When they release info like this, all I can think is that thing has already been flying for twenty+ years, and they're already onto their next super secret aircraft project that's in testing. That thing sounds and looks like the Aurora project, which was on the congressional budget books for a number of years and then suddenly disappeared. The Aurora was a rumored Lockheed project as well, big surprise.
I was always under the impression that the B2 was codenamed TR-3 while in development, and that Syria was never connected to any product that entered production and active duty.
"TR-3" = "TIER 3" = QUARTZ = Lockheed Martin RQ-3.In the case of the “TR-3 Manta” it is easy to speculate what happened. At the time, the military was starting a project known as “Tier-3” (there was also a “Tier-2,” which became the Global Hawk drone). Tier-3 was actually a follow-on project after the cancellation of a CIA airplane program to replace the SR-71 known as Quartz. Quartz was canceled in 1991 before any prototype was developed because it was obscenely expensive (for more, see Jeffrey Richelson’s book The Wizards of Langley, pp. 225-226). Tier-3 was then created to be a much smaller stealthy subsonic drone that could fly inside denied airspace and loiter over a target. That project also got scaled back to become the “Tier-3 Minus,” which ultimately produced some real hardware. Lockheed Martin and Boeing built an aircraft called the DarkStar, flew it once in early 1996, and then crashed it during its second flight. Tier-3 Minus was canceled in favor of less stealthy unmanned aerial vehicles like the Global Hawk and the Predator.
Obviously Scott heard part of this story. He misinterpreted “Tier-3” to be “TR-3,” which seemed credible because the U-2 spyplane had been reborn in the 1970s as the “TR-1” aircraft. But Scott took rumors of a stealthy reconnaissance development project and speculated wildly, arriving at the conclusion that stealthy spyplanes were already in operation, and had even been used over Iraq.
Yeah, remember all the hubbub over the helicopters used in the capture of bin Laden? I do wonder about else they've got that the general public isn't aware of. Whoever has the job of developing these things must have all kinds of cool designs stashed away.
A lot of it is publicly available if you look. Scott Lowther even sells doodles. "A helicopter covered in stealth panels" was first thrown around in the X-wing project. The Comanche had it. Problem being that when you hang shit on an existing helicopter it flies like a parade float.
I recommend From Rainbow to Gusto, an exploration of all the designs that took the Skunk Works from the U-2 to the A-12. They started out with "Archangel 1" and came up with 11 other major designs (and several minor ones) before settling on Archangel 12, which became OXCART, which eventually became the SR-71. They're pretty crazy. I bought mine used off Amazon, the notes saying "some marks inside cover." Turns out "some marks" were a dedication by the author to Kelly Johnson's widow. Made my month. I mean, look at this. 1959, beyotch. http://up-ship.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/A-6-9-sma...
Haven't heard of that book before, thanks! I think I'll be adding that to the Xmas wish list. Such amazing designs and almost unfathomable to think they were done with ingenuity and slide rules. As awesome as some of today's more modern tech and design is, my mind is not boggled/amazed by designs such as the SR-71 and how there was no computer power to fall back upon. Not to discredit the use of such tech, but it's more amazing that they designed and built them successfully without the aid of CAD or other modernised computer modelling/testing tech.
Kelly Johnson was fond of saying "If it looks pretty, it'll fly pretty." Ben Rich points out in his book "Skunk Works" that his career encompassed twenty seven aircraft while observing that a modern engineer will be lucky with one. He also points out that in order to get the go-ahead on OXCART (which he calls the SR-71 as OXCART hadn't been declassified yet) took Kelly Johnson, one guy at DS&T and two senators while there were over 2500 auditors on the B-2 project alone. It was just a different world. Stakes were lower, costs were lower, innovation flowed like river water. Interestingly enough, though, in poking around the Web for this article, I decided to look back on the RQ-3. So here's the thing. We've had two new fighters since I was a kid - the F-22 and the F-35. They're expensive, they're big, they're ridiculous. But we've had nine new UAVs since 1994, and that doesn't include off-the-books beasties like the RQ-170. That's just MQ-1 through MQ-9. If I were an aero and astro guy, I'd be designing drones. Hell, I just started messing around with a Blade MSRX last week and I'm hooked.
While there would be arguments regarding having only a limited number of people on a TS (and above) project (such as OXCART), you limit the potential of information being leaked, and reduce the amount of tracing required if it is leaked. Using your example, 4 people (SR-71) is a lot easier to maintain confidentiality with vs 2500 (B2); otherwise there's an inceease risk of a repeating of the Thomas Cavanaugh or Noshir Gowadia affairs. No matter your stance on drones, they are the current trend and will be for some time, I imagine. From a cost and risk-assessment basis, they are a lot more appeasing than pilot-based aircraft. I've not had a crack at playing with consumer-level drones or remote control helicopers yet, the extremely limited flight time (5-10mins) kinda puts me off. That said, it will only be a matter of the time until the consumer grade ones weigh less, have further ranges etc. It will be even more intriguing when they start operating in autonomous union, too.
And much like those helicopters there were stealth helicopter programs on the books for awhile, the Comanche mainly, then it was determined to "not be useful" and was taken off the books. I'm assuming the very same technology from that program did in fact make it into production in those stealth blackhawk variants that were used in that raid. I also wouldn't be surprised it the Comanche itself is already in service, and was just moved to black project funding. Though helicopters can be replaced with drones quite easily. It's not really a conspiracy, it's just, after a project like this gets to production you don't want it on official books because you don't want your enemies being able to guesstimate how many of these you have and what their intent is. If you have the funding hidden, they wouldn't have any numbers to go off of and would make it more difficult to figure out how many of these we have actually out there.
So I take it that this is an area of interest for you? Anyway, I'm interested to read up on the Comanche. I feel like the "C" word gets trotted out a lot and often unfairly. It makes sense that a military would keep certain things hidden, for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if China has all kinds of things in development or in use that the general public are unaware of, given their interest in their development as a world power and more especially their interest in controlling the territory off their coast.
China and aircraft is a really interesting subject. They have some advanced fighters and bombers, and stealth planes similar to the F-22 and F-23, but they have supposedly had a lot of stumbling with making reliable jet engines domestically, and most of them are still sourced from Russia.
While I lived in Vietnam, it was really interesting to see how the culture adjusted to the sudden influx of wealth (the country's economy was growing very quickly and like China, is experiencing a great cultural and technological shift) and how the government and the people were working really hard to modernize. What was weird was, all of these changes were/are happening without some of the intervening stuff that the Western world went through, like the sexual revolution and the gradual movement toward equality between sexes, as well as the adjustment to mass media, going from radio to TV to the internet. Yeah, the major cities aren't as far behind, but in the sticks and even in the smaller cities, it's a big change, really fast. Anyway, when I went to China it was pretty clear that it was going through the same thing, but x 1000. Much as I hate to say it as an Asian guy, but what stood out to me the most was that in both places, for things like their major cities (and their skylines-- everyone needs an iconic skyline these days) things tended to be more about first presenting the image of modernity and then trying to get the country up to speed. Now, a military is not something that a nation can really skimp on, especially not if said nation intends to use it, which I think China is more than willing to do, especially after spending the greater part of the 20th century getting kicked around by major powers. Not to mention that China has a rich, war-filled history. I'm a little surprised that China is still sourcing military stuff from Russia, but I guess I shouldn't be, even though there is a lot of resentment toward the Russians. Anyway, I hope that China's ambitions for expansion will be put in check without resorting to war, especially since some countries near and dear to my heart would be caught up in it.
I wouldn't worry too much. Military power isn't all about war. Think about this, China is arguably the worlds largest exporter and the majority of their economy relies on exports. What would happen to their shipping lanes if the US Navy disappeared from the seas either due to our fall economically or militarily? Who would protect the canals? Who would keep their shipping routes safe? Right now the worlds shipping lanes are kept free and open and safe, primarily by the US Navy. We have deals and protect and fund both the canal owning countries. I don't see the Chinese military expansion as a challenge for war, but more of a hedge bet against unknown futures of other nations and securing their future. China bought their first aircraft carrier from Russia and just recently put it into service, as one example. If they were building them or buying them up like hot cakes I'd think war, but right now their growth really isn't saying war, it's saying protecting their economy and country. Could they go to war with Japan or Taiwan in the distant future? Maybe, but I doubt it. I think it's more that they don't want to rely on the US for protecting their assets, and they need their own military to protect themselves, and in the future possibly their shipping lanes. They need to be able to protect imports too, and possibly project power of protection over countries that supply them oil and raw goods that feed the dragon. There's lot of reasons. War doesn't make a ton of sense anymore these days between super powers, but it does make sense to protect your assets and resources abroad. China is getting more involved in mining and oil in Africa, for one, and they need away to protect that should the need arise to in the future. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_aircraft_carrier_Liaoni... Aritcle about jet engines: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/29/us-china-engine-id...
Oh, I'm old enough to remember the last years of the Cold War. I don't know if you get the New York Times or the New York Times Sunday Magazine, but recently there was an article about China's 9 dash line. You do raise some very good points though. I had read about the numbers of aircraft carriers in the world and while I can't remember the exact numbers, the U.S. has a lot more than other countries. Which, as a citizen, I guess that's a good thing. Though, I was under the impression that China had four aircraft carriers? One of the points that the article I linked point out, is that China is using its civilian craft to do most of the bullying, so that no direct military action can be warranted. Which of course, is exactly the kind of tactic that I would expect from a nation in their position. I agree that war doesn't make a whole lot of sense between super powers, especially not after the Cold War, but given the coverage I've seen so far of China's incursions into what they (in my opinion) ridiculously claim to be their territory and my experience in the countries on whose toes China is stepping, it seems like aggressive action might be taken, though of course China would not be the initiator. I'm glad to be alive at the beginning of this century as it will undoubtedly be a very interesting one, given the technological advances and the social pressures. I would not be surprised in my lifetime to see a major conflict involving China. Oh and as an aside, (a very unrelated aside, unless you consider that China produces certain brands of e-cigs) what methods have you used to clean out clearomizers for new juices?
Awesome transition. I just use a dripping atomizer to test new juices, I never fill a whole clearo up unless I know I'll use it. I'm pretty set with a couple juices right now, so I don't really "clean them". I just buy new heads. I use Kanger MT3S clearos, and when I have switched juices, I just dump it out, rinse it with hot water (with the head removed), and let it dry for a day, then put a new head in it and filler up. I got so tired of the juice hunt, I only buy two now, and vape one 90% of the time, Kentucky Peachwood from Vermillion River Ejuice (it's a delicious tobacco blend, like a KY4 + some peach hint). Then I have a Root Beer Float from JuicyVapor I puff on occasionally to change it up. I have a drawer full of juice that I'll never touch more than the few drops I used to taste it. What do you use for clearos?what methods have you used to clean out clearomizers for new juices?
:) I had a few in rotation from Mt. Baker Vapor that are all running out around now. All the flavors were good, but at the moment the ones that I really wanted to re-up are unavailable (of course), so I just kind of got a grab bag full. I should get a dripping atomizer, though at the moment I'm pretty sure I'll vape them all, even if I'm not a huge fan. I haven't tried any tobacco flavors yet. Should I expect a realistic tobacco flavor? I had a few MT3S for a while, but all but one started leaking like crazy and I couldn't figure out why or fix the issue. I don't think it's the juice since I'd tried them out on the MT3 clearos I'd had. So, though I think the MT3S produces better flavor, I got a bunch of T2 clearos, which work well for me. I figured that taking out the heads and rinsing was the way to go, but just wondering if there's some other thing that I could be doing.
No. In my experience tobacco flavors don't taste like cigarettes, but they do have a certain delicious "harshness" to them that blends so well when paired with a fruit flavor. Most "tobacco flavors" kind of go off of the KY4 formula that is so popular. The base tobacco blend from Vermillion River is a little tobacco flavor, a little caramel, and a little what tastes like hazelnut. I didn't think I'd like tobacco flavors when I first started vaping, but after trying a bunch of fuity flavors I ended up falling in love with Vermillion River's tobacco line up. Their Kentucky Peachwood and Kentucky Bananawood are really good, I'd highly recommend them if you want to try tobacco flavors. Vermillion is a local place here in MN, and their store is about 30 minutes drive from me. They actually sell from their own storefront and webpage, but they also supply all the other brick & mortar shops around here as well. If you want to try tobacco flavors, honestly give them a try. My buddies and I all vape their stuff. Other than the two flavors I mentioned, their Kentuck Premium blend base is good, and so is there "Minnesota Menthol", which has a little menthol and mint in it, plus their kentucky tobacco base. They do have some ones that are supposed to taste like cigarettes, but they are pretty gross. Stick with the Kentucky ones or the KY4 if you ever do give them a try. http://www.vermillionriverejuice.com/All-Premium-E-Juice-_c_... Yeah I don't clean my heads or clearos. The way I look at it, as a former cigarette smoker, who lives in a state with $8+ packs, even if I used a new clearo everyday I'd be saving money, lol. So I just replace the heads like one a week or whenever they leak or start to taste like crap. Heads are only like $1.50 from vapingme.com, and that's where I get all my stuff from.Should I expect a realistic tobacco flavor?
Vapingme rocks. And dude sends you like Pokemon cards and Starship trooper cards, and pictures of dinosaurs and stuff.
Hah, awesome. I got a Street Sharks card last time, and some dinosaur factoids. Definitely nothing as cool as T2 or Star Trek cards yet.