>the USN could be operating flying doritos instead of super hornets

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>>34716770
yeah they already have that its called the tr-3b

ive seen one irl before and this shits insane

>>34716952
Tell me more. What is so special about it?

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>>34717008

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>>34716770
Yep. The USN could have had a medium range stealth attack plane in service in the late 1990's. As it stands the USN isn't scheduled to deploy the F35C until later this decade.

>>34717018
>WE WUZ INTERSTELLAR TRAVELERS N SHIET

Reminder that the A-12 was cancelled because McDonnell Douglas' projections for just about everything related to the composites they planned to use were stupidly optimistic. It never would have worked.

>>34717136
I mean it could've worked, but you would've run into problems like the blackbird or that other high altitude craft had where they literally started to fall apart if you flew too slowly.

>>34717008
in 2013 I saw a big glowing light ahead of me on the road at night at around midnight. As I got closer to it I got directly under it and it was fucking huge and the underside looked like pic here >>34716952

i stopped my car under it and i sat there slackjawed looking at that fuckheug triangle hovering there thru my sun roof, then the light in the middle started glowing super bright, and then it just shot up into the sky and was gone literally instantly in the blink of an eye

Now I wonder, let's say that for some hypothetical reason the Navy had the option to bring this design back. Tooling, engineers, materials, ect, consider it all accounted for.

Would they still build it? Was it's proposed technology effective and efficient enough to be usable today and into the same program lifetme as the F-35?

I assume some of the design work went into the Navy's UCAV. But the Avenger-II was Navy only I belive. The F-35 may have it's problems but it saves development cost across branches. Plus once we have common place weaponized lasers it won't matter anymore.

>>34717157
what? i haven't heard of any problems like that with the U-2 or SR-71. are you sure you're not thinking of the U-2 with it's coffin corner where the stall speed is 5 knots away from the never exceed speed at altitude?

>>34717034

Look at those tiny engines goddamn

>>34716770
>>34716952
>>34717018
>>34717034
>>34717041
>>34717056
>>34717068
>>34717082
>>34717088

Horton Brothers.

>>34716770
>5th Generation Subsonic figther

Burgers are in the same level of Slavs

>>34717317
"In order for the SR-71 to fly the worldwide missions, it has a special fleet of modified KC-135Q tankers for refueling. SR-71s run on JP-7 fuel, that fills the six large tanks in the fuselage. The component parts of the Blackbird fit very loosely together to allow for expansion at high temperatures. At rest on the ground, fuel leaks out constantly, since the tanks in the fuselage and wings only seal at operating temperatures. There is little danger of fire since the JP-7 fuel is very stable with an extremely high flash point."

https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71/

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>>34717650
>A-12
>Fighter

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>>34716770
Maybe not the Navy, but somebody is flying doritos.

>>34716770
Looks like a fuckhueg target for AA, anon.

>>34717018
>hurrr durrr we can make anything but we just don't want to

>>34717256
Nope, not as is - the A-12 actually had... not great stealth properties due to its straight tail. Radio waves will sometimes crawl along the surfaces of aircraft and then reflect off and radiate from changes in resistance (such as air gaps or changes in material). So with the A-12, if it was flying at an enemy radar, those radio waves would crawl along its skin, get to the straight rear edge and radiate straight back at the radar; this is why the B-2 and other stealth aircraft don't have their trailing edges at 90 degrees to their longitudinal axis..

What the Navy should do is build something like the X-47B, as they were going to with UCLASS until it was replaced with CBARS.

What's with all these pictures of swamp gas?

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>>34718742

>>34718742
You seem to be the knowledgeable plane guy around. I had some far fetched idea about using those x47s in sync with the f35s, as sort of slave scouts, ones that could fly ahead or loiter behind to scout or mark targets back to the manned jet. Even acting as a chaff laying missile decoy close in if shit got hairy, maybe running into the missile or enemy jet if all else fails. I'd imagine those drones with no pilot can do some nutty G maneuvers. TLDR x47B battle buddies that will die for you, sound retarded?

>>34717088
>>34717082
>>34717068
>>34717056
>>34717041
>>34717034
>>34716770
Why do they rarely (such as the B2 and YF-23) put the intakes on top of the body?
Wouldn't that help hide it from radar better?

>>34718834
Given the better avionics of the F-35, wouldn't it be better as the scout/target painter for possibly suicidal X-47Bs?

>>34718742
Is the X-47C even going anywhere or is the X-47 as a whole dead?

>>34718894
Maybe, i just figured leave the missile boat far far away and AIMing them while they search for the drone and try to lock on it when it's doing 12g turns.

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>>34718834
The X-47B itself was only like a 3G capable aircraft, so for A2A it would have only been useful as a missile truck. The X-47B was also relatively expensive and complex (though not as valuable as an F-35 and its pilot).

However, the USAF is looking at cheaper aircraft like the Kratos XQ-222 Valkyrie (sounds like something out of a video game), which will only cost $3m per UCAV, is reasonably stealthy, subsonic, similarly ranged to the F-35 but only carry about 500lb of payload (2x SDBs; dunno what A2A missiles it could carry).
The reason they can make it so cheap is because it will have no or nearly no sensors itself, relying on F-35s, etc to tell it where to drop bombs or what coordinates to launch missiles at.

>>34718894
The X-47 series is dead unless a new program comes along. The X-47B/C was going to be used in the Navy's UCLASS program which wanted a stealthy strike drone, but the Navy's air budget is limited and they're a bit conservative when it comes to new aviation tech, so instead they've scrapped UCLASS and are getting the CBARS, which will be a non-stealthy unmanned tanker with some ISR capabilities.

Pic is about the most advanced proposal for CBARS (I don't think General Atomics will win; the Avenger is arguably overkill for the new requirements).

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>>34718834

Navy jets already employ the MALD (miniature air launched decoy) that has a range in the hundreds of miles and can mimic the flight path, speed and radar signature of just about any plane nato operates. so there would not be a need to have something the size of the X-47 doing what you described.

The Navy is going to use their large UAVs initially as small tanker aircraft so F-18s don't have to do it.

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>>34718992

>>34718992
That's a pity, I quite like the design of the X-47s, though it makes sense as to why it was killed.

>>34719014
This thing reminds me a lot of EADS' Barracuda in terms of general shape.

>>34719041

The X-47 isn't dead at all. Its now competing for the MQ-25 contract.

>>34719097
>On 1 February 2016, after many delays over whether the UCLASS would specialize in strike or intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) roles, it was reported that a significant portion of the UCLASS effort would be directed to produce a Super Hornet-sized carrier-based aerial refueling tanker as the Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System (CBARS), with "a little ISR" and some capabilities for communications relay, and strike capabilities put off to a future version of the aircraft.[citation needed] In July 2016, it was officially named "MQ-25A Stingray".[2]

>>34718784
>all of those "no step" decals
why don't we have a plane called the Snake yet?

>>34717641
Jack Northrop

>>34718878
Poor airflow on the top of the aircraft. Engine doesn't get enough air at higher angles of attack.

>>34719008
Thanks for actually giving me info instead of calling me a fag, i didn't know those were a thing.

>>34719097
As >>34719124 quoted, the MQ-25 CBARS contract won't suite the X-47 family. Maybe Northrop will still propose a cranked kite for if / when the Navy decides to put weapons onto it, but if they do it'll probably look more like Lockheed's Polecat than the X-47B/C. Based on comments from other manufacturers though it sounds like more-conventional, tailed, etc designs are what we should be expecting.

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>>34719459
A sneak-peak at Lockheed's MQ-25 proposal for example

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>>34718878
Anything intended to fly at any significant angle of attack really needs intakes on the underside. Top-mounted intakes cause the airflow to be affected at higher angles of attack, which can kill the engine.

At lower speeds and low angles of attack, it is feasible. Planes like the B-2 get away with it because it's got fairly low wing loading (meaning low lift coefficient and low angle of attack) and a docile flight profile that means it'll never pitch up enough to interrupt airflow to the engines.

There's also a couple aircraft that have had temporary top-mounted intakes for niches during takeoff and landing. MiG-29s have auxiliary intakes on the LERXs so the normal intakes can be blocked off for rough field operations to protect from FOD. Boeing also proposed a similar thing for their original 2707 SST concept, where intakes opened up on top of the aircraft because the main gear blocked the inboard engine intakes.

>>34719014
That looks like the Barracuda

>>34716770
DANGEROUSLY CHEESY

>>34716952
I saw one too. Just hanging out over I-35 on my way home from one one evening. It was really clearly a triangle with lights aimed down on the corners. I watched it throuh my windshield and sunroof as I drove by. Wish I fucking stopped in hindsight. Was before smartphones/always having a camera time.

>>34717018
Can he get me a GF?

>>34719124
more like why don't we have a plane shaped like a snake

>>34717256

Its technology wasnt even effective for its time, because they literally thought shaping wasnt that big of a deal and that ram was all that mattered. They were wrong and the aircraft was rightfully cancelled

>>34720589
He could but then he'd have to kill you.

>>34717034
I worked on the A12. It was too heavy to take off and and a billion over budget and Cheney killed it.

>>34718170
I mean anything outside of light speed travel isn't far fetched. Like if you took an asteriod into orbit, you could multiply iron ore supply by 10x and crash the market. It'd increase the planets net gdp but its not amazing for profit given the costs.

>>34720589
>Can he get me a GF?
haven't you read ?
It would take an act of god, anon.

>>34716952
my brother swears he saw one of these
with as great a buget as the DoD has
and such fucking low production rates
it's obvious we've got some pretty big secret projects going on

>50+% of the congressional budget for 7 years now just poofing away

>>34719008
How can this tiny thing mimic a way bigger F/A-18 for example?

>>34721231
maybe a good lightning bolt will do it

>>34721306
It's a flying jammer designed to replicate approximate RCS's back to a radar.

>>34721251
I think that the chair force guys would have to be pretty incompetent not to have some hypersonic stuff. Aurora seemed pretty credible.

>>34721306
By actively returning radar signals.
Radar detects an aircraft by bouncing signals off it, and the size of the return is roughly proportional to the size of the airframe. With a decoy, you put a radar reciever on board, and when you get pinged you ping back- so they're getting the return plus your ping, making you seem much bigger.
Also, for any ESM the enemy has, this thing will probably radiate like a Hornet's radar, and so forth.

>>34717034
Why do they use square shaped "framing" and not hexagonal like honey comb?

>>34719153
Horton Brothers did it first, Paperclip, private corporations for R&D. Horton Brothers.

>>34718878

>YF23
>Intakes on top of fuselage

Are you having a stroke? Should someone send for medical aid?

>>34721918
>Paperclip
Northrop had a powered, tailless, flying wing before the US had even entered the war, they were also planning the YB-35 before the war even started, in response to the same 1941 USAAC proposal that spawned the B-36.
Go back to the history channel.

>>34721939
He's probably thinking of the exhausts.

>>34721171
No, you couldnt, because eventually the price of iron ore on earth would drop to the point that it would be more price competitive than "extracting it from orbit", even if all that was left to compete was asian, african, and South american labor, unless a government was deliberately flooding the market for giggles.

>>34718170
I would presume he means the fundamentals are known but they are either impractical or not cost effective, or there are human complications (getting to Mars is easy, surviving the trip isnt)

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>>34716952
The year was 1997, in July, in Corsica, south of France. I was 15 at this time. Walking with a girl of my age who happened to be from my village, near Bordeaux, and was also my secret crush. We were in a youth summer camp and having a good time. Was madly in love with her, finally had the opportunity to push my luck with some romantic casual walk together.

Night is coming, it's around 2100 (0900PM) stars are showing, but it's still bright enough to see stuff.

Suddenly we see it. First a glimpse of ligth as bright as a star comes down. We freeze in surprise and horror. Then the thing becomes sort of a light ball. It goes up, and down, and up again, wobbling around a little bit. That's when we realise it's less than 1000m away. And is coming our way.

The light ball become like a horizontal line, and is approaching. It's now less than 500m away, we don't know what to do and we're very scared. I grab my crush by the hand as we're arguing over running away or not.

The thing keeps approaching, it's becoming bigger, and for the first time I clearly distingish 4 lights under a triangle shaped structure. 3 in the corners, one in the middle. It stands there, around 1000 feet above our heads.

That's when we screamed and began running towards the summer youth camp, which was maybe a third a mile away. We get near our bungallow, my hands are shaking, I grab the keys, open the door, get on the floor, everybody walks the dinosaur

UFO escaped but I regret nothing.

I'm still a KV though.

>>34717018
He's kind of right, we already know how to do stuff like interstellar travel using, say, nuclear salt water rockets, Orion drive, but making them practicable is ludicrously, hilariously expensive.
It's easy to know, hard to do, and just because there was a small scale test prototype in some blacksite somewhere.

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>>34718992
>it will have no or nearly no sensors itself, relying on F-35s, etc to tell it where to drop bombs or what coordinates to launch missiles at.

We prequels now.

>>34717173
t. Mulder

>>34722022
>history channel
i dont watch the pawnstar pickers channel

>YB-35
First flight: June 25, 1946
BEFORE THE FUCKING WAR BEFORE THE FUCKING WAR BEEEEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEE FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKIINNNNNNNNNNNG WWWWWWWWWWWWWWARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

>>34722415
>they were also planning the YB-35 before the war even started
>planning
>first flight
I'm not even the guy you're arguing with, but he's right.

>>34722415
>BEFORE THE FUCKING WAR BEFORE THE FUCKING

He never said WHICH war you mong

>>34722415
>On 11 April 1941, the United States Army Air Corps sent out a request for a bomber that could carry 4,500 kg (10,000 lb) of bombs to a round-trip mission of 16,000 km (10,000 mi). >Requested performance was a maximum speed of 720 km/h (450 mph), cruise speed of 443 km/h (275 mph), and service ceiling of 14,000 m (45,000 ft).
>This aircraft would be able to bomb Nazi-occupied Europe in the event that Britain fell.
(This was similar to Nazi Germany's own Amerika Bomber program design competition through RLM, itself initiated in the spring of 1942.)
>The original April 1941 USAAC proposal was first submitted to Boeing and Consolidated Aircraft Company and led to the production of the Convair B-36.
>In May the contract was also extended to include Northrop, inviting them to submit a design along the lines they were already exploring.

They started working on it before the US joined the war, sorry you didn't read my comment properly.

>The Northrop N-9M was an approximately one-third scale, 60-ft span all-wing aircraft used for the development of the full size, 172-ft wingspan Northrop XB-35 and YB-35 flying wing long-range, heavy bomber.
>First flown in 1942.
>Still flying today btw.

>>34718117
The dorito appearance of the wichita sighting is an optical illusion. Play with it in photoshop and it becomes clear that what was photographed had a diamond-shaped fuselage with high aspect ratio wings attached to it.

My money is that it was either the RQ-180 that was sighted, or another large, extremely stealthy HALE UAV. The planform resembles the shape of the old Lockheed Quartz project to a T(pic related, when they repurposed the shape to be an NGB project concept by taping a vaguely cockpit-looking decal onto it), and there have long been rumors and sightings by U-2 pilots of other large stealth UAV's operating at their altitudes.

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>>34717018
>Be secret squirrel pilot
>Have a great time terrorizing random people on lonely stretches of road in between interstellar voyages to draw dicks in the dust of extrasolar planets
>Becomes something of a sport, like the dick card game. Pretend to be ayys, troll civifags, trade pics of panicked civis
>Cell phones roll around
>Command orders this to stop
>Now just draw obscure dicks on each other's flying saucers
>Whenever someone wrecks they're mistaken for alien script
>mfw

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>>34721918
Stop jacking off tto the krauts.

>>34722198
ayy lmao