Anyone know this aircraft?

Good lookin thing, huh!!

I see a lot of mysterious shapes with both thermal and starlight gen3 ....

Haven't seen that shape........I saw a B2 cousin, and right now in East Texas I see tr3b's or B2's coming south from Tyler heading to Palestine.....hit on thermal viewer DVR.....

a reply to: Zaphod58

I thought both built their concepts and both flew. It has to be out there somewhere. Unless it was demolished.

a reply to: Crumbles

They both built demonstrators, but once they lost, unless they're using it as a proof of concept for something there's no reason to keep it flying. They'll strip out what they can use for other programs and scrap the airframe.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Haven't they used loser designs for other projects before?

a reply to: Crumbles

Occasionally. The last time was the YF-17, which lost the Air Force lightweight fighter competition and became the F-18. That was 72 or 74, I forget off the top of my head. Usually they go to another service though, because they're too close to the same mission. The F-111 was originally a Navy design that failed and came to the AF. The YF-17 was built for an AF competition and went to the Navy. Unless this fit really well into another mission (which it doesn't), it's going to go away.

I was hoping for this one by NG.

a reply to: WarthogWrangler

A manned X-47B would be interesting, but I prefer the Raider. Have to redesignate it though to avoid confusion.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Granted, the "cranked arrow" design isn't as stealthy but I'm willing to bet the B-21 looks different than the official illustration shows.

WW

a reply to: WarthogWrangler

Not a lot different. They deliberately left a few things out, but it's pretty close. That shape works really really well against the UHF/VHF and low frequency radars.

a reply to: Zaphod58

You're absolutely right. The shape has been proven. I'm still hoping for a shape driven by some of that "black world" technology that certain knowledgeable people keep hinting about.

WW

a reply to: WarthogWrangler

A lot of the black world stuff that is going to be in use are systems that we aren't going to see. The shapes are going to be pretty similar to a regular white platform.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: cody599

but explains the B3 Long range strike bomber and it's rivals

The penultimate long range bomber... pilotless.

ROE updates to follow. For the first time we can send bombs to target anywhere with no humans in the loop. Like a big brother drone, already in service, just instead of a little bit of hell fire, we can now generate unconscionable hell on earth.



Edit: ohh yah, that ROE update... if hospitals, funerals, schools or innocent people get 'struck', from now on we can plausibly deny it was any thing but an accident, a technical glitch, because there are no pilots in a 'cockpit'.

These are actually the preferred way to wage war. They don't raise alarms like ICBM's and can be more stealthy and deliver the same amount of damage, yet at an obviously slower pace.

Get used to it, remote attacks are the future.

a reply to: Tempter

They're a long way from a serious attack with an unmanned aircraft. The closest they're at right now, is testing Loyal Wingman, which will use QF-16s as wingmen for F-35s. They'll be directed by the F-35, and use their own computers to determine the best attacks to use. For now though, unmanned aircraft will be limited to Reaper class UAVs for strike platforms.

I just want to say thanks to everyone for their input here. I didn't realize that they were actually looking at unmanned vehicles in the latest Long Range Strategic Bomber search. I would guess that it would most likely still need to be remote piloted vs. fully autonomous unless the programming is advanced enough to deal with fighter intercept and anti-aircraft defenses. I mean you could have it take off, land, and travel autonomously, but have someone monitoring to take control once a threat is presented.

originally posted by: WarthogWrangler
I was hoping for this one by NG.

From the picture there it looks like a variable geometry wing design. I guess that the design of the engine intake and exhaust is the best stealth configuration since it's basically the same as on the B-2.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: PapaHomer

It was going to be optionally manned, using a virtual canopy.....

Virtual cockpit would be interesting, but I have a feeling that pilots would not like not having the means to look out in case the cameras or monitors that provided the view went out. It would need a lot of redundancy.

a reply to: PapaHomer

It's not. There's a purpose to that look, but the wings are fixed.

a reply to: PapaHomer

It's only been tested in limited use in simulators, but pilots actually like it so far. They have better visibility, and less risk of the canopy shattering and glass ending up in their face.

a reply to: Zaphod58

They're a long way from a serious attack with an unmanned aircraft.

'Cruise' missiles.