It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Originally posted by UberL33t
reply to post by PilgriMage
Assuming this is authentic, let's try to examine this from the picture taker's point of view.
It's going to be someone that has been working on, or in conjunction, with the project. The Shipyard photo, with the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia, there are plenty of shipyards I would guess. I believe the person in question was on site to take this specific photo, why the craft would be at a shipyard, ehh multiple scenarios come to mind, testing, secure facility, etc. On that notion I feel this pic is plausible.
The aerial pic is plausible and although probably not taken by the individual specifically, it was accessible because of their involvement in the project.
I believe this, if found to be authentic, is definitely a drone.
[edit on 3/10/2010 by UberL33t]
Originally posted by Captain Reynolds
reply to post by PilgriMage
I've never seen anything like it, and a quick Google search doesn't turn up anything about a "NordRaven" Plane. They're probably just concept photos though, as doubt the government would allow pictures to be taken of in-development spy-planes.
Originally posted by ShadowLink
The image with the plane in the hangar is fake. Or at least I can tell it was pasted into it.
If you zoom in and look near the nose of the plane you can see where the cables from the crane intersect with the nose are almost pure black and different from the rest of the cables that do not intersect with the plane.
This would be because they would be very difficult to mask off and thus he used the line tool to add the parts of the cable that pass over the plane.
Also the cable that goes over the back part of the plane is suspect.
This one he managed to mask off. However with it being such a fine line was unable to get all the concrete colored parts and you can see white\gray along the cable where it overlaps the plane.
Also, to the left of this cable in the shadowed area appears to be a line that was not shadowed and remain the same color as the rest of the concrete near it that is not shadowed.
With the angle of light and from what I can tell of the plane there doesn't appear to be a slot on the plane anywhere near there that would let light pass through.
The shadow from the trailing edge of the wing passing over the guy in the white shirt would not be a straight line either if this where real.
Lastly I believe that the very tip of the wing would be visible through the grating of the platform on the stairs. I know you can't see through it very good but I think you would see the very tip of the wing if this were real.
Originally posted by aegis80
The hangar image is definitely composited, probably with a computer generated aircraft, rendered from an angle that didn't quite match that of the photo he was compositing into.
The biggest give away is the gantry in the upper right foreground which is casting a shadow onto a vertical pillar face, and that of the wing which is casting it's shadow onto a horizontal floor.
Originally posted by Kurokage
it looks like a mock-up for a possible UCAV or out and out fake.
Originally posted by intelgurl
BOGUS
Here's why...
The design: looks like someone took a 3D model of a D-21 and attempted to modify it.
The wing configuration says "fast", but the forward end of the fuselage is blunt, large and says "slow".
The flaps: as Waynos pointed out - whats up with the ancient tech?
The engines: 3 engines?
Left and right under-wing (hard to be stealthy when you light up the IR sensors on every heat-seeker in a 50 mile radius)
A single center-line rear fuselage engine - and what the hell kind of fuel is that thing running? I have never seen a standard jet engine burn that bright.
The images: the image in the hangar is total BS. Check the depth of field, the focus hardly changes from the railing in front of the camera (lower right) all the way down to the ground level.
But..
See how the people below the wing are slightly out of focus? How interesting that the wing of the aircraft is in perfect focus - With that depth of field from that distance, the wing edges should be just as out of focus as the people standing directly under them.
Conclusion:
Classified aerospace project, no.
Art school project, yes.
[edit on 3-13-2010 by intelgurl]