Hypersonic diamond shaped aircraft on Google Maps

Try to ignore the voice over. But this is intriguing. Google maps has captured an odd shaped down at the P&W/Rocketdyne/Sikorsky site in West Palm beach.

Not sure what this is, but relative to how much testing is going on, it could be a prototype for an engine or an airframe.

www.dailystar.co.uk...

a reply to: cosmania

This has been discussed elsewhere. It's just a model of the rear end (engine exhaust section) of an F-35. It's a partial-airframe model for radar cross section (RCS) testing.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

That explains a great deal.

The first impression I received upon looking at the image was "Well, the shape looks sleek, but I cannot figure out how the thing is supposed to fly, without far greater wing surface area than I am seeing here".

originally posted by: TrueBrit
a reply to: Shadowhawk

That explains a great deal.

The first impression I received upon looking at the image was "Well, the shape looks sleek, but I cannot figure out how the thing is supposed to fly, without far greater wing surface area than I am seeing here".

The F-35 is close but it's actually a drone that does fly. It's a test aircraft that uses the lifting body technology developed in the 70s & 80s.

a reply to: TrueBrit

I was thinking that it could possibly be a boat the company was making for the yearly spring "River Race".

a reply to: MikeA

No, it really doesn't fly. That's the Pratt&Whitney facility in Florida. As Shadowhawk said, it's an exact match to a partial aft fuselage of the F-35 so they can test the RCS of the engine nozzle when it's installed.

a reply to: MikeA

So how does that work in practice then? I mean, even lifting bodies require significant surface area SOMEWHERE to produce lift, and this thing does not appear to have anything like what is necessary.

a reply to: Terminal1

Oh, thats good.

I wonder if seeing that on the water would make people wonder whatever happened to...



... and whether, this being the decade of the re-boot, there ought to be one!

* laughs so hard his eyes hurt *

First thing I noticed was the boat in the back parking lot and got a good laugh .
as for the other thing very very cool .
Wish I could take a close look .
Humans make such cool toys . Or was it ALIENS !!!???? lol

Man I would so take it to BK drive through lol

Well, my apologies. I hadn't seen that before and thought is was cool. I don't think it much resembles the butt-end of the F-35, but it's only a grainy sat image. My bad.

I've been to the RCS testing facility at Lockheed. Cool and crazy.

a reply to: cosmania

It's making the rounds and the thread title for the other thread wasn't obvious. It's not a complete F-35 aft fuselage, only the part that holds the engine, which is why it doesn't look like one.

It was overlayed on an F-35 in this post.

a reply to: Zaphod58

lol srry, it looked "weird" to me

Don't you dare take this from me Zaph... It's the blackest of black aircraft using the newest gravity manipulation technologies. I believe these may be drones which are launched for the TR-3Bs...

You believe what you will, I'll believe what I want. You don't own me!
~Winter

a reply to: Winterpain

Sorry, they cancelled that program. The aliens came down and said we weren't ready for it, and took all the tooling away with them when they left.

a reply to: cosmania

It's a secureteam 10 video of course its something other than what it really is.

Same thing on what looks like a RCS test stand/pole.



Makes sense it was for testing the engine nozzle thing.

The daily star ... dare I say any more. One of the worst tabloid newspapers in the U.K.

If stories are sex related or some celebrity scandal then you can guarantee it's on the front page. I wouldn't even lay this paper on the floor for puppy training

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

They're just the latest. I've seen it all over the net lately, and not one has even been close to what it is.

a reply to: Zaphod58
Slow news day .. or secureteam10 needs more viewers.

a reply to: ThePeaceMaker

I've noticed they do seem to like their ST10 videos, don't they.