"Black" Aircaft List

This does't have to be American only, but obviously that will be the majority.

Its rumored that there are over a dozen different types of Black Aircraft out there, and I wanted to have a thread that lists as many as you can think of. I wanted a list of the current classified Black Projects, and not the old typical Blackbird, Nighthawk, B-2, U-2, etc.

Obviously i'm not expecting full details and high res pictures, but I wanted a thread of all the black projects, and have it all be here in one area.

If any of my info is inaccurate, please correct it and/or add to it.

I'll Begin:

The TR-3A Manta, it resembles a mini B-2, its said to be less stealthy then the B-2, but more the the F-117. Supposedly its used in F-117 missions as some sort of support aircraft. It uses normal jet engines and is sub sonic. Which means (if it exists) I think its likely to become the next Black Project to be revealed since theres nothing groundbreaking about it.





The next one is called the TR-3B Astra (no relation in any way to the TR-3A), I dont think this one will be released to the public until around 50 years from now. I was built it the early 90's, the original prototype was 200 feet in length, but the operational models were 600 feet in length. there were 2 or 3 of the original ones built, and 3 of the operational 600 ft long ones.
This one is apparently the best of the best, it can hover indefiniatly, and it can change its RCS size at will, and has visual stealth, giving it the ability to show itself, hide itself, and even make it look like someother object or aircraft. It has a Magnetic Field Disrupter, which disrupts or neutralizes the effects of gravity on itself, which lowers its weight by 89%, making it far lighter then it really is. Its used for High altitude Recon. It is the most advanced human built craft, the only thing that beats it is the real alien controlled ufo's.
It can go into very high mach numbers, reported mach 9 at 120,000ft, but higher then that, its likely to go much faster because of less atmosphere.
It can do this because it does not have air inlets like normal aircraft.
It has 3 multimode rocket engines mounted under each corner of the craft use hydrogen or methane and oxygen as a propellent.




Next on the list is the SR-75, it goes by many names: Penetrator/Mothership/Brilliant Buzzard.
It was built by Skunkworks, and is the successor to the short lived XB-70, which never made production, but still was a great aircraft that could go mach 3 and was originaly designed to replace the B-52. The SR-75 is a hypersonic (mach 5) spy plane that replaced the SR-71, it went operational in 89', It was the first aircraft to be created under the Aurora program. It could be anywhere in the world in 3 hours, it caries multi-spectral sensors, such as optical, radar, infrared, and laser. It can collects images, electronic's intelligence, signals intelligence, and illuminates targets. Its ceiling is 120,000+ feet, and its propulsion is PDE (Pulse Detonation Engine) and its reported that with it latest engine mods it can now do mach 7-8. The reason one of its names it "Mothership" is because it can carry an unmanned aircraft on its back, much like the SR-71 had the D-21.
Its called the SR-74 Scramp (its name comes from its propulsion: scramjet).
I couldn't find any pictures or renderings of this craft, but its said to be around the same size and weight as the F-16.
It's mission was to put highly classified CIA & NSA satellites into space, and in its bay it could hold two 1,000 lb sats. It was released from its mothership around 100,000 feet, and fired up its engines and went faster then mach 15, attaining an altitude of over 150 miles. DARPA is currently funding an Aircraft called RASCAL, which is a mach 4+ plane that will fly as high as it can (around 120,000ft) , and then open up its internal bay doors and release the micro-satellite, then the 2nd stage kicks in to finish the job, Its first demonstration launch is looking to be around 2008. and its satellites are going to be smaller then the ones that the SR-74 can do now...its kinda sad on how behind the "white" world is. So even when this is operational, even though it will likely be cheaper then the 75 and 74 combo, but it will have less performance. I think the SR-75 and the SR-74 will be revealed at the same time, but I wouldn't expects that to happen until around 10 years.
The XB-70 (its predecessor) -----------------------------The SR-75

& Rascal (the modern day "white" version)




Another one is called CL-400, Built by Skunkworks, was one of there failures. It was to be the U-2's Successor, but it costs to much and it used liquid hydrogen for its two turbo-ramjets and back then it seemed that it would just be to costly to create a hydrogen infastructure. The SR-71 was its successor. The CL-400 was also known as Suntan, and it had a top speed of mach 2.5, and it actually looks a lot like the U-2 & SR-71 combined. There were a total of 4 prototypes built before its cancellation.
As far as I know this is still classified.....Although I have no idea why since the plane that replaced it is well known (Blackbird), which itself in also retired.




Another rumored craft is the Stealth Blimp, Built by Lockheed in the early 80's. It has a small radar signature, but it also incorporate optical stealth into it, and it can make itself appear like a floating star field. Its a very high endurance recon platform, and is reportedly around 800 feet in legth (for comparison, thats as long as the Hindenburg Airship). It has a very high resolution camera on it, reportedly better then the Blackbirds (which could read newspaper headlines), and other then just imagery, it could also easdrop and listen in on military/government/& civilian radio communications. This Stealth Blimp has its roots from the US Navy's Hi-Spot program of the late 70's. The modernday "white" version of this would be the HAA (High Altitude Airship) which is also being built by Lockheed Martin. The HAA will be unmanned and solar powered, making it capable of staying aloft at 65,000+ feet for over 3 months. Since the Stealth Blimp uses optical stealth as well, I dont see it being unvieled for another 10-15 years.
------------------------------The Stealth Blimp----------------------------------& the modern "white" version the HAA


[edit on 21-8-2005 by Murcielago]

Great post my bat friend. Another one is the so called Nautilus. According to the rumours it was built by Boeing and EADS. It's purpose is to serve a secret deep space station that is shared by the US, EU and Russia. Of course this is not a plane but an operational spaceship. It's serves from a secret base in Utah.

No pictures or renderings that I am aware of.

I know about the Nautilus but to me that seems a bit "out there". I try to look for the amazing yet plausable area, like hypersonic jets, and if you go much beyond that your talking about ufo's & aliens & secret Space Stations. and I didn't really want to go 'that' outside the box.

The planes I posted arn't connected to other things...like the Nautilus is. For instance: If you believe that the Nautilus is a real USAF UFO, then you also have to believe in a US/Russia/EU alliance in a secret international space station that has existed for decades, and you also have to believe in aliens, and the fact that there giving us tons of technology. Then you find sites that state things: They have given us most of our tech, like computer chips, fiber optics, stealth, anti-grav vehicles, and things of that such...when the reality of it is, things like chips and fiber optics and stealth can all be tracked to advancements in our own labs, and not some aliens homeworld.

I don't know what it would be called, but IMHO, there is a hypersonic strategic nuclear bomber out there. Probably it was the succesor to the XB-70. Most likely it was developed under the Aurora program along with the SR-75 spy plane during the Reagan years.

lowobservable.com...

I nice compiled list.

[edit on 22-8-2005 by ignorance is a plenty]

I'm sure there're a lot of classified projects out there, but some of the stuff you mention simply doesn't compute. For example, if we have this Astra thing, that can go a bazillion miles per hour, change its RCS, and do all of these whizzbang things, then why would the USG spend all its (our) money to buy "obsolete" aircraft like the F-22, F-35, F/A-18E/F, etc.?

I mean, c'mon! If we have operational things like that and still procure turbojets, it would be like the Air Force procuring a bunch of P-51 Mustangs or B-29 Superfortresses -- it doesn't make any sense!

Actually I agree with you Murcielago an although you never know what is out there I don't necessarily believe in the nautilus.

The thing about black projects is that we don't know how many of them are just ideas and how many became operational aircraft. Lots of people claim that the Aurora research project stayed that way and in fact was cancelled.

If 9/11 taught something is that you you should never believe in a conspiracy when stupidity is the most obvious reason. It might entirely possible that they abandoned all spy planes in favour of satellites.

[edit on 22-8-2005 by iris_failsafe]

I love threads like this! It gets my WATS vote. Ive spent many an hour searching the net looking for classified aircraft and such and although Ive found several good images Ive never seen some of these (i.e. the hydrogen U2 for example). Good hunting my friend!

Ive read about the Nautilus. Im not sure what to believe. A lot of the places Ive read which list this as a craft don't have that much integrity in my eyes, i.e. they have little journalistic merit. I like the idea of it and I know that if I was in the Air Force I would want one built, its just too much of a tactical advantage. Initially I thought how on earth could you keep a program like this secret! Then I realised stealth! America is after all the world leader.

I don't have time to post an exhuastive list right now, but I will do some research later and get back to you guys. Peace out!

I love this topic and the links were great thanks

ML,

The Suntan Project according to the Ben Rich autobiography was killed not only because of the hydrogen issue, but also because they simply could not get enough range out of what was basically a giant thermos bottle.

"Black" Aircaft List

What a wonderful post.
True to this Aircraft Projects forum...

Just out of interest, when was the AURORA project cancelled?

I would have expected to see it more on this site at least, if it was.

Originally posted by apex
Just out of interest, when was the AURORA project cancelled?

I would have expected to see it more on this site at least, if it was.

cancelled? i dont think it was ever cancelled. i remember hearing sombody saying that the Aurora is obsolete for the introduction of recon satellites.

Awesome post. Gave some very interesting insight into the kind of idea's that they are throwing around. Very cool.

Originally posted by FredT
ML,

The Suntan Project according to the Ben Rich autobiography was killed not only because of the hydrogen issue, but also because they simply could not get enough range out of what was basically a giant thermos bottle.

good point, guess I should of mentioned that. FYI it had a range of 2,500 miles.

Originally posted by Off_The_Street
I'm sure there're a lot of classified projects out there, but some of the stuff you mention simply doesn't compute. For example, if we have this Astra thing, that can go a bazillion miles per hour, change its RCS, and do all of these whizzbang things, then why would the USG spend all its (our) money to buy "obsolete" aircraft like the F-22, F-35, F/A-18E/F, etc.?

I mean, c'mon! If we have operational things like that and still procure turbojets, it would be like the Air Force procuring a bunch of P-51 Mustangs or B-29 Superfortresses -- it doesn't make any sense!

hehe, yeah, I think I remember you typing this questions before...you must not of gotten an answer...so i'll give you my take.

Basically...to keep the cover...aka: the wool over our eyes.

and I think the government does a LOT of overlaping on research, if everything was revealed we would be far more advanced then we currently are. For instance, a year of so back Nasa had the X-43's which were hypersonic small unmanned crafts, and there goal was basically to test and see if scramjets really work. Well, why spend millions building the craft, when the Air Force allready knows the answer? The answer to that of course is because its classified and so they didn't know the Air Force had those answers. The USAF can still stay ahead of the rest of the world it jet tech if it just keeps on taking the same steps that other countries do...which id basically keep on improving and upgrading, but not to substantial.

So your question is: If we have anti-grav vehicles, why are we still putting money into jet engines.
The answer is: Because if they unvieled anti-grav craft, then obviously they could no longer keep that edge a secret, not from the american citizens and especially not from other countries. So if they do have that HUGE edge, they undoubtedly want to keep it, Antigravity is basically the holly grail of flight, since you no longer need a propellant, anti-grav basically lets you ignore gravity, and you can go damn fast (I believe almost the speed of light), which means not only can you be over your enemy in under a minute, you now have easy access to the entire solar system, with ease. Anti-grav would devistate our economy, companies would go bankrupt very quickley, why fly on a jet when there an anti-gravity craft that can take you to your destination, so goodbye Boeing/Lockheed/Airbus/Northrop/etc. Then people think, why not just buy a personal anti-grav craft, goodbye Ford/Chevy/Dodge/Nissian/Toyota/Lamboghini/ etc. Because now people can go where ever they want, when ever they want, they can hop in there craft and pick up some burger king, and a half minute later be watching the sunset from space eating a burger. and of course in todays world, you have to think about terrorism...and if hundreds...or thousands...or maybe millions, of these craft exist, then they could easily steal or buy one, and fly into space, and come back down to earth at mach 100 and turn New York into a massive crater.
So all in all...if anti-grav exist, it will stay "Black" virtually forever.

Murcielago says:

The answer is: Because if they unvieled anti-grav craft, then obviously they could no longer keep that edge a secret, not from the american citizens and especially not from other countries.

That is why secret weapons like the battle tank, Norden bombsight, radar, and the atomic bomb were kept black and will never be found out, right?

Huh-uh.

The English with their 1915 battle tank and phosgene gas, their radar; and the Americans with the atomic bomb and the Norden bombsight had technology that was incredibly in advance of anything else, and so – they used it.

Human beings do not invest bazillions of dollars in secret stuff and then don’t use it. They never have. The purpose of weapons development is to turn it to your advantage, and whether that secret weapon is a pilum, re-curved battle bow, crossbow, repeating rifle, or anything else, it is always used, and always ends up getting shared (although the original inventors try to keep it secret).

You say

“So if they do have that HUGE edge, they undoubtedly want to keep it…”

But by not exploiting it, they do not have a huge edge – they have no edge at all.

Google “greek fire” sometimes. Developed as a naval weapon, it was so closely guarded that the proponents wouldn’t let it be used because the other guys may have gotten it. Everyone knew about greek fire, and no one knew how to make it. Finally, since it was such a closely guarded secret, even the inventors lost the formula for it, and it disappeared.

As far as I know, that’s the only time that a technological advancement was covered up – and it ended up giving the Greeks no edge whatsoever.

Now let’s look at some facts. No one has demonstrated anti-gravity. Your rationale for us having this secret stuff and not using it flies in the face of every single advance in weaponry or technology in the history of mankind.

So you haven’t given me a reason; you’ve just given me evidence-less wishful thinking, and a rationalization which, given the facts of thousands of years of human development, simply doesn’t work.

Originally posted by iris_failsafe
The thing about black projects is that we don't know how many of them are just ideas and how many became operational aircraft. Lots of people claim that the Aurora research project stayed that way and in fact was cancelled.
edit on 22-8-2005 by iris_failsafe]

Another thing! Remember, Most Black Projects are research aircraft. Research often involves failures. Many ideas that seem really good turn out to be unworkable. Look at Lockheed's X-33. Although not really a black Project, it shows the failures that are often a part of cutting edge research. Case in Point: look at the ATF program that lead to the F/A-22 Raptor. The Air Force Started with 7 different concepts on paper. Out of the origional 7, only TWO, the YF-22 and YF-23 ever even made it off of the drawing board and into the air. Of those two, only the F-22 became an operational fighter.

Tim

Ghost, you make a good point. I am sure there were a lot of classified aircraft out there which end up being a proof-of-concept for an operational plane (like Tacit Blue); became operational themselves (like the U-2, F/A-117 and B-2); or became obsolete and thus no longer necessary to keep classified (like Bird of Prey); and so on.

And I'm also sure that there are a lot of classified projects out there now which are either going to become operational (and thus impossible to keep secret) or are proof-of-concepts for other aircraft (probably UACVs rather than manned systems).

But I think we have to draw the line at planes that show a significant advantage in a technology (like low RCS for the F-117 which is now a part of the design process for every military aircraft) and a prevously-unknown characteristic like hypersonic capability and/or "antigravity" which would translate into an incredible tactical and strategic advantage if it were implemented -- but never is.

It looks like that serial number you lost which should be consecutive is SR-73