Report fuels spy plane theories (BBC) {Aurora}

By Meirion Jones
BBC Newsnight

The UK knows more than it is saying about top secret American aircraft projects, recently declassified documents reveal.

Deep inside a previously secret Ministry of Defence report are a few pages which will reignite one of the biggest internet conspiracy questions - Is the US Air Force building secret spy planes which can cross the sky at 3,000mph?

The plane, which is often referred to as Aurora, is supposed to be a follow on from the U2 spy plane and the 2,000mph SR71 Blackbird, both of which were first developed and flown in secrecy as 'Black' projects.

The MoD report from 2000 says the USAF plans to produce "highly supersonic vehicles at Mach 4 to 6" and hypersonic unmanned craft which will fly in the upper atmosphere and in space. In 2003, the USAF revealed it had been working on a hypersonic unmanned craft - the Falcon - but denied building an Aurora-like Mach 4 to 6 aircraft.

The Aurora has 100,000 web pages devoted to it - a lot for an aircraft which may not exist.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/5079044.stm

Oh, my ... Aurora, Groom Lake/Area 51, 'Black' projects ... more fodder for the conspiracy buffs.:popcorn:

Given that the SR71 was designed in the 1950s and built in the late 1960s, it should be well within the bounds of possibility to build a plane that is a third faster with today's technology. We know alot more about lift and drag, engine efficiency, materials, stealth and avionics than the SR71 guys did, so it doesn't take much imagination to think that a faster, quieter, more efficient and less visible plane is in the works.

Whether the 'Aurora' project is real or not isn't really the issue.

Computational Fluid Dynamics... yeah, it's a safe bet that Aurora exists and has for a number of years now.

Where it operates from is still a mystery. But I remember of lot of reports from the LA area 6 to 8 years ago about odd double sonic booms (like when the shuttle re-enters the atmosphere)... and lots of odd contrails as well.

A contail with donut rings around it.

This has been talked about for years.

This is what you're talking about, right?

but in IMHO it was a failure... One day the Air Force said Oh,, it's OK to stop flying the SR-71... The only time something like that happens with the Air Force is if they had a replacement. But a couple years later NASA started flying the SR-71.

maintaining the SR-71 fleet wasn't worth it after that, especially as missle defenses kept improving. Stealth technology also made the approach of ever-increasing speed less attractive. The AF kept cutting the money for SR-71's out of their budget, and Congress kept putting it back in, reputedly just because they were SOOO impressed with this macho hot-rod of a plane that they just couldn't understand why anyone would get rid of it. (I can sympathize -- it's one hell of a plane!)

Keep in mind the X-15 http://history.nasa.gov/x15/cover.html went as fast as Mach 6.7 in the 1960's, so there's really no question of feasibility -- just whether it's worth doing.

I agree with the assessment that the military decomissioning of the SR-71 was a sign that something better had become reliably operational. I think it's something in addition to pure satellites, though. Satellites have the disadvantage of being in relatively predictable orbits, or relying on complex and time consuming launch procedures. Those are areas in which an aircraft (or an aerospace craft) would have strong advantages.

The X-15 operated at those speeds in relatively short bursts, and with considerably less range. However, that being 30 years ago, I imagine vast improvements are probable. Even the X-15 guys had the next step in mind, which in effect would have been a space plane during the 70's, had Apollo not axed funding for the project.

With spy planes in general as well as long range bombers like the B-1 is that no matter how fast it is or how high it can fly, it's relatively easy for the Soviets to build a rocket that can knock it out of the sky.

for "missle defenses" substitute "anti-aircraft missles (and radar)".

The Soviets never shot down an SR-71, but we quit flying them at the right time to prevent that.

They knew the U2 was vulnerable before Powers was shot down.

The Soviets had a theoretical ability to get the SR-71 too. But it was very slim, and a slight shift in the SR-71's flight plan was all it took to screw up the intercepts. I suspect whenever the covers are lifted in the SR-71 missions there's gonna be some amazing stories.

they're reverse-engineering ultra-dimensional UFOs using genetically enhanced clones of JFK as test-pilots.

:silly:

But seriously, the article describes about half a dozen "black" projects which were kept secret, denied even, and then revealed years later. That to me sounds like a "conspiracy" given that a conspiracy basically means a secret plan.

That the Stealth "fighter" was an Area 51 (really) 'Black Project' for over a decade don't you?

It was being talked about for at least half that time in exactly the same way "Aurora" is.

$2,300,000,000,000. (That's 2.3 trillion)

A double super-secret project or two could 'splain' some of it... :tinfoilhat:

Actual research is a waste of money. The purpose of government is to make you and your friends wealthy. Scientists tend to get in the way of that.

...being flown. But the Aurora's been talked about for a really, really long time now. You'd figure they'd have taken it out of the "black" by now. But like someone said, why would you waste money on a speedy spy plane when you've got the ultimate high ground (sats)?

Not likely, unless someone in the Aurora projects heirarchy says something nasty about a Bush policy.

> But like someone said, why would you waste money on a speedy
> spy plane when you've got the ultimate high ground (sats)?

Maybe because the plane gives you flexibility that satellite
operators can only dream about (e.g., course changes, altitude
adjustments). Choose the appropriate tool for the job ...