West Texas Spanloader

a reply to: grey580

Rumor has it a few things might be capable of that.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

makes me wonder if that pointy black thing isn't the f-117 companion aircraft.

what can that be? probably one of these.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
A reply to: [post=19297053]Zaphod58[/post

Boomless demonstrator? Another question for pumpkin. Did you see the actual bird and say it matches the Texas photo or just the contrail. It's a concise contrail which has me thinking.

I didn't get the best look at it , it was still quite far away but my view of it is just about what the pic shows. It was right at the edge of what I could make out. But I did get to watch it for about five minutes as it passed.
The impression I got was that it was a curved sweptish wing with no rear fuselage and with little to no fuselage in front of the wing, but it didn't seem to be a flying wing. Pretty much a blended wingish sort of thing.

a reply to: grey580

It clearly says that it's a weather balloon.

a reply to: punkinworks10

I think you saw a sundog or some swamp gas. If it were something else the public would have heard it by now.

a reply to: BASSPLYR
It was a weather balloon reflecting a swamp gas sundog.

a reply to: punkinworks10

It was a stealth weather balloon.

I'm noticing that riddles and exciting sightings aside, everyone's mum on my hunch about the YF-23, etc...

a reply to: Barnalby

If the YF-23 is still flying in any form, no one is talking about it at all.

Tr3B

New theory - Texas is the companion.

- A unique planform not duplicated on any other aircraft (not a diamond)
- The 1st iteration of what would later become Northrop's preferred "cranked kite" configuration.

They proved with Tacit Blue that they could build and fly a tremendously unstable yet stealthly aircraft featuring curvilinear stealth. This is the LRIP outcome of the BSAX program utilizing the 2nd generation of that technology, with a smaller more advanced version of the Pave Mover system and an added EW capability.

a reply to: Northernhollow

You think it could be the rq-180?

Or a derivative of the 180 using the crank kite config?

aviationweek.com...

The aircraft uses a version of Northrop’s stealthy “cranked-kite” design, as does the X-47B, with a highly swept centerbody and long, slender outer wings. Northrop Grumman engineers publicly claimed (before the launch of the classified program) that the cranked-kite is scalable and adaptable, in contrast to the B-2’s shape, which has an unbroken leading edge. The RQ-180’s centerbody length and volume can be greater relative to the vehicle’s size.

Computational fluid dynamics permit new stealth aircraft to achieve “sailplane-like” efficiency, industry officials say. The management of complex three-dimensional airflow is the key to achieving laminar flow over much of the wing and designing stealth-compatible exhaust and inlet systems that are lighter and more efficient than those on the B-2.

a reply to: Northernhollow

seems probable and insure you have peaked a few peoples interest

a reply to: grey580

I think earlier in this thread these aircraft were described as "manned".

a reply to: Northernhollow

Well the article does say that the cranked kite design could be scaled.

so that's a scaled NG bird of unknown designation.

a reply to: grey580

Either way..............weather balloon

a reply to: Northernhollow


you got to wonder about missions like Operation Palladium using spheres and EW trickery to fool the russians. Im sure they have come along way from dropping the spears out of the back of C-130's or launching them out of subs.

Hm. Some kind of offshoot of the old AEREON program? A new type of Dynairship?

It would be interesting to see what that research would look like today.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
Hm. Some kind of offshoot of the old AEREON program? A new type of Dynairship?

It would be interesting to see what that research would look like today.

I agree it would be interesting and why not? the 26 was successful in it's testing it just lacked funding. (due to being ahead of it's time in the early 70's) If you update the materials and propulsion to today's [or tomorrows ] tech you have an extremely efficient aircraft with "who knows" capabilities?

a reply to: MystikMushroom

that would be interesting.