsr.2

www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk...

The s-67 could kick ass.

I don't think they would want a helicopter to carry that many soldiers though, since one missile could take it out, and then your out fifteen soldiers.

With the smaller helicopters you don't lose as many soldiers.

Originally posted by AD5673

Nice plane

and longbow can you post any links or anything about your plane? It looks awsome!!

Which one? S-67, or Super Tomcat?

some tomcat links
home.att.net...
www.aerospaceweb.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">
www.aerospaceweb.org...



[Edited on 29-5-2004 by longbow]

Originally posted by omega1
The Jappanese had a lot of interesting projects in WWII.

especially with biological weapons... "red crescent" which was supposed to be a bomb that spread the bubonic plague. They actually tested it in China, and that is part of the reason why the plague is still around in some remote areas.

The Aircraft-Sub project mentioned earlier was actually the delivery system for the plague-bombs. The non-explosive bomb was filled with Bubonic Plague-infested Fleas. The plan was to infest the west coast of the US, therefore shutting down a large part of the US population/war machine to give the Japanese more time.

I have often speculated that SARS might have something to do with the massive Japanese bio experiments. They did test it on live subjects and local unsuspecting Chinese populaces.

Scary stuff.

Oh but my vote....hmmm I'll get back to that later. Gotta think about that one.

[Edited on 29-5-2004 by Facefirst]

Some more S-67 pics:-)






www.anigrand.com...

www.anigrand.com...

The link says last prototype was destroyed at 1974 Farnborough air show
.



[Edited on 29-5-2004 by longbow]

Naval Advanced Technology fighter (NATF). This should be a navalized version of F-22 Raptor with variable geometry wings. Navy decided to go with F-18E/F.
Lockheed concept





link
www.aerospaceweb.org...

The A-12 avenger

fas.org

That NATF is an awesome plane.

You know, it is amazing all of the engineering marvels that could be built except there's the cost constraints.

Maybe not the coolest or best but the ASAT (I think I got that right) Anti-Sattellite Missle that was fired from the F-15