The Grob 500 was a Tier lll ? How the hell was that supposed to work then? there is no way in hell that the Grob could of acted as a penetrating airframe.

Oh and great web page O/P, very well put together. Loving the picture of the Condor.

No, Grob 500 or better to say Grob Egrett was not a Tier III. Dont mix the "TR-3" and the "Tier III". TR-3 was the designation reserved for the small, cheap and minimalistic alternative to the Lockheed/Boeing QUARTZ, when the AARS program went to the troubles (overbudget and technical difficulites). That was sometimes in 1991 and it seems that the TR-3 designation was never officially assigned. TR-3 was planned to be the optionally manned successor of the U-2, based on the work done under the Senior Guardian program in the US and under the LAPAS in the west Germany. There were also other alternatives, one of them was for example Northrop RB-2.

Tier III was a set of specifications AFTER the cancellation of the AARS in december 1992, so it fits the 1993 - 1994 timeframe. But the main idea was generally the same - to create the low cost alternative to the AARS, only the timeframe is different. But the Tier III is the set of requirements rather than some specific vehicle.

Outstanding original post. Very informative.

A picture is worth a thousand words....this is the way of the future in aircraft.....
Thanks for the link....