Early hiccups with B-21

a reply to: mightmight

Pretty sure they were in flying around the isles

Pics or it never happened First one gets a Pony ......

a reply to: Blackfinger

you know even if i had them i wouldn't share them and would most likely delete them. there is a reason stuff is secret, and when we were flying over the UK i know at least one of the demonstrators for the B-21 was over there doing tests and what not.

i just figured it was a testing area and later a fly off(along with other considerations). A perfect place to do such a thing as no one would be looking for them and where they were flying where are like no people around.

a reply to: anzha

The very definition of an "Iron Bird" is a non-flying, full-scale, systems configuration model of the aircraft that is used to ease component integration issues. NASA used an F-18 "iron bird" for systems integration prior to installing equipment in the actual aircraft during several programs including the High Alpha Research Vehicle (HARV), Systems Research Aircraft (SRA), and Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW).

It's not the same thing as a structural test article. Sometimes an "iron bird" barely resembles the aircraft.

a reply to: penroc3
I 'm not so sure about the flyoff happening over there, they probably visited to test them against some stuff as you said.

As to not sharing pictures of them... the B-21 will be revealed sooner or later anyway. This shouldnt be an issue at all.

There is a case to be made for other stuff to be kept secret if caught in the wild, but i dont think its an easy descision to make.
In general i think its unbecoming for a democratic society that its citizens have far less of an idea what they are paying taxes for, than potential adversaries.
If you think congressional oversight works on the majority of black programs your are kidding yourself. The chairman and ranking member of a subcommittee approving stuff is not oversight. 'National Security' is an excellent cover to hide waste, corruption and worse.
Doesn't mean there shouldnt be stuff kept secret of course, but essentially nothing coming out of the black for decades at this point is not justifiable either when the taxpayer is ask to invest untold billions every single year.

a reply to: Shadowhawk

So its the aviation equivalent of a flat sat. gotcha. thanx.

a reply to: mightmight

ohhh i wish i had a picture of the loser or winner. I live in the US so sadly i didn't have the chance to get a picture.


i think the 'loser' sounds more interesting



I think they were probably flying over there with other craft that are still in the shadows. Remember the B-21 is one ember of the family so maybe they were seeing who got along better.

a reply to: penroc3
Rumors and opinions on the loser differ. Might as well just have been a flying wing in the end. dunno

I'd guess its just an access thing. Easier to fly the aircraft over for some live testing than to set up a testing environment for unique European equipment in the States.

The Air Force is beginning the CDR portion of development.

www.themaven.net...

Not the best source, but about the only one for now.