So, from about 1950 - 1975, the US develops planes like the U2, X15, XB70, SR71, F117, etc, but then from about 1980-onward, and for no particular reason, they just stop? Not only that, but all the ones they've built are just retired, with nothing to replace them? Or is it more likely the US continued developing the technologies but decided not to tell the public about it?
Satellite reconnaissance tech became much better, drone tech became much better, and they didn’t stop? After the F117 came the F22, then the F35, and now NGAD..
Satellites provide 24/7 monitoring and an overall lower cost and are beyond reach of ground fire and other mission risks. The technology has simply been bypassed.
Development has moved to plane endurance/efficiency, various aspects of stealth, sensors that do far more and do it quickly and automatically, missile tech that reaches further out much faster.. recon is easily done with various satellite tech. Less obvious things within the things we already have... stealth was the latest big reveal that obvious that wasnt so easy to "hide"...research the tech going into our lagacy planes today, new missiles, way better radars, new engines, new stealth coatings... all things that are very impressive when you look at them alone. But again just nothing so obvious to those of us simply looking up into the sky.
I know it, or something like it, existed back in 1995. I was an electronic warfare technician. (Simplified job description: We detected radars) We were off the coast of Virginia & we were told to turn off our systems. Our officer told us just to turn down our monitor. The radar operator detected a faint target traveling at 7+ Mach. I turned my monitor on an confirmed, whatever it was, it was using one of our radars for navigation. Edit: I’d like to add that we relied on “Janes” booklets as a very accurate resource. I can tell you that they were shockingly accurate, when it came to our weapons systems operating frequencies and capabilities.
Desert Storm. I was the Base Weather Station Commander at Riyadh. We supported the "heavies." AWACS, tankers, and J-Stars. We were too far from the front lines to have fighters. One of my weather forecasters, a Staff Sergeant, called me outside. He happened to have a four year degree in aeronautical engineering. We saw a matte black, HIGHLY advanced aircraft taxi to the end of the runway, and immediately take off. No markings, of ANY kind. It wasn't a Saudi plane. The Saudi's couldn't make bed pans. Every US Air Force plane that EVER takes off has to get a DD Form 175-1, Pilot Weather Briefing. It has to be attached to his flight plan. This is a hard requirement. The ONLY time a pilot wouldn't talk to me or one of my troops is when there is a "Special Support Cell", providing highly specialized (and Top Secret) briefings in lieu of the normal process. This was 32 years ago, and I remember it like yesterday..and could draw a pretty good sketch of it.
I was at Lockheed from 1983 to 1993. We had a monthly company magazine, and one issue had a drawing of the follow-on to the SR71 called Aurora said to fly higher and faster. The depiction closely showed an aircraft resembled the photos and drawings shown here.
Any aircraft intended to fly that fast will have the same kind of shape. Look at the Convair Kingfish or the McDonnell Mach 12 interceptor concept from the 1960s - all the same kind of triangular lifting bodies with not much in the way of wings.
Sorry, but that’s just bullshit. LockMart’s internal newsletters have never featured anything that wasn’t openly discussed with shareholders. There is zero record of Lockheed ADP EVER working on anything called “Aurora”. “Aurora” was a (carelessly) overlooked part of the line item budget for the Northrop Grumman “Senior Ice” ATB entry that ultimately won and subsequently became the B-2 Spirit. The successor to the SR-71 absolutely existed in VERY small numbers, but it was neither a Lockheed airplane, nor was it called “Aurora”. Either your decade spent at LM was very, VERY far away from any military contracts or you just cobbled together some stuff you vaguely remember hearing someone else talk about and you just fabricated the entire story. Either way, you’re so incredibly off target that you don’t even qualify as wrong.
My Dad told me about Aurora a long time ago. He was Air Force with a pretty high clearance. He heared about, in certain circles, and even caught a glimpse of a part of the aircraft. He always laughed off my conspiracy theory mindset for a long time. He told me about knowing about Project Aurora when he was close to his death and that they cancelled the project because of the cost. So, I don't know.
Awwww. I wish he revealed more info before he died. And it sucks how he refused to give you any info when he was still working as air force, because he was scared to get killed or punished.
My father told me about a plane project code named Aurora too, back in the 1990s. He claims it was a joint project he had seen between the Pentagon, DARPA, and a "Northern VA defense aerospace contractor". I don't think it ever became a "fleet" project. I think maybe there were a handful of planes that were operated by intelligence agencies with a small support unit from the military.
I was driving US50 westbound around 4am at about 125mph in the late summer of 1987. I looked to my left to see an F117 landing next to me at NAS Fallon. At the time I had no clue what it was, but knew it was not a typical airplane.
@@christaylor6654 A few years ago I was on the top of a 60 story building in Chicago during the air show and a B2 flew by. It was eerie... almost like alien technology. Then it hit me: the whole day we'd been buzzed by F-18s etc which were screaming loud. The B2 was damn-near silent and it wasn't more than 1,000 yards away at eye level in the middle of the city.
US50 in NV is known as the "loneliest highway." For damn good reason. Given that legions of Americans do 90+ on crowded I95, trying to get to the beach, 125 all by your lonesome isn't all THAT dangerous. I'd never recommend it, but it's far from the "cheating death" act you make itto be. A lot depends on what you're driving and how well-maintained it is.
It's also well known, that a ton of high altitude supersonic testing was done in the 1990's with modified F-15's. Modified F-15's easily exceed 60,000ft.
@@xandersnyder7214 Exactly! In fact, I think most of the speed and altitude records were set by the Streak Eagle in the late 70's. By the 90's, they were testing Vectored Thrust Nozzles, High Alpha Canards,etc.. 20 years after the Streak Eagle, I can only imagine what other classified goodies they tinkered with. Believe it or not, they even drew up the idea of an F-15 with a Cranked Arrow Wing, similar to the F-16XL (as it was quite successful), for longer range strike capabilities. Of course that never happened....At least that we know of.
In the 80s GD had a facilty just a couple miles outside my little Texas town sonic booms happened almost daily. I still remember one kid was easly scared by them. Plus one day I was walking to a freinds or somewhere and I saw a light gray jet and a dark gray jet mock dogfighting over my town. They where close to ground which had me awe struck. but anyways I was told they where testing new radar technology and stuff. They had a jet sitting on a tall tower and huge ass radar/satalite dishes out there. Supposdly someone claimed they had a building that was full model sized aircraft carriers and stuff that they where doing some kind of test with. I remember being chased out of there mulitple times when the place was shut down and we would try to go out there and drag race on the runways.
@@xandersnyder7214 I saw literature that the Streak Eagle (set the time to altitude records) exceeded 100,000 feet, and in one flight broke all the time to altitude records at or below FL600.
I remember playing Command and Conquer Generals and seeing the aurora in there, gave me a little smile. I can’t remember where I read it but someone suggested aurora, sr72 or something comparable existed simply because the military wouldn’t have retired the sr71 unless there was something to cover the capability. Satellite imagery has come a long way but at the time of the rumors and the sr71’s retirement, satellites weren’t good enough to render the need obsolete. Suppose we might never know
Satellites are good enough as far as imaging goes. The Limitations of them are 1. They are scheduled by God and Kepler. 2. Probably less effective for Ferret missions. AKA pokeing the air defenses to respond. Is there a replacement? Honestly, I don't know. This was at the time of the Peace Dividend that never really came through. so maybe it was decided that it wasn't worth the cost any longer. Which was a mistake but 20/20 hindsight and all that. I think it is all a big I don't know and will not know for sure until that info is released.
Almost always the real story is simple and the least costly one. Aurora might have existed in prototype but nothing more. Simply scrapping the SR-71 with no replacement makes the most sense.
Fact: The US Air Force has had operational technologies decades before being released to the public. High heat paints, Infra-red cameras, Side looking radars are examples. I was actually shocked These type things became available on the civilian market 30/40 years after I got out. Little known is the fact that personnel working in high tech career fields frequently work with scientists, engineers, and inventors. Therefore, if the AF was dealing with these things many decades ago. What are they dealing with now??
Hac Broun You may find this of some interest. I took two daylight photos of a black craft over Hartlepool UK on 11.04.21 at 11.21am. This craft looks futuristic and is not aerodynamic like a conventional aircraft, but round in shape with what I can only describe as angled wings. It also had lights or propulsion system along the top edge. At the time of the photos it was keeping to the top edge of a cloud and appeared to be moving sideways at an angle. Could this be one of our technologically advanced aircraft caught on camera?
Well for tasters the U.S. Navy has bots flying perfect refuelling missions for returning aircraft and if the aircraft can fly in any weather encountered, these robots can definitely handle it. The best guess illustrations for the Navy's NGAD fighters make Buck Rogers' best craft look steampunk. I can hardly wait. I am already sick unto dying of the geezly F-35, Lockheed's best boondoggle yet.
The US Air Force also uses technology that's decades behind what's available in to consumers. The flight computers in the F-22 use a number of i960MX processors released in 1990 that were obsolete decades ago and manufacturing of i960-series processors ended in 2007. The F-22 was upgraded with faster PowerPC 440GX processors replacing some i960MX chips, but you're still dealing with a processor from 1999.
So I'm a contractor and have been for 20 years in an area that was huge for National Defense. One of the customers I worked for was the particular one who built the flight simulators for new aircraft for the pentagon. I had caught him up in a line of questioning and he basically admitted to me that he built the simulator for the tr3b and they referred to it as the "taco chip". He also told me they had fully autonomous F-16 armed drones.
The armed drone F-16s leaked in 2020. But there's little about them other than that. Most of the data you can find is about QF-16 targeting drones which date back to the early 2010s
The TR3E would run rings around the TR3B.....and some...... Taco chip..Haha...most now call it the Tic-Tak after seeing that footage from those Stunned navy pilots during a test flight. We still have a laugh about it.
@@brianwhedon8442drone f16s is absolutely terrifying in a sense. Cause it's like....how long before they say meh f22 or f35s Like I would not wanna be on the opposition side against that.
I think it’s quite possible Aurora was built, but just mainly as a technology demonstrator and IMO some of that tech it helped develop may be contributing to why NGAD is going so smoothly. Funding wise I think it could have easily been paid for via USAPs, would love to see you go into detail on that topic but they’re possibly where some of those trillions of dollars we “misplaced” ended up
@@ciacutout Anything designed to fly in Mars' atmosphere would be completely different to a vehicle designed for travel to Mars, and both of those would be nothing like an aircraft optimised for high-supersonic or hypersonic flight in Earth's atmosphere. Why do these conspiracy ideas always get so complicated?
We all WANT the Aurora to be true, but . . . In New York, where I am, we have the Intrepid Air and Space museum and on the deck of the carrier is an A-12, not an SR 71, the log books of which are still top secret. If only that plane could talk.
The CIA declassified a whole load of information relating to the A-12, both its development history and the missions it flew. That's how we know that on 30 October 1967, an A-12 flown by Dennis Sullivan was hit by a fragment of a Soviet S-75 Dvina missile fired at his aircraft during a "Black Shield" mission over North Vietnam. During three Black Shield missions, A-12s flew at altitudes of 86,000ft or more which is higher than the official world record set by the SR-71. During testing the A-12 set records of 2,208mph maximum speed and cruised at 90,000ft while the aircraft's manuals put the limits at 2,250mph and 95,000ft although the plane would be running on fumes at that point.
The Aurora was built at Skunk Works but the depiction of it is way off! My father was a director under Ben Rich at Skunk Works in Burbank during that time period. He passed two years ago at 98. He did confirm its existence. He also said there were no "Flying Saucers" or little green men at Groom. None of the projects he was responsible for used any "reverse engineering"!
If Darkstar’s look doesn’t ring a bell I don’t know what does. Skunk Works makes things you’d thought would be made by supernaturals. You must be a very proud son
@@scheldon2244 The RQ-3 DarkStar (known as Tier III- or "Tier three minus" during development) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Its first flight was on March 29, 1996. Built by Lockheed Skunk Works
I have a friend who is a test pilot. We were talking about the SR-71 and why it was retired. He looked at me and said that the SR-71 was developed and introduced in the 1960's and was in use for a while. He also stated that they have had and are still developing new spy planes and that they are in use now. He also stated that the new spy planes are WAY more advanced than we regular people realize. I would bet that the Skunkworks airplane that was used in Top Gun 2 is real and has been in use for some time, around the time that the SR-71 was retired.
It was confirmed by the government about 5 years ago. There was people calling in to a radio station in the northeast cuz they were hearing a loud noise and it was going from north to south at an incredible speed. When I did the math the air speed was close to Mach 10.
I remember first hearing about Aurora decades ago. Despite wanting so bad for info about it, after being a teenager through the reveals of the F-117 and B-2, I figured that pictures at least would eventually be released even if the specs stayed classified. Now here we are, definitively in the future (from a 80s/90s perspective) and still NOTHING. Given this intense level of secrecy on a project that was thought to be flying already decades ago, it leads me to believe that we have likely made a SIGNIFICANT jump in military technology, at least in the realm of spycraft. Now you might be thinking, "Well, Duh!" but what I'm getting at is that, by example, the F-117 and B-2, for all their stealth, are still just conventional aircraft. The F-117 is not even a very good one at that. I believe that the Aurora program (and programs leading to and from it) may have led to leaps in technology beyond even the expected next jump of scramjets. I feel like the current known push of military tech is just as much for show as it is projected might, as our adversaries close the gap on our technological superiority. Like "Hey China, look at this new obvious next level of tech that we have that you can study and try to copy." Meanwhile, we are actually developing things that are straight out of science fiction. This would also begin to explain the growing sightings of UAPs.
Ben Rich wrote in his 1994 memoir about his time at the Lockheed Skunk Works that Aurora was a Pentagon budget codename for funding B-2 production. Lockheed did work on a hypersonic spyplane design in the early 1980s, the Mach 5 Penetrator, but it was shelved without moving past the design phase.
@@vahe2391 There are designs for hypersonic aircraft to replace the SR-71 going back to the 1960s. Some of the Project ISINGLASS designs had a target speed of Mach 20! Ultimately they all ran into the same issues of cost, logistics, feasibility, operational limitations, and other factors that caused them to be shelved long before any prototypes were built.
In the 80s Aviation Weekly magazine wrote an article about External Pulse Detonation using a crafts external pressure cones as the combustion chamber. Think about that, by spraying fuel externally into these pressure cones trailing the aircraft then igniting it. This could be what created the Donuts on a rope which a friend and I witnessed and heard in the late eighties from his shop in Hawaiian Gardens CA. The direction what ever was creating those contrails was coming from the Pacific heading toward Edwards. I never see anything written about this.
The question is what engines it converts to for sub-sonic flight operations? Does it carry two different types of fuel for the two types of engines? Is it as big as a 747, to hold the massive amount of fuel & engines............
This Aurora story made me remember a sighting I had in So. Calif near the San Gabriel mountains in 2010. I am a Mechanical Engineer, so I know and appreciate machinery, especially aircraft. I was standing outside on a clear day and happened to look up in the sky and I saw a perfectly round aircraft at very high altitude traveling at an unbelievable rate of speed from west to east. I don’t believe in aliens or alien craft, so I figured it was an advanced research aircraft. It didn’t ‘scare’ me or shake me up. I just marveled at it because of its incredible speed. It was out of sight in only a few seconds and if I hadn’t looked up by chance at that moment I would have never seen it. I could not see the craft’s profile, only that it was perfectly round. Have you ever heard of any research aircraft with such a shape and performance?
@@LIONTRIBEACTUAL This person said that they could not see the object's profile. In other words; they have no way of knowing if it was a sphere or a disc.
A friend and I saw an elongated oval cigar shaped craft that had 4 orbs fly into it and it glided in a weirdly slow but fast motion all the way to the horizon within a minute. Zero sonic boom or sound, this was queen creek AZ, it came from the northeast headed south west and was the only daytime ufo I've ever witnessed. It was light grayish almost transparent looking with no wings and left no trail of any kind
Aurora was actually the name of either a mission or a series of missions. The name of the program was "Darkstar' and they didn't make a whole fleet of them because of a combination of cost and satellites being able to do the vast majority of the work that the SR71 had been doing.
There was an accidental budget leak. The budget showed the name 'Aurora', probably overlooked when marking stuff black. That's why the name keeps hanging around. Judging by the spending on it, that was most likely the B2. There were bigger projects that are still classified though, so who knows what has been flying around the past 3-4 decades.
The problem with satellites is that the enemy knows when they are there and close shop while they are present. The sr71 didn't announce itself and flew wherever it wanted. {Darkstar} or whatever you call it is fast enough to do the same.
I have asked about this at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio and they said it wouldn’t surprise them if it shows up out of the blue someday. They have received several prototypes that were classified and never officially announced that were sent to them when the Air Force had no further use for them.
The X-15 was the first aircraft to reach Mach 5 in 1961. Stealth technology was already in operation in the late 1970s. The tech was there to make this possible. But possible doesn't always translate into feasible.
@@JeffStevens The x-15 was a prototype and a technology demonstrator. Planned in the late 50s and tested in the early 60s. Of course it's completely impossible that something more advanced came out of those tests a quarter of a century later. As we all know, all new technology comes out of thin air, not because someone demonstrated something was possible and research and development was put into it and improve the results. The Flyer One the Wright Brothers tested in 1903 flew for about ten seconds. Of course it was completely foolish to think that a dozen years later, combat aircraft would be fighting each other by the thousands. They are not even relevant to the discussion that we now see flying aircraft as an everyday thing.
It's real. We witnessed it throughout the summer of 1993. Very high in the sky with, what we called "zippered", contrails. They'd come from a lone black triangular speck that moved faster than we could guess because of it's hight. The zippered parts, aka "donuts", would appear not long after the aircraft had past visual range.
There is a different between a missile with a pilot attached, and a long duration stable burn. Scramjets were developed as early as mid 50's if I remember, but the problems couldn't be solved to make them viable even into the 80s.
I can say without a doubt it's real. In 1993, I had a family member that lived in proximity to Edwards Air Force Base. For about several months, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, we'd hear sonic booms about twice a day. At the time, there were already news reports of unusual contrails that had a unique zipper like shape to them. Often, we could actually hear the faint burbling of jet engines in the sky above. When we would go out to check, we could see the zippered contrails and a single dark triangular shape that they emitted from. The sonic booms we're not as window shaking as those that came from the space shuttle, but a bit more subtle. We didn't mind because we were proud to see with our own eyes how advanced our air force was, and to have the bragging rights of actually being witnesses.
The 911 Anniversary is coming up this Sunday. Since I'm old enough to remember the coverage at the time, I remember all commercial and private air traffic being grounded for several days. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH "Aurora"? Since there was no air traffic, the satellite images over the US showed clears skies devoid of the typical jet contrails. But one particular image showed a lone contrail that streaked across several states. it seemed like it was over 2/3 of the country. many speculated that was the "Aurora". IT'S WORTH CHECKING OUT!
@@PadAmbstar no. It was before smart phones and film cameras requiring zoom lenses were expensive. By the time the donut shapes would develop on the contrails, the aircraft would be long gone. over the horizon.
@@roundtownKen Not possible, for reasons explained in the video. I'm not doubting that the "donuts-on-a-rope" contrails did exist, but it couldn't have been caused by a pulsed detonation engine (or at least, not a supersonic one, much less a hypersonic one).
I think there was certainly a high speed probably hypersonic aircraft operating at that time that was responsible for the mysterious booms and contrails.. However it was certainly not named Aurora that was a code named for the funding item for the Advanced Technology Bomber B-2.. I also think the aircraft seen by Chris Gibson on the oil platform as well as the one that crashed at Boscombe Down was a different aircraft then the one that was causing the West coast sonic booms and it may have been a tactical reconnaissance aircraft based off the YF-23, this theory was covered in the Air Force monthly article that covered the Boscombe Down incident..
@@bosoerjadi2838 Yeah, the RQ-3A. I thought the Oct 92 AWACS intercept by Steven Douglas was a pilots voice though ? Unless that was a cover so any foreign power intercepting it wouldn't know it was a drone !? 💡 ! Ohhhhhhhh damn !! That's SNEAKY !!😲😲😲
@@bosoerjadi2838 Yes, and this mach 5 aircraft was likely unmanned at the time. Because the G forces pulled in some of it's maneuvers. Plus more space for fuel, and surveillance systems then.
78yr old American veteran. It was in the fall of 1983 or 84, just at dusk, antelope hunting out on the Sweetwater, Wyoming, my family observed a black wedged shape aircraft flying the nap of the earth, coming out of the north and flying south. Raising up and passing over Green Mt. Yes, I, believe.
I had a friend that was in the Air Force who claimed he could hear the sound of the "Aurora's" pulse detonation engine coming from the Edward's AFB north base facility at night time.
I live near Beale. Several times I've seen a low flying, triangular aircraft on approach late at night with minimal lighting. It's always after 2200, and it's usually almost silent. When you mentioned engines sounding like air rushing through a big tube, I was like, "Holy crap. Have I seen this thing?" I don't know if it was an F117 or something else, but I've seen it at least 3 times since I moved hear 5 years ago. My dad has seen it as well. I see U2s all the time, and I'm pretty convinced it's not one of those. It also looks too long or narrow to be a B2. But it looks a lot bigger-at least from my perspective with just the lights against the dark sky-than any of the hypersonic prototypes I know of.
I've seen something like that southeast of Travis AFB. It was 11pm, flying low, and totally silent that it flew over people I could see outside a bar, and they never knew it went over them.
It would appear as though you two gentlemen have each witnessed an “alien reproduction vehicle”. Completely silent flight is a hallmark of mass-reduction/gravity-cancellation technologies at work. As many know, here in the US, the acknowledgement of nonterrestrial life is the highest secret of the land.
@@seankash8546 I guess that explains the guy I saw one morning at the donut shop that used to be near the base. I thought I just needed coffee bad enough to hallucinate, but he looked awfully reptilian. XD
I grew up in Los Angeles during that time. I specifically remember an absolutely huge sonic boom hit one time, and the explanation they gave was JPL was testing an engine or something.
The amount of lucky people who saw this legendary aircraft in the comments sells it for me. I can’t imagine the experience and pride of seeing something that fast built by our engineers.
I keep in mind that most of the aerodynamics theory around some forms of hypersonics was well established back then, to the extent that designs back then were remarkably similar to the latest designs. For many reasons reasons it's quite plausible that research aircraft in this domain continued, and were classified at the highest level. But the justification for even low level production just wasn't there at the time. It's hard to justify today..
@@secretbassrigs Far less justifiable today. A spy plane is a lot more useful if people don't know it's spying on them, but that's not an option if it's flying at hypersonic speed.
The opposite could have also been true. Instead of a very expensive aircraft program. It could have been a classified space program. A drone space plane able to change orbit & gather intelligence in minutes makes sense. As it would be designed to cover holes in the satellite network refueling would be needed. Multiple drones carried into orbit in the space shuttles oversized bay followed by mission tasking, & hypersonic glide recovery to a remote base is the most efficient method available. Not to mention playing reverse and actually having the program name be appropriate to task is clever. Aurora is a good name for a stealthy space planes in polar orbit lighting the way.
One theory I heard was Aurora was a development from the "Hotol" concept of a space plane powered by ramjets able to take off and land from a normal runway that was proposed back in the 80's
@@richardcowling7381 It's definitely possible simply wanted to point out. That a project using existing technology & research with a high launch cost is more likely than a cutting edge project with radical new technology. Technology from the shuttle program & for reducing radar return was easily available to a black program. The shuttle launch method allows for improved stealth coatings & deleting the engines for enhanced stealth. Cold thrusters only would also greatly simplify the design especially extended liquid oxygen storage, & reduce the possiblity of visual detection.
We're still flying the U-2, the plane the SR-71 was supposed to have replaced. Could be the U-2 simply retook its throne. EDIT: Also, I forgot! Right when we retired the SR-71, we DID have another craft performing reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union! The OV-100 series spaceplane, aka the Space Shuttle. It was able to fly targeted paths that normal satellites couldn't.
There is a new reconnaissance flying wing UAV being deployed in secret that fulfills the niche once occupied by the SR-71, the Northrop Grumman RQ-180. Although we now that rumors of the USAF fielding a hypersonic follow-on to the SR-71 in the late 1980s and early 1990s turned out to be false due to the immaturity of air-breathing hypersonic engine technology as well the reactivation of the SR-71 in 1995 (although the Blackbird was retired again in the late 1990s), the fact that the USAF never built a Mach 6 replacement for the Blackbird in the late 1980s/early 1990s timeframe doesn't mean that the Americans did not shop for an SR-71 replacement in the last years of the Cold War. Since the early 2000s, it has become clear that in the 1980s, the CIA conceived Project Quartz (aka AARS) for a long-range reconnaissance flying wing UAV designed to penetrate Soviet airspace and detect Soviet mobile-launched ICBMs. However, Project Quartz/AARS did not progress beyond the design phase by the time it was canceled in 1992, although Boeing and Lockheed submitted proposals for the Quartz requirement. The proposed Tier III of 1993-1994 would have utilized the design philosophy and high-altitude, long-range capabilities of the Quartz program, but it also was not built, and the Tier III requirements were split into Tier II+ (which led to the RQ-4 Global Hawk) and Tier III- (which produced the RQ-3 Global Hawk). The RQ-180, with a wingspan greater than 100 feet and capability to overfly heavily defended airspace, encapsulates the design philosophy and operational capabilities that the Quartz project might have embodied (in other words, the CIA and USAF knew that hypersonic air-breathing technology was very much in its infancy and preferred a subsonic unmanned flying wing as the design layout for an SR-71 replacement). Links: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-180 www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/aars-lockheed-quartz-tier-iii-frontier-systems-w570-arrow-shadow.511/
@@jblee344 Agreed. They do have limitations though. The SR-71/A-12 had big psychological benefits just doing a flyover, subtle and effective. Speak softly and carry a big stick doctrine.
My brother was in the AF from ‘81 until ‘97. He claimed that the SR-71 left three pings on their radar when it crossed their airspace. And that something was flying by that only left 2
Oddly enough, a ramjet is simple in theory, but hard to build. It's design resembles a "gas pipe" and it's said that it can attain those high mach speeds. The call sign "Gaspipe" was a giveaway!
I personally thought that the Arora program was a project to research and develop multiple advanced technologies like various propulsion methods, energy based weapons and stealth as well as other secretive ultra futuristic stuff we're not allowed to know about and these technologies were or are being developed using multiple aircraft designs that are also in themselves super advanced testbeds with catchy names. And I think basing Arora around the development of a single aircraft is a misconception.
Same with UFO's. In 40-70 decades ago, lots of different designs were spottet. From crafts with portholes to slimlined designs without windows. Only a decade apart. But this is a level deeper secretcy than Aurora. You know they already studied forces of nature that made gravity, acceleration, centrifugal and high G forces at start of the 1900. Then suddenly in 1916, it all went black and Electric science was not done publicly anymore.
@@Tbonyandsteak A very good point, I think a couple of reasons were that because of the need to build simpler and cheaper weaponry at the time was more of a priority as the wars going on around that era limited what funding could be used on expensive RnD and another reason was because the true genius behind electric research was not being given the resources he needed to develop what could have been mankinds brighter future, purely because of greedy powerful idiots running industry back then. I obviously talk about Tesla, he could have changed the world had he been allowed. A conspiracy? Yes, however, to this day I think he was put down by the greed of powerful, selfish and corrupt people.
@@lurchibold You just have to read about Radient energy and the electric science from that time. Tesla's vision did not came out of nothing. It's a powerfull knowledge they took away. Replaced it with the Atomisn cult and Mathematic Theories. Dont think it was against Tesla as such. It is also a dangerous knowledge, Death rays, Zero point energy, Resonnance that can be millitarised. Just imagine on Zero point energy, when you encrease the energy just by 1.01 for each wave in megaherz. That would be almost as a nuklear bomb. I can understand if they were afraid of this, but not if it used against the population. Those people are ruthless, some even spoke of a time of post humans(post means after). Quite creepy dark dark dark place. Btw. Remember a time several decades they argued that Science evolved, but not the maturity of humans and that was a big problem. Quite hypocritical when they use against people.
Finally someone said what is most probable: Gibson witnessed an F-117 Nighthawk. Flying alongside two F-111’s is also an important context clue. Both aircraft essentially had the same mission in the USAF, so it stands to reason that they trained and flew together. 🤷🏻♂️
In 1996 I was working at a refinery. At about 3am I went out to get the final tank gauges of the shift and as I was crossing the containment levee I looked up and saw a plane approaching from my left. As it got closer I saw that it wasn't 1 plane but 4 planes. As it got closer still, I realized they weren't planes at all. There were 4 triangle shaped objects flying in a 1,2,1 formation at about the same altitude and traveling at about the same speed as a twin engine plane but they were completely silent. They weren't lit on the 3 points of the triangle rather they glowed an amber color as if lit from the inside. It's how I was able to see them in such detail. They weren't perfect triangles as the sides were slightly longer than the rear section was across and the rear section was slightly concave. When they were directly overhead they did something I can only describe as "Impossible." They did a tumbling, rolling, flipping, over, under and around each other for 4 or 5 seconds then they instantly froze back into the original formation and continued on as I watched, awestruck as they flew on until they were out of sight. No known aircraft could perform such a maneuver within Earth's gravity without ripping the airframe to pieces let alone anyone inside surviving. It was as if gravity had no effect on them whatsoever. That was the first time I saw them and I haven't seen them since. I have no idea what they were but Paul Hellyer, former defense minister of Canada, said years ago that the US military has weapons to fight an extraterrestrial invasion and has discovered a new form of energy. I don't know if these things were the weapons or whether they were what the weapons were supposed to fight or whether they were something else entirely. Believe me or don't believe me but I can tell you with certainty that there is stuff going on we don't know about. I did 6 years in the US Navy as a Cryptologist and I never heard of even a rumour of anything like this existing. One thing is for certain--we are either FAR more advanced than we are being told or ET really does exist or, possibly both.
About the year 2000 I also saw the type of plane you described. The plane was about 2000 feet nose down. Gravity didn't seem to effect the plane has I thought it was about to crash. The plane flipped or tumbling upright and continued slowly on a north east direction. I called my coworker to validate what I was looking at and we both described the plane has a star wars type of aircraft. This plane seemed like 3x the size of the b2 spirit with much more advance technology.
"UFO" technically means an aircraft you can't identify. About 20 years ago, I was out in the yard with my ~7 year old daughter and her BFF, looking at the stars. Her friend saw something in the sky and said "Is that a UFO?" I explained that it was a conventional aircraft (LC-130 from the local ANG base.) I explained about the position lights and landing lights, as well as the distinctive sound of the turboprops. Awhile later, she saw something else, and said "Is THAT a UFO?" What she was looking at was a glowing ball of light, moving from East to West at the apparent speed of a conventional aircraft. It was silent. Only position/altitude I can firmly state is that the range we observed it at was greater than 700 yards and altitude greater than 100 feet when I did the math on the angle. Did the math at the time of what speed and altitude would have been at different ranges, but don't know where it is ATM. As I watched, it went from one finger width above the visible horizon (tree line, ~700 yards away) to four fingers above the visible horizon in an instant. No clue what it was, but no conventional aircraft I know of could have made that maneuver without ripping its wings off and/or exposing any crew to fatal G loads.
we have some VERY High Tech stuff out there that we're not aware of (publicly) I made a similar comment under Caleb Shonks comment here. I too saw a "SILENT" machine of some type streaking across the sky super-fast at LOW altitude (on Long Island) but I'm confident that MOST of the things we see MUST be just secret high tech & probably from our own world / humanity. The Night that I saw the 'craft" .... it was an utterly clear and full moon night on a frigid February and I figure "They" whoever "THEY" are..... wanted to do a low "Night Flight" to see the ground & they probably figured with the frigid 12 degree temps NOBODY would really be outside much & staring at the skys I just HAPPENED to be the ONLY freak laying out on a back deck to see the stars on such a pristine-cold & clear night and if I had BLINKED.............. I wouldA missed it passing by, it went so damn fast. (& silent) I did not freak out.... but I figure it was my FIRST "UFO" .... but it just looked like Some Kind of High Tech to me.... I did not immediately assume it is Alien .... probably "Ours" .... most likely. Just secret. I HAVE also seen the "donuts onA rope" trails passing over Long Island too (in daytime)
@@AutomationDnD I agree 1,000 %. I believe it's high tech that they're not telling anyone about. There was a time I would have called BS on stories like yours and even my own. But after I saw it with my own eyes it changed my thinking completely and I'm sorry I doubted these people. People have said that what I saw was the TR3B but I've seen CGI etbe TR3B and these 4 triangles looked nothing like it. The TR3B is a perfect triangle. These things weren't. And the way they were lit was nothing like the CGI of the TR3B. I have no idea what they were but I believe your story. I never call BS on anyone's story of what they saw because I've seen this strange stuff myself.
@@AutomationDnD About the maneuver you saw, I agree with you. What these things I saw did would rip a conventional airframe to the point that it would be in pieces lying on the ground and everyone inside (if there was anyone inside) would be a like a crunched up cracker in a bag. It was as if gravity had no effect on them. As in NO effect whatsoever. And, I hardly use the term "UFO" because it might be unidentified to me but there is likely someone, somewhere that knows exactly what it is. There's a guy named Luis Elizondro that was an insider tasked with finding out what all these sightings by military pilots have been. He tells an interesting story. He says that it's his belief that the US possesses some type of exotic metal. He didn't say what kind of metal only that it's "exotic." But, for sure, there are things out there that we know nothing about. And whatever these things I saw were, I hope they're either friendly or something we developed ourselves. I can't imagine a conventional aircraft trying to outmaneuver them. These things could literally dodge bullets and missiles by flipping around them. They were just that fast when they were tumbling and flipping around. A conventional plane could be behind one and it could flip up and be behind the plane in just a second or so. It would be Impossible for a plane to engage them. That's if they're armed. Like I said, I have no idea what they were but they're here for a reason and someone or someTHING had to develop them and build them.
I remember reading about Aurora in Popular Science magazine and other magazines that covered aviation, and technology. This is very interesting. Please keep up the good work. Thank you.
I watched a YF-12A being refueled north of Chicago during the Sonic Boom tests it was being used for. I was using a 20-power spotting scope and had a relatively clear view as it dropped off the tanker cleared and then went through the afterburner stages and went up fast at an 80-to-85-degree angle. I believe it was gaining speed in the vertical climb. It looked from my angle as Gibson described for a few seconds.
The yf12 did not have a good enough thrust to weight ratio to accelerate in a vertical climb. It was very aerodynamic and built specifically for high altitude flight regimes. An incredible piece of hardware nonetheless.
Satellites and drones are minimizing the need for very expensive, manned spy planes. It takes much more than just the airframe. It requires special refueling aircraft, secret maintenance bases, specific ATC P&P and so much else. Satellites eliminate all of that.
@@foxbodyblues6709I believe the other poster was referring to the official flight characteristics of said yf-12. Obviously aircrafts / engine combos exist that can do so.
I have a book about the Aurora project lying around somewhere that my grandfather, who was a massive aircraft enthusiast and worked on the Saturn V, used to own. It's all hypothetical, but it talks about some really interesting possibilities of how the engine worked, such as a normal turbojet engine in the SCRAMjet housing that was retracted at hypersonic speeds to keep from obstructing the mechanics of the SCRAMjet.
I served in the Air Force on the KC-135 back in 65-69. I enjoyed this very much. You did a great job in your research and in your presentation. Bravo, Well Done
The guys from the Royal Observer Corp are famed for their powers of observation and accuracy when making their reports. Whilst not having access to classified documents or being aware of the existence of specific black and classified projects, they in all liklihood will be aware that testing of unknown Aircraft is taking place and will have tasked with looking out for anything out of the ordinary. There were reports from locals in the region of RAF and more recently named MOD Machrihanish in Scotland, of strange sounding and strange looking aircraft in the vacinity of the base. For those that don't know RAF Machrihanish was used by the USAF as a relief landing strip for the US Shuttles in the event of an emergency over the North Atlantic due to its extremely long runway, which incidentally is perfect for extremely fast aircraft. It was known as the UK's Area51 and had a contingent of US Navy Seals stationed there. Pretty unusual to have special forces guarding an airbase. Whatever the truth, it is unlikely we will ever get to know, I will leave you with a final though.... If the Blackbird is 1950'-1960's technology and the F117A is 1970's technology then what the hell were they flying in the 80's, 90's and today..... As Professor Simon says "The truth is out there"
@@declanbrady5172 Ive seen the transportation of the torpedoes and depth charges as I lived close but never saw any spy planes and my family has aircraft background since the 50s my dad was Chief ATC officer at Glasgow airport at the time so looked at everything in the sky 🙂
Back in the 60's the fastest aircraft to date was built with a slide rule, the SR-71. Now 60 years later with super computers, yes I would conclude that there is a faster aircraft !
@@4jqxc Haha, still wouldn't one aimed at me. Seen the 300,400,500 and first 700. Wondering about the 600. Look for the S-700 vid, fastest launch I have ever seen, insane sounds. Odu Puiu yt ch?
Back in the 70s the fastest airliner to date was built, the Concorde. Now 50 years later with super computers, why don't we have any airliners that even get close to its speed? My point is, more speed comes with compromises that in many cases aren't worth the tradeoff. The SR-71 was already very limited in its capabilities and operational flexibility, so building something much faster would only magnify those issues.
The refuelling still shown at 11:34 is a retouched image from Mildenhall airshow in Suffolk, England, where 3 F-111F's were in formation with the KC-135. I was there and I have the exact same original photo. So do many more enthusiast who were present.
At 9:53, you said, "suffice to say" instead of, "suffice it to say" and that alone was enough for me to subscribe. Also, excellent video, well-written, well-read.
I’m fascinated by this story. My hope is that Aurora exists. Of course, civilians like me without clearance or a need to know will just to have to keep guessing. But guessing and speculating is fun. Thank you for the video and I look forward to part II
@@peterparker9286 Amazing! I believe you, and all the hundreds of comments describing the same thing, a triangle hovering in the sky and makes no sound. I hope i can see one myself one day 👍
@@FearUniverse This One flew right over my head and yes it was silent. It was just gliding along. I could tell it went fast because it had sheilding like the scales on a Snake.
There's a slight bias evident in your analysis of Douglas's recording. To say that an aircraft flying at 67,000 ft "HAS to be" either the SR-71, U-2, or an unknown 'other' aircraft, is not sound reasoning. It ignores the possibility of classified performance envelope metrics on other aircraft (although the only one I think comes pretty close is the F-15). Also, no one can say definitively that there was no SR-71 or U-2 operating at that location and date. The flight plans of 71's & 2's are not entirely public information.
"Was" is correct, it's already been made obsolete by newer aircraft 😆 Not really happy about you writing off Chris Gibson . So happy you made this a two part story 👍
I had the same thought: Gibson was not just some guy who was really into aircraft, he was a member of the UK Royal Observer Corps, which was an actual civil defense military unit dedicated to identifying potentially incoming enemy aircraft. He was working in the private sector when he had his sighting and if you read his description about it that he posted online and not the excerpt from the TV show you get a feel that he really was seeing something he wasn't supposed to see. Given that nobody who plans classified aircraft ever expected an aircraft expert to be on an oil rig I bet future OPSEC briefings for this and other projects were "OK, let's avoid all of the oil platforms when flying our secret aircraft shall we?"
They may have had a couple of good prototypes over the years, but nothing that was put into production. Look at what it took to keep a fleet of F-117's hidden. With today's communications, and constant satellite surveillance, it's a hundred times harder to keep these kinds of programs hidden. They can, but the costs to do so, are becoming astronomic.
A guy I knew worked at Macrihanish said he didn't see it 4 times in the late 80s early 90s, but the afterburners were impressive , did a fly over the runway once near speed of sound before disappearing almost vertical , very loud. And I used to work at an airfield with retired UK mil radar op who when I asked him he said he would be briefed when it would show up on the scope, this would be years ago maybe 30 plus. Appears to not be flying now as no reports of it over recent years. So it did exist at one time.
Hi again, we were on it already and spoke about it but wanted to ask once again... do you recall what shape were the exhausts, was they round like the ones on Blackbird or elongated like those on F22/F35? Btw, on one particular case it did a low pass over the runway at nearly Mach speed, am I understanding it correctly?
I work on a military base, and one night around 0200 I heard three f-16’s flying over the mountain. Then not even five minutes later we heard a pulsating noise flying after they passed. Lasting like a couple minutes, and we didn’t even see formation lights or anything in the sky. Working around jets I’ve never heard it before ever. This was back in 2008. To this day idk what we heard.
I was laid on my back in a park near Manchester England on a clear sunny day in 2008. I was wearing polorised sunglasses and just looking up into the blue. My attention watching an airliner flying high west to east (estimated FL 350) was destracted with a dark looking arrowhead flying way higher east to west. And yes it trailed donuts on a rope. I couldn't even estimate it's altitude with any degree of accuracy only that it was at least twice as high as the airliner, and covered my field of view in about three to five seconds, (I wasn't counting) the airliner still 'plodding' along for a while long after the arrow had gone out of sight.
@@scotchsoda3165 Impossible to say. At that altitude it looked maybe what an F14 might look like, but then it could be twice that size. I have never seen before or since anything that high. I've had a lifelong interest/passion for aircraft so I'm sure of what it wasn't. It wasn't an airliner/private jet. It was dark, possibly black, but again, difficult to assertain. The trail is what struck me as unusual, never seen that before. And the speed was phenominal.
@@steveb6386 It's said the plane is huge, because of the massive engines, the sub-sonic engines for takeoff and landing, and all the fuel it has to carry. Bob Lazar said he saw the exhaust of the engines, when the hanger doors were open, and said they were massive!
@@scotchsoda3165 I don't know. I didn't have my camera with me, but even if I had, I doubt I'd have had time to focus, and even at 400mm (assuming it was fitted at the time) it would be hard to catch.
But didnt Bartlett see the "aurora" craft flying with two F-177's and a tanker? With two F-117's to compare it to, couldnt at least see it was different and, at least, that the mystery aircraft WASN'T a 117? If this was the case, I tend to believe Bartlett.
My opinion is that they built and tested the Aurora over LA. I FELT that "earthquake" myself! It made our walls vibrate. I thought the ground shook too, but I was leaning on that wall when it happened. It happened at night too, not 7 am. I also believe that it was a logistical failure. It probably burnt itself out too quickly. It's probably pushing the limits of modern materials, making it impractical to use every day.
Excellent job, Alex. You never fail to captivate me with your analysis of the state of current aircraft (fighters& bombers) Thanks for all your hard work.
When the F-117's existence was revealed in November 1988 a single grainy picture was released, but the angle that the picture was taken at made it difficult to discern how long the aircraft was and how swept back the wings were. When Bill Sweetman released his book on the B-2 for Motorbooks International in the spring of 1989 he thought, based off of that grainy picture, that the aircraft was a borderline flying wing with a length of only 30 feet or so. During 1989 the F-117's at Tonopah started operating during the day and pictures and video started appearing in magazines (like that May 1989 cover of Aviation Week) and television. The first up close appearance of the F-117 for the public took place at Nellis AFB in the spring of 1990 and the USAF began to release higher quality pictures at that time.
Interestingly enough, Tom Clancy somewhat accurately predicted the F-117s role within the Airforce in Red Storm Rising. While his description of the plane was completely off (since there were no known descriptions, plus he actually deliberately adds mistakes to his books especially when it comes to technology, such as to make sure that noone could use his books as a source), he did get the rough dimensions as well as the role right (I think the story was that he knew the planes maximum possible size because he'd heard that a prototype plane of a highly classified nature had been transported to an airbase by truck, and therefore he knew that, at least with folded up wings, the plane had to be able to fit into one) and there are only so many roles a stealth plane that size can fulfill.
The german pulse jet engine found on the V-1 was able to fly at 500mph at 50cps even when combustion releases several times less energy than detonation. It's a totally viable engine.
That's a very different type of pulse jet. What's being suggested for Aurora is a pulse-detonation engine which burns its fuel using a shockwave rather than a flame front to increase performance and efficiency. It's much more difficult to build, has only been made to work relatively recently, and would be so loud that it makes normal pulse jets seem positively stealth and would be impossible to keep under wraps because it would have such a distinctive and overwhelming noise signature. The first flight of a manned aircraft powered by a PDE was only in 2008. The engine put out a mere 200 lbs thrust which enable the aircraft to reach speeds of 120mph at 100ft - hardly a hypersonic spy plane!
The early style of pulse jet used in the V1 Doodlebugs are similar to those the youtuber Colin Furze makes in his shed with a pressure washer to hydroform the metal.
U2/SR71 is replaced by satellites, theres a long list of ~50ish Edwards AFB landings made by the STS program as far back as the early 80s, all way through early 2000s.
I was talking to a friend of mine that flew the sr73, and he said it’s way better than the 71 or the 72. Also, he didn’t officially exist, and neither did his airplane. Also, he didn’t actually exist.
According to Ben Rich (who used to be head of Lockheed's Skunk Works) Aurora was the name of their design for the Advanced Technology Bomber, which became the B-2.
Well, half right. At a cocktail party I attended Ben Rich confessed to the group the "Aurora project" was actually Lockheed's version of the ATB, based on a much larger version of the F-117. As we all know Northrup won the competition, which later became known as the B-2
My uncle worked in the secret aviation world for most of his life. During the 90s he was starting to lose his marbles and would abruptly start talking about very deep secret aviation stuff as if he were talking about the latest happenings in the car industry. Even showed me some drafts. One set he showed me is what he indicated was what he believed to be the program the public new ad Aurora. These were military grade space shuttles. The smallest was more or less a triangle in silhouet. The biggest looked allot like the SR-72 from top gun maverick but much bigger scale, no intakes, i think it hat a flat or ball pointed nose and; maybe this is just because it was a draft, it kinda reminded me of star wars space ships. Although he seemed to have more faith in that program than any of the others (or rather the technology from it as apparently these programs usually only result in new technology rather than complete aircraft) he talked about much more wild stuff. Stuff most people today would recognize as ufo technology, though he seemed to think it was novelty technology that wouldn't go anywhere. I think the most shocking thing is that he spoke of the military presence in outer space as though it were well established and old news. And this was in the 1990s.
it is to be remembered that all sorts of strange stuff flew (and flies) out of Groom, and seeing one odd duck does not necessarily mean you saw a different odd duck. Observers see a triangular-ish plane flying slowly, in formation with conventional aircraft or on ascent or approach to the airfield. fine. Other observers see strange contrails or hear unexplained booms. also fine. What isn't fine is assuming the odd triangle is the thing making the booms. national security is adept at covering up real covert projects with black budgets and -cough- "camouflage* and misdirection. convenient unverifiable fantasy stories incorrectly linking evidence created by multiple independent causes are excellent for creating a maze of craziness from which no one can readily extract useful intelligence. I am almost certain that "Aurora" was used to conceal the actual stealth R&D programs during the Reagan administration.
I would say yes to the existence of the Aurora. I built a testor model of the SR=75, back in the 90s. It was a beautiful kit, with the fuselage like the SR-71, but with 4 engines under the wings, similar to the concorde, but with raised wingtips. I wished i still had that kit. I would have shown it. Also it was discussed on the A&E show our century, which had a show called air combat. I remember that show because at the end of the episode where they were talking about reconnaissance aircraft, The host Edward Herman said, officially the Aurora doesn't exist, but back in the late 1950s, neither did the U-2, but we knew it existed, especially on was shot down in 1960.
The Testor kit you are remembering is their "SR-75" kit. The Aurora was the delta shaped craft it could carry on top like how a SR-71 could carry a D-21
@@beboy12003 It wasn't a mistake. You remembered the aircraft correctly but had forgotten that it was the "mothership" for the Aurora plane. I do not think you could buy the Aurora separately. The box said "SR-75 [something] with Aurora" big across the top. It was from the early 1990s when Testors was the best American model kit company
The U-2 was revealed to the public in Feb 1957. It's like the SR-71 - it's believed to have been kept secret for years but that seems to be a myth that's appeared fairly recently. In fact the Blackbird was announced even before it made its maiden flight.
Retired "Blackbird" is from far 1960s. It was really ahead of its time. They were capable to engineer such a masterpiece back then. Now just imagine what are they capable now?..
I'm a star gazer here in the UK and people might be right about the Aurora spy plane, I remember this one particular night i was watching the lyrid meteor shower back in 2008 and spotted a triangle shape craft flying along side what looked like a refueling aircraft, I live in Salford and was looking north at the time and noticed the two craft traveling from east to west....I always wondered what i seen that night, But i've never seen it again in all the years I've looked to the skys
The major problem: military secrets are the hardest to keep. If you deploy the system, your opponents will acquire system within a 5/10 years. So you build it, make sure it works, retire the 2-4 built when replacement finishes prototype stage. Over 70% of thrust came from the inlet.
I live in Northwest Indiana and back in the early 2000's I was awoken late at night by a VERY loud sounding jet and the ground actually shaking like a small earthquake! I ran outside and could see a very large contrail in the night sky... The contrail was unusual as it was very large for how high up it was! Another unusual thing is the contrail seemed to spanned across the entire sky, it took me seconds to run outside and I didn't see an aircraft, and no sonic boom that I remember! Which is all quite confusing... I've had Military and commercial Aircraft fly frequently around my house and they've flown rather low, so I kno the difference between a low flying Plane shaking the house and this was very different again bc the ground was actually shaking!!
@@johnloman2098 or perhaps it was designed to muffle the sonic boom like the X-59? Lol honestly I've no idea, it was just an unexplainable and incredible experience to feel the ground shake and see the massive contrail across the entire sky! I specifically remember how it was blocking out the stars and how high up it was! What blows my mind is how fast I got up and ran outside and didn't catch a glimpse of w.e left the contrail!
@@Anarchy_420 one time I was lucky enough to catch one of the Space Shuttles re-entering the atmosphere at night time. It appeared as a little ball of fire in the sky and I think it may have left a small contrail too. The crazy thing was how long it took for the sonic boom to hit, and it did set off a couple of car alarms. I guess my comparison to your story is that when a plane (or other flying thing) is that high up in the atmosphere, it takes several minutes for the sonic boom to reach the ground, and by the time it reaches the ground the object that caused it will likely be out of view already. I think it was roughly six minutes? Don't quote me on that, it was a long time ago and I've done a lot of drugs since then. Perhaps you witnessed a high flying spy plane or even some craft skipping across the upper atmosphere. I wonder, with new telescopes and tracking technology, could someone make a setup that would track and follow high flying object? I know the military and NASA have ways to track things but there must be a cheaper civilian way to do this.
I worked at NASA Langley VA site as a contractor in the mid- 1990s and saw drawings for the Aurora. Never spoke about it as I was in a TS area doing refurbish work. Cool to see it on video now.
Haha, that's funny. Military hardware is often way behind the curve. What black projects are you thinking of that were 60 years ahead of their time or were only revealed decades after they started flying?
I lived in Reno for about 20 years. I've seen the hypersonic pulse signature a few times. According to our neighbors, they don't come out of Groom Lake. They fly out of Tonapah. They both grew up there and it was an open secret.
If there was an operational hypersonic jet in the 80's I am pretty sure it would have been declassified by now. Modern computer aided design and simulation and material technology has progressed so much since that time that it would now be as old fashioned as the F-117 and already be replaced by something new and better. Given the technical difficulties surrounding ramjet technology a demonstrator craft that wasn't economically viable sounds a lot more plausible.
I mean, the f-117 was a fighter jet, kind of hard to hide that it exists when it is literally bombing people. If they were still using the Aurora, they wouldn’t want their enemies to know.
The hand drawn sketch you show of Gibson’s sighting is accurate. Around 1999 I saw one over Southern CA. Many years after the sighting, I still can’t forget the long, narrow shape of that black triangle! It couldn’t possibly be mistaken for an F 111, an F 117, or a B2. However, that doesn't make it "Aurora". Ironically Aurora has become an urban ledged, like big foot and the Lock Ness monster. What a great way to hide a secret - in plain sight.
I was on a hill near San Diego with my wife watching the sunset. We saw the craft fly out of the sun, heading due east. Once it crossed the shoreline it turned slightly north of east. Hard to judge size, altitude, and speed, but it gave the appearance of an airliner entering final approach.@@RallyRacingVideo
I talked to a former air traffic controller who served in the 90s in New Mexico while I was at an airshow. I asked if he knew Aurora and he looked at me like I was some kid with Aspergers. He said he interacted with a pilot of an extremely fast aircraft flying at an extreme altitude who radiod in saying "darkstar incoming". I remember this was the same thing I saw in a documentary on aurora which featured a guy living in California having a recording of the same kind of interaction between a pilot and an atc. This was recorded right after he heard a pulse detonation sound over his house.
I live in LA (east side) and we don't always feel the earthquakes. This one time we ALL felt one so large that it "made the local news". Dr. Lucy Jones made her FINAL earthquake announcement. She told us that it was NOT an earthquake. 🤯 She said it was an "atmospheric disturbance". It was something that exceeded "mach 5". That was the first time I heard about the "Aurora" aircraft and the VERY last time I've seen Dr. Lucy Jones announcing an "earthquake". She's still at Caltech and we have government controlled system that monitors earthquakes. It seems that they shut her down to HIDE this plane.
Don't know what it is called, but a few years back, while driving down the freeway at dusk, I saw an arrowhead shaped aircraft fly from horizon to horizon as fast as my eyes could track it and then it was gone over the horizon.
I wonder what happened to all the spare j58 engines left over after the SR71 retirement. I heard the los angeles to DC 68 minute sonic boom in los angeles .
Great video!! The pulse detonation engine you cited was using liquid fuel, as I recall. The Air Force had contracted with a number of universities in the early 90’s to develop pulse detonation methods for fuels other than the gaseous versions they had seemed to already understand the mechanics of, thus the version you cite. Specifically, the contractors were challenged with developing sustainable flame fronts that exceeded the speed of sound from liquid fuels. I’m convinced that the Aurora used some sort of pulse detonation, though one could conclude the evidence could conclude another sort of propulsion that wasn’t operating properly.
I was an Air Force officer in the 70s. I had familiarity with with U2 and SR71. The aircraft I witnessed in the mountains in Central Utah with my sons in the late 80’s was definitely one of those or an F117. I am untrusting of terminology I don’t have personal familiarity with, but Aurora was a candidate
The cheapest way to get a new shape would have been re-winging an existing fighter, such as F-16XL or SCAMP. Maybe it was just an F-117 with a trial wing?
I grew up next to Edwards AFB in the 1980's. Some of these aircraft that were not revealed to the public officially were not even a big deal. I saw an F-117 flying around in the day time over my town before 89. I saw a boomerang shaped stealth bomber flying around in the daytime and when I heard that the B-2 stealth was boomerang shaped I naturally thought this is what I saw flying around. It wasn't. The aircraft that I saw was a drab color. Like the same color as a B-1 and it was boomerang shaped but with a rounded point at the nose, not a sharp angle like the B-2. It also didn't have much of a fuselage, it was pretty much a flying boomerang with a round curve. I've seen this aircraft a few times in the late 80's and never seen it since or even heard anyone speculate about it. The F-22, big secret? Nah. I was on base with a friend in 94 and it was parked out in the open next to a parking lot. I walked right up to the chain link fence separating the parking lot from the airfield and looked at it. Nobody cared. There were aircraft models of the F-117 that were perfectly accurate going back to like 84. So when I hear stories like this, about some secret craft that's been around for 30 years, and nobody has ever actually seen it. I really doubt that it exists. Especially when they say that it's flying into Edwards. TBH, the security and privacy of any aircraft flying in and out of Edwards really isn't that great. California City, Lancater, Lake Los Angeles all surround the place. It's not a remote location like it was decades ago.
Every project no matter how big or small has disinformation, when u mention the boomerang, did it resemble the craft in the Phoenix lights sighting? Now after some research I’m 99% certain both the tic tac and the Phoenix lights incident are ballon craft, this man had invented or made with his company almost identical triangular shaped ballon craft, now we’re talking ones that actually go in to water and still go 500 mph and rumors of mach 9 in flight with turns 75 degrees, the man said they were just better next generation of his crafts he shows on the UA-cam video, u know a lot more than me, I just knew people who were talking about the old x 18 ar was all bs,
@@PhillyHardy No the boomerang craft that I saw was totally conventional. It made jet noises. it trailed jet exhaust. Even the local cable channel at the time would fill dead space with footage of the thing flying that was filmed from an adjacent aircraft. It wasn't really a big secret, I just don't know what it was because after seeing it a few times around 88-89 I've never seen or heard anything about it again. Honestly I would like to know what it was just to satisfy my curiosity. If I had to speculate I would say that maybe it was a B-2 prototype or possibly a competitor's submission to the program that didn't win the contract. I lived in the Antelope Valley near Edwards for 10 years. I never saw anything UFO worthy.
Hi Alex: In addition to being an aerospace materials engineer, prior to that stint, I was a specifications engineer for one of Lockheed's (before merger w/Martin Marreitta) major subcontractors. Because of the many Lockheed programs that we worked on, we were on their distribution for all of Lockheed's Specifications & Standards. We were required to insure that the many manuals were kept up to date. In performing that task, you see special documents that pertained to specific aircraft and the Aurora was one of them. And yes, it had, for the time we're talking about, unique polymer fibers in unusual epoxy matrices. Today, I know they are in use for more common special parts, but not in the non-military marketplace. The materials are sensitive to handle, somewhat toxic and difficult physically to use in molds or in autoclaves.
Easy Ed: Were the documents you are referring to classified? Seems pretty strange that a supposedly deeply secret program would have its name (which would be something randomly chosen like “Have Sky”) openly displayed.
@@Reach41 I thought it strange that these docs were available for Nearly any eyes. 1) Being in a controlled entrance facility where several different military programs were being built simultaneously, offered some security. 2) I was in the unique position to see them. Since the facility I was at didn't manufacture any of the parts as actual production lines, they were not distributed to anyone else. Oddly enough, engineers from our R&D did look and make copies on occasion, but that was a rare occurrence. 3) I discussed it with the previous specifications engineer, but offered little guidance other than, " lets not talk about this". 4) As I mentioned, we had specifications that were specific to other aircraft too, but none were as sophisticated as this one. 5) The actual "classified" things would be drawings and material specifications. We did have yhe material specifications later after must of the hub-bub was over. I suspect they were put on regular distribution when the program was completed. Being declassified at that point. Considering only trusted facilities would get them like our facility. I moved up the engineering professionals tree about that time. As anyone else, I only saw specs that applied to the prgram I worked on. At that time it was extensive. I worked on the B-1B, C-5A Mod & B, C-130, Space Shuttle. Titan IV, Airbus A330 & A340 and finally the V-22. Due to a change in organizational structure, I regained control of specifications to Bell Helicopter and Boeing during the V-22 program.
@@Reach41 Just about everything in prototype phase is considered dark in today's world. I think the YF-23 was a much better bird that what we ended up with. Isn't it odd that we're already talking about its decommissioning!
@@JWHEdwards We were told that vectored thrust was the difference, superior in close-in dogfights using the gun. Neither vectored thrust nor close-in dogfights were in the mission profiles, or required by published aerodynamic requirements. So we were pretty surprised. It was like Lucy with the football. In reality, though, there was undoubtedly more to it than just the vectoring exhaust; Northrop was way over cost on the B-2, for example, which didn't work in its favor. As for the advisability of a one-thing-does-everything kind of aircraft, most recently the goal of the F-35 (I retired from that program), the idea is foolish on the face of it. I see that as buying 600 Ferraris to equip a base motor pool for all anticipated needs, including base police for high-speed chases of terrorists, and hauling garbage to the transfer station, when after each use every car had to be restored to factory-new condition. Easily foreseen, but ignored, any safety situation that arose would put the car pool out of commission until it was resolved. In the extant case, it seems pretty obvious that buying a bunch of upgraded F-15s for air superiority, and A-10s for anti-tank missions and all the other things they excel at, and two or three squadrons worth of F-22s, would have been a better plan. Would have cost a lot less, reduced problems with mission readiness, and have been much cheaper to maintain. But what do we know?
I know this isn’t true or anything but I’ve always felt like it was possible that the cost of the F-35 program was artificially inflated to cover the cost of some top secret project. Like, I have a hard time believing that the X-37b is just used to test technology for future space missions.
Where has this myth about the SR-71 come from? It was revealed to the public months before its first flight, and four years before it started flying missions. It was anything but secret and for almost the entirety of its existence it's been one of the most famous and iconic aircraft every built that's been featured in films, TV shows, and countless articles around the world.
There is indeed a hypersonic test program that started testing in 1988, and is ongoing. What I have been told and found so far is that there are 13 different variants including 4 platforms that were (SSTO) aircraft undergoing testing and evaluation. Of the SSTO platforms, three were unmanned and one was piloted. Some of the data collected is being used in the NGAD/FA-XX programs along with a practical and production variant SSTO Hypersonic global strike platform by 2030- 2035. Two of the programs for the SSTO platform are called "pumpkin seed" and "little mouse". One is for a hypersonic kill vehicle for anti-satellite operations and the other is a glide vehicle for anti-ship warfare.
Maybe this helps. Beechcraft was one of the few cryogenic tank manufacturers in the United States in the early 80's. My father was working on the starship program at the time. I remember him coming home and remarking that he had never seen such large tanks being built for liquid methane. The guys working on the project had no idea what it was going to be used for but it wasn't designed for space. He maintained until his death the highest probability was for some type of high speed aircraft and speculated it's what we now call aurora. So maybe Beechcraft built the fuel tanks for LM. Currently LM doesn't build much in house, lots of things are farmed out. Especially difficult components that are technologically difficult to produce. So one more vote for something was built and most likely ran on cryogenic methane.
So, from about 1950 - 1975, the US develops planes like the U2, X15, XB70, SR71, F117, etc, but then from about 1980-onward, and for no particular reason, they just stop? Not only that, but all the ones they've built are just retired, with nothing to replace them? Or is it more likely the US continued developing the technologies but decided not to tell the public about it?
More than likely the research shifted to extra atmospheric craft like the X-37b
Satellite reconnaissance tech became much better, drone tech became much better, and they didn’t stop? After the F117 came the F22, then the F35, and now NGAD..
Satellites provide 24/7 monitoring and an overall lower cost and are beyond reach of ground fire and other mission risks. The technology has simply been bypassed.
That's because element 115 was duplicated.
Development has moved to plane endurance/efficiency, various aspects of stealth, sensors that do far more and do it quickly and automatically, missile tech that reaches further out much faster.. recon is easily done with various satellite tech. Less obvious things within the things we already have... stealth was the latest big reveal that obvious that wasnt so easy to "hide"...research the tech going into our lagacy planes today, new missiles, way better radars, new engines, new stealth coatings... all things that are very impressive when you look at them alone. But again just nothing so obvious to those of us simply looking up into the sky.
I know it, or something like it, existed back in 1995. I was an electronic warfare technician. (Simplified job description: We detected radars) We were off the coast of Virginia & we were told to turn off our systems. Our officer told us just to turn down our monitor. The radar operator detected a faint target traveling at 7+ Mach. I turned my monitor on an confirmed, whatever it was, it was using one of our radars for navigation.
Edit: I’d like to add that we relied on “Janes” booklets as a very accurate resource. I can tell you that they were shockingly accurate, when it came to our weapons systems operating frequencies and capabilities.
the things that can be done using radio and energy frequency is insane.
อย่าไปบอกนะ เดี๋ยวประเทศจีนมันเตรียม Copy ขึ้นใหม่
Desert Storm. I was the Base Weather Station Commander at Riyadh. We supported the "heavies." AWACS, tankers, and J-Stars. We were too far from the front lines to have fighters. One of my weather forecasters, a Staff Sergeant, called me outside. He happened to have a four year degree in aeronautical engineering. We saw a matte black, HIGHLY advanced aircraft taxi to the end of the runway, and immediately take off. No markings, of ANY kind. It wasn't a Saudi plane. The Saudi's couldn't make bed pans. Every US Air Force plane that EVER takes off has to get a DD Form 175-1, Pilot Weather Briefing. It has to be attached to his flight plan. This is a hard requirement. The ONLY time a pilot wouldn't talk to me or one of my troops is when there is a "Special Support Cell", providing highly specialized (and Top Secret) briefings in lieu of the normal process. This was 32 years ago, and I remember it like yesterday..and could draw a pretty good sketch of it.
Thank you for the comment. Could you provide a description of the shape you saw? How big was it? Kind regards
Probably a drone
Would be really cool to see a sketch of it
Please provide a sketch if possible. Thanks
@@ptgtdcr32 years ago?? Not likely
I was at Lockheed from 1983 to 1993. We had a monthly company magazine, and one issue had a drawing of the follow-on to the SR71 called Aurora said to fly higher and faster. The depiction closely showed an aircraft resembled the photos and drawings shown here.
Any aircraft intended to fly that fast will have the same kind of shape. Look at the Convair Kingfish or the McDonnell Mach 12 interceptor concept from the 1960s - all the same kind of triangular lifting bodies with not much in the way of wings.
Sorry, but that’s just bullshit.
LockMart’s internal newsletters have never featured anything that wasn’t openly discussed with shareholders. There is zero record of Lockheed ADP EVER working on anything called “Aurora”.
“Aurora” was a (carelessly) overlooked part of the line item budget for the Northrop Grumman “Senior Ice” ATB entry that ultimately won and subsequently became the B-2 Spirit.
The successor to the SR-71 absolutely existed in VERY small numbers, but it was neither a Lockheed airplane, nor was it called “Aurora”.
Either your decade spent at LM was very, VERY far away from any military contracts or you just cobbled together some stuff you vaguely remember hearing someone else talk about and you just fabricated the entire story. Either way, you’re so incredibly off target that you don’t even qualify as wrong.
@FloridaManMatty the name was likely changed from Aurora, as that name was becoming too well known
My Dad told me about Aurora a long time ago. He was Air Force with a pretty high clearance. He heared about, in certain circles, and even caught a glimpse of a part of the aircraft. He always laughed off my conspiracy theory mindset for a long time. He told me about knowing about Project Aurora when he was close to his death and that they cancelled the project because of the cost. So, I don't know.
I Think it did exist
Awwww. I wish he revealed more info before he died. And it sucks how he refused to give you any info when he was still working as air force, because he was scared to get killed or punished.
My father told me about a plane project code named Aurora too, back in the 1990s. He claims it was a joint project he had seen between the Pentagon, DARPA, and a "Northern VA defense aerospace contractor". I don't think it ever became a "fleet" project. I think maybe there were a handful of planes that were operated by intelligence agencies with a small support unit from the military.
And Bob Lazar still swears he worked with aliens. Still don’t buy it.
@@jameskirk3 You're exactly right!!
I was driving US50 westbound around 4am at about 125mph in the late summer of 1987. I looked to my left to see an F117 landing next to me at NAS Fallon. At the time I had no clue what it was, but knew it was not a typical airplane.
You came close to winning a Darwin award.
Seeing a B2 flying looks fake, almost like a kite. Obviously it’s real just looks very unnatural. Glad we have them.
@@christaylor6654 A few years ago I was on the top of a 60 story building in Chicago during the air show and a B2 flew by. It was eerie... almost like alien technology. Then it hit me: the whole day we'd been buzzed by F-18s etc which were screaming loud. The B2 was damn-near silent and it wasn't more than 1,000 yards away at eye level in the middle of the city.
Bro you were going 125 and survived
US50 in NV is known as the "loneliest highway." For damn good reason.
Given that legions of Americans do 90+ on crowded I95, trying to get to the beach, 125 all by your lonesome isn't all THAT dangerous.
I'd never recommend it, but it's far from the "cheating death" act you make itto be. A lot depends on what you're driving and how well-maintained it is.
It's also well known, that a ton of high altitude supersonic testing was done in the 1990's with modified F-15's. Modified F-15's easily exceed 60,000ft.
The Streak Eagle comes to mind.
@@xandersnyder7214 Exactly! In fact, I think most of the speed and altitude records were set by the Streak Eagle in the late 70's. By the 90's, they were testing Vectored Thrust Nozzles, High Alpha Canards,etc.. 20 years after the Streak Eagle, I can only imagine what other classified goodies they tinkered with.
Believe it or not, they even drew up the idea of an F-15 with a Cranked Arrow Wing, similar to the F-16XL (as it was quite successful), for longer range strike capabilities. Of course that never happened....At least that we know of.
In the 80s GD had a facilty just a couple miles outside my little Texas town sonic booms happened almost daily. I still remember one kid was easly scared by them. Plus one day I was walking to a freinds or somewhere and I saw a light gray jet and a dark gray jet mock dogfighting over my town. They where close to ground which had me awe struck. but anyways I was told they where testing new radar technology and stuff. They had a jet sitting on a tall tower and huge ass radar/satalite dishes out there. Supposdly someone claimed they had a building that was full model sized aircraft carriers and stuff that they where doing some kind of test with. I remember being chased out of there mulitple times when the place was shut down and we would try to go out there and drag race on the runways.
@@xandersnyder7214 I saw literature that the Streak Eagle (set the time to altitude records) exceeded 100,000 feet, and in one flight broke all the time to altitude records at or below FL600.
X-15?
I remember playing Command and Conquer Generals and seeing the aurora in there, gave me a little smile. I can’t remember where I read it but someone suggested aurora, sr72 or something comparable existed simply because the military wouldn’t have retired the sr71 unless there was something to cover the capability. Satellite imagery has come a long way but at the time of the rumors and the sr71’s retirement, satellites weren’t good enough to render the need obsolete. Suppose we might never know
Satellites are good enough as far as imaging goes. The Limitations of them are
1. They are scheduled by God and Kepler.
2. Probably less effective for Ferret missions. AKA pokeing the air defenses to respond.
Is there a replacement? Honestly, I don't know. This was at the time of the Peace Dividend that never really came through. so maybe it was decided that it wasn't worth the cost any longer. Which was a mistake but 20/20 hindsight and all that.
I think it is all a big I don't know and will not know for sure until that info is released.
C&C is an awesome bundle of cool military tech, really.
Almost always the real story is simple and the least costly one.
Aurora might have existed in prototype but nothing more. Simply scrapping the SR-71 with no replacement makes the most sense.
What if the satellites at that time were a hell of a lot better than they were letting on?
@@Dave5843-d9m nope..tr3b is the replacement
Fact: The US Air Force has had operational technologies decades before being released to the public. High heat paints, Infra-red cameras, Side looking radars are examples. I was actually shocked These type things became available on the civilian market 30/40 years after I got out. Little known is the fact that personnel working in high tech career fields frequently work with scientists, engineers, and inventors. Therefore, if the AF was dealing with these things many decades ago. What are they dealing with now??
Hac Broun You may find this of some interest. I took two daylight photos of a black craft over Hartlepool UK on 11.04.21 at 11.21am. This craft looks futuristic and is not aerodynamic like a conventional aircraft, but round in shape with what I can only describe as angled wings. It also had lights or propulsion system along the top edge. At the time of the photos it was keeping to the top edge of a cloud and appeared to be moving sideways at an angle. Could this be one of our technologically advanced aircraft caught on camera?
Well for tasters the U.S. Navy has bots flying perfect refuelling missions for returning aircraft and if the aircraft can fly in any weather encountered, these robots can definitely handle it.
The best guess illustrations for the Navy's NGAD fighters make Buck Rogers' best craft look steampunk.
I can hardly wait.
I am already sick unto dying of the geezly F-35, Lockheed's best boondoggle yet.
The US Air Force also uses technology that's decades behind what's available in to consumers. The flight computers in the F-22 use a number of i960MX processors released in 1990 that were obsolete decades ago and manufacturing of i960-series processors ended in 2007. The F-22 was upgraded with faster PowerPC 440GX processors replacing some i960MX chips, but you're still dealing with a processor from 1999.
40 years!
Pronouns and trannies.
So I'm a contractor and have been for 20 years in an area that was huge for National Defense. One of the customers I worked for was the particular one who built the flight simulators for new aircraft for the pentagon. I had caught him up in a line of questioning and he basically admitted to me that he built the simulator for the tr3b and they referred to it as the "taco chip".
He also told me they had fully autonomous F-16 armed drones.
The armed drone F-16s leaked in 2020. But there's little about them other than that. Most of the data you can find is about QF-16 targeting drones which date back to the early 2010s
@@brianwhedon8442
It was like 2015 when he told me.
The TR3E would run rings around the TR3B.....and some...... Taco chip..Haha...most now call it the Tic-Tak after seeing that footage from those Stunned navy pilots during a test flight. We still have a laugh about it.
@@alane8673who is “we” having this laugh you speak of?
@@brianwhedon8442drone f16s is absolutely terrifying in a sense. Cause it's like....how long before they say meh f22 or f35s
Like I would not wanna be on the opposition side against that.
I think it’s quite possible Aurora was built, but just mainly as a technology demonstrator and IMO some of that tech it helped develop may be contributing to why NGAD is going so smoothly. Funding wise I think it could have easily been paid for via USAPs, would love to see you go into detail on that topic but they’re possibly where some of those trillions of dollars we “misplaced” ended up
I think we made a Couple Three Aurorae. They didn't get Big, like the SR71 did, with Scheduled Mission Rotations, or anything like that...
Here's One For Ya: Name a Major Weapons System, on the YF12A, that Lasted a Good Long Time... BONUS: WTF IS a YF12A?
Rich people's pockets
See my post above. This thing goes to Mars, the new population of humanity. So that way they can destroy that place too......
@@ciacutout Anything designed to fly in Mars' atmosphere would be completely different to a vehicle designed for travel to Mars, and both of those would be nothing like an aircraft optimised for high-supersonic or hypersonic flight in Earth's atmosphere. Why do these conspiracy ideas always get so complicated?
We all WANT the Aurora to be true, but . . .
In New York, where I am, we have the Intrepid Air and Space museum and on the deck of the carrier is an A-12, not an SR 71, the log books of which are still top secret. If only that plane could talk.
The CIA declassified a whole load of information relating to the A-12, both its development history and the missions it flew. That's how we know that on 30 October 1967, an A-12 flown by Dennis Sullivan was hit by a fragment of a Soviet S-75 Dvina missile fired at his aircraft during a "Black Shield" mission over North Vietnam. During three Black Shield missions, A-12s flew at altitudes of 86,000ft or more which is higher than the official world record set by the SR-71. During testing the A-12 set records of 2,208mph maximum speed and cruised at 90,000ft while the aircraft's manuals put the limits at 2,250mph and 95,000ft although the plane would be running on fumes at that point.
The Aurora was built at Skunk Works but the depiction of it is way off! My father was a director under Ben Rich at Skunk Works in Burbank during that time period. He passed two years ago at 98. He did confirm its existence. He also said there were no "Flying Saucers" or little green men at Groom. None of the projects he was responsible for used any "reverse engineering"!
The tech that came from SkunkWorks is the stuff of legends. Truly amazing
If Darkstar’s look doesn’t ring a bell I don’t know what does. Skunk Works makes things you’d thought would be made by supernaturals.
You must be a very proud son
Ben Rich said it himself, we now have the technology to take ET home.
@@socalguy71 He was kidding!
@@scheldon2244 The RQ-3 DarkStar (known as Tier III- or "Tier three minus" during development) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Its first flight was on March 29, 1996. Built by Lockheed Skunk Works
I have a friend who is a test pilot. We were talking about the SR-71 and why it was retired.
He looked at me and said that the SR-71 was developed and introduced in the 1960's and was in use for a while. He also stated that they have had and are still developing new spy planes and that they are in use now. He also stated that the new spy planes are WAY more advanced than we regular people realize.
I would bet that the Skunkworks airplane that was used in Top Gun 2 is real and has been in use for some time, around the time that the SR-71 was retired.
Can we imagine the general public’s backlash if they knew some aircraft have their own nuclear reactors driving their power plants?
I call bs
@@billpugh58 Lockheed Martin strikes again! 😀🏆
It was confirmed by the government about 5 years ago. There was people calling in to a radio station in the northeast cuz they were hearing a loud noise and it was going from north to south at an incredible speed. When I did the math the air speed was close to Mach 10.
We don’t need spy planes like we did in the Cold War. We have satellites now that have much better technology,
I remember first hearing about Aurora decades ago. Despite wanting so bad for info about it, after being a teenager through the reveals of the F-117 and B-2, I figured that pictures at least would eventually be released even if the specs stayed classified. Now here we are, definitively in the future (from a 80s/90s perspective) and still NOTHING.
Given this intense level of secrecy on a project that was thought to be flying already decades ago, it leads me to believe that we have likely made a SIGNIFICANT jump in military technology, at least in the realm of spycraft. Now you might be thinking, "Well, Duh!" but what I'm getting at is that, by example, the F-117 and B-2, for all their stealth, are still just conventional aircraft. The F-117 is not even a very good one at that. I believe that the Aurora program (and programs leading to and from it) may have led to leaps in technology beyond even the expected next jump of scramjets.
I feel like the current known push of military tech is just as much for show as it is projected might, as our adversaries close the gap on our technological superiority. Like "Hey China, look at this new obvious next level of tech that we have that you can study and try to copy." Meanwhile, we are actually developing things that are straight out of science fiction. This would also begin to explain the growing sightings of UAPs.
Ben Rich wrote in his 1994 memoir about his time at the Lockheed Skunk Works that Aurora was a Pentagon budget codename for funding B-2 production. Lockheed did work on a hypersonic spyplane design in the early 1980s, the Mach 5 Penetrator, but it was shelved without moving past the design phase.
@@vahe2391 There are designs for hypersonic aircraft to replace the SR-71 going back to the 1960s. Some of the Project ISINGLASS designs had a target speed of Mach 20! Ultimately they all ran into the same issues of cost, logistics, feasibility, operational limitations, and other factors that caused them to be shelved long before any prototypes were built.
Early 90's my friend saw one take off at Nellis
In the 80s Aviation Weekly magazine wrote an article about External Pulse Detonation using a crafts external pressure cones as the combustion chamber. Think about that, by spraying fuel externally into these pressure cones trailing the aircraft then igniting it. This could be what created the Donuts on a rope which a friend and I witnessed and heard in the late eighties from his shop in Hawaiian Gardens CA. The direction what ever was creating those contrails was coming from the Pacific heading toward Edwards. I never see anything written about this.
But wouldn’t the aurora be flying high enough that it wouldn’t make a contrail?
Latest Prof Simon yt vid, Mach 7 from UK base.
It would if it was coming down from over the Pacific for a landing at Edwards.
@@rickhaiman9904 If it's leaving the Kwajalein Island Facility in the Marshall Islands it makes sense.
The question is what engines it converts to for sub-sonic flight operations? Does it carry two different types of fuel for the two types of engines? Is it as big as a 747, to hold the massive amount of fuel & engines............
This Aurora story made me remember a sighting I had in So. Calif near the San Gabriel mountains in 2010. I am a Mechanical Engineer, so I know and appreciate machinery, especially aircraft. I was standing outside on a clear day and happened to look up in the sky and I saw a perfectly round aircraft at very high altitude traveling at an unbelievable rate of speed from west to east. I don’t believe in aliens or alien craft, so I figured it was an advanced research aircraft. It didn’t ‘scare’ me or shake me up. I just marveled at it because of its incredible speed. It was out of sight in only a few seconds and if I hadn’t looked up by chance at that moment I would have never seen it. I could not see the craft’s profile, only that it was perfectly round. Have you ever heard of any research aircraft with such a shape and performance?
Round as in a plate/disk or round as in spherical/ball shape?
@@LIONTRIBEACTUAL This person said that they could not see the object's profile. In other words; they have no way of knowing if it was a sphere or a disc.
A friend and I saw an elongated oval cigar shaped craft that had 4 orbs fly into it and it glided in a weirdly slow but fast motion all the way to the horizon within a minute. Zero sonic boom or sound, this was queen creek AZ, it came from the northeast headed south west and was the only daytime ufo I've ever witnessed. It was light grayish almost transparent looking with no wings and left no trail of any kind
Aurora was actually the name of either a mission or a series of missions. The name of the program was "Darkstar' and they didn't make a whole fleet of them because of a combination of cost and satellites being able to do the vast majority of the work that the SR71 had been doing.
There was an accidental budget leak. The budget showed the name 'Aurora', probably overlooked when marking stuff black. That's why the name keeps hanging around. Judging by the spending on it, that was most likely the B2. There were bigger projects that are still classified though, so who knows what has been flying around the past 3-4 decades.
Have Blue.
In 1997 the Independent News Paper did a report on the Auora crashing , it did crash 100% in Britain
@@gmain1977 links would be helpful.
The problem with satellites is that the enemy knows when they are there and close shop while they are present. The sr71 didn't announce itself and flew wherever it wanted. {Darkstar} or whatever you call it is fast enough to do the same.
I have asked about this at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio and they said it wouldn’t surprise them if it shows up out of the blue someday. They have received several prototypes that were classified and never officially announced that were sent to them when the Air Force had no further use for them.
What were the prototypes they were given?
@@falkenlaser It was an unmanned vehicle from the 80s.
@@jasonking3182 Is it currently on display? I’m going there to see the solar eclipse in April.
@@falkenlaser I am not sure this was around 2009 so I am sure they changed the exhibits. I know they get new planes in all the time
Dude it’s so awesome seeing creators give credit to others for using their work!!! Props man!
The X-15 was the first aircraft to reach Mach 5 in 1961. Stealth technology was already in operation in the late 1970s. The tech was there to make this possible. But possible doesn't always translate into feasible.
The X-15 had a burn duration of about sixty seconds. Its performance not even relevant to any discussion of Aurora.
@@JeffStevens The x-15 was a prototype and a technology demonstrator. Planned in the late 50s and tested in the early 60s. Of course it's completely impossible that something more advanced came out of those tests a quarter of a century later. As we all know, all new technology comes out of thin air, not because someone demonstrated something was possible and research and development was put into it and improve the results. The Flyer One the Wright Brothers tested in 1903 flew for about ten seconds. Of course it was completely foolish to think that a dozen years later, combat aircraft would be fighting each other by the thousands. They are not even relevant to the discussion that we now see flying aircraft as an everyday thing.
It's real. We witnessed it throughout the summer of 1993. Very high in the sky with, what we called "zippered", contrails. They'd come from a lone black triangular speck that moved faster than we could guess because of it's hight. The zippered parts, aka "donuts", would appear not long after the aircraft had past visual range.
There is a different between a missile with a pilot attached, and a long duration stable burn. Scramjets were developed as early as mid 50's if I remember, but the problems couldn't be solved to make them viable even into the 80s.
My best is 100% on hypersonic rocket plane like the X-15 but with added stealth research
I can say without a doubt it's real. In 1993, I had a family member that lived in proximity to Edwards Air Force Base. For about several months, usually on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, we'd hear sonic booms about twice a day. At the time, there were already news reports of unusual contrails that had a unique zipper like shape to them.
Often, we could actually hear the faint burbling of jet engines in the sky above. When we would go out to check, we could see the zippered contrails and a single dark triangular shape that they emitted from.
The sonic booms we're not as window shaking as those that came from the space shuttle, but a bit more subtle. We didn't mind because we were proud to see with our own eyes how advanced our air force was, and to have the bragging rights of actually being witnesses.
The 911 Anniversary is coming up this Sunday. Since I'm old enough to remember the coverage at the time, I remember all commercial and private air traffic being grounded for several days. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH "Aurora"?
Since there was no air traffic, the satellite images over the US showed clears skies devoid of the typical jet contrails. But one particular image showed a lone contrail that streaked across several states. it seemed like it was over 2/3 of the country. many speculated that was the "Aurora". IT'S WORTH CHECKING OUT!
@@secretbassrigs wow, I know this was a while ago, but did you happen to get any pictures of what you saw?
@@PadAmbstar no. It was before smart phones and film cameras requiring zoom lenses were expensive. By the time the donut shapes would develop on the contrails, the aircraft would be long gone. over the horizon.
Pulsed detonation propulsion?
@@roundtownKen Not possible, for reasons explained in the video. I'm not doubting that the "donuts-on-a-rope" contrails did exist, but it couldn't have been caused by a pulsed detonation engine (or at least, not a supersonic one, much less a hypersonic one).
I think there was certainly a high speed probably hypersonic aircraft operating at that time that was responsible for the mysterious booms and contrails.. However it was certainly not named Aurora that was a code named for the funding item for the Advanced Technology Bomber B-2.. I also think the aircraft seen by Chris Gibson on the oil platform as well as the one that crashed at Boscombe Down was a different aircraft then the one that was causing the West coast sonic booms and it may have been a tactical reconnaissance aircraft based off the YF-23, this theory was covered in the Air Force monthly article that covered the Boscombe Down incident..
"Dark Star" as seen in Top Gun Maverick 😆 Really cool that the script writers paid homage to the radio ID 👍
@@edwardfletcher7790 DarkStar used to be a Skunk Works stealth reconnaissance drone in the early 1990s.
B-2 is officially Spirit now.
why can't it be Aurora for us.
@@bosoerjadi2838 Yeah, the RQ-3A.
I thought the Oct 92 AWACS intercept by Steven Douglas was a pilots voice though ?
Unless that was a cover so any foreign power intercepting it wouldn't know it was a drone !?
💡 !
Ohhhhhhhh damn !!
That's SNEAKY !!😲😲😲
@@bosoerjadi2838 Yes, and this mach 5 aircraft was likely unmanned at the time. Because the G forces pulled in some of it's maneuvers. Plus more space for fuel, and surveillance systems then.
78yr old American veteran. It was in the fall of 1983 or 84, just at dusk, antelope hunting out on the Sweetwater, Wyoming, my family observed a black wedged shape aircraft flying the nap of the earth, coming out of the north and flying south. Raising up and passing over Green Mt. Yes, I, believe.
You most likely seen an F-117 Nighthawk, That's round the time it was operational .
@@HotDawgzzzzz depends on how fast the plane his family saw went. F117 isn't so terribly fast.
I had a friend that was in the Air Force who claimed he could hear the sound of the "Aurora's" pulse detonation engine coming from the Edward's AFB north base facility at night time.
I live near Beale. Several times I've seen a low flying, triangular aircraft on approach late at night with minimal lighting. It's always after 2200, and it's usually almost silent. When you mentioned engines sounding like air rushing through a big tube, I was like, "Holy crap. Have I seen this thing?" I don't know if it was an F117 or something else, but I've seen it at least 3 times since I moved hear 5 years ago. My dad has seen it as well. I see U2s all the time, and I'm pretty convinced it's not one of those. It also looks too long or narrow to be a B2. But it looks a lot bigger-at least from my perspective with just the lights against the dark sky-than any of the hypersonic prototypes I know of.
I've seen something like that southeast of Travis AFB. It was 11pm, flying low, and totally silent that it flew over people I could see outside a bar, and they never knew it went over them.
It would appear as though you two gentlemen have each witnessed an “alien reproduction vehicle”. Completely silent flight is a hallmark of mass-reduction/gravity-cancellation technologies at work. As many know, here in the US, the acknowledgement of nonterrestrial life is the highest secret of the land.
@@seankash8546 I guess that explains the guy I saw one morning at the donut shop that used to be near the base. I thought I just needed coffee bad enough to hallucinate, but he looked awfully reptilian. XD
I live up here as well and remember my mom telling me she saw a triangular aircraft. But this was years ago on Highway 20 near Brownsvalley.
@@seankash8546 have you ever read the Blue Planet Project pdf??
There were no shuttles in orbit and a double sonic boom happened over los angeles back in the early late 80s or early 90s.
I grew up in Los Angeles during that time. I specifically remember an absolutely huge sonic boom hit one time, and the explanation they gave was JPL was testing an engine or something.
It also happened like clockwork for 3 or 4 tuesdays in a row
The marines. Wanted me as a drone operator in .. 86 or 87 ...so 45 years ago
77777⁷
Shuttles in orbit? What does that have to do with it?
I believe Aurora existed, but that they only built a couple of them as scramjet demonstrators to test the practical use of scramjets.
I have heard it off the coast of California. Flying over it sounds like the space shuttle coming in for landing.
The amount of lucky people who saw this legendary aircraft in the comments sells it for me. I can’t imagine the experience and pride of seeing something that fast built by our engineers.
I saw the trb3
That was great! I'm glad you're doing this in two parts. Very interesting and I think you're doing it justice.
I keep in mind that most of the aerodynamics theory around some forms of hypersonics was well established back then, to the extent that designs back then were remarkably similar to the latest designs. For many reasons reasons it's quite plausible that research aircraft in this domain continued, and were classified at the highest level. But the justification for even low level production just wasn't there at the time. It's hard to justify today..
Very justifiable today.
@@secretbassrigs Far less justifiable today. A spy plane is a lot more useful if people don't know it's spying on them, but that's not an option if it's flying at hypersonic speed.
The opposite could have also been true. Instead of a very expensive aircraft program. It could have been a classified space program. A drone space plane able to change orbit & gather intelligence in minutes makes sense. As it would be designed to cover holes in the satellite network refueling would be needed. Multiple drones carried into orbit in the space shuttles oversized bay followed by mission tasking, & hypersonic glide recovery to a remote base is the most efficient method available. Not to mention playing reverse and actually having the program name be appropriate to task is clever. Aurora is a good name for a stealthy space planes in polar orbit lighting the way.
One theory I heard was Aurora was a development from the "Hotol" concept of a space plane powered by ramjets able to take off and land from a normal runway that was proposed back in the 80's
@@richardcowling7381 It's definitely possible simply wanted to point out. That a project using existing technology & research with a high launch cost is more likely than a cutting edge project with radical new technology. Technology from the shuttle program & for reducing radar return was easily available to a black program. The shuttle launch method allows for improved stealth coatings & deleting the engines for enhanced stealth. Cold thrusters only would also greatly simplify the design especially extended liquid oxygen storage, & reduce the possiblity of visual detection.
I would like to present to you the X37b
@@michaelmclaughlin4488 Which could easily be gen 2 or a refueling tender for Aurora, but not Aurora;)
@@michaelmclaughlin4488 The X37B is the result of the Aurora program. The Aurora was the manned version that preceded it
It's hard to believe that an aviation platform like the SR-71 would just end without a next stage replacement. At least one or two aircraft.
We're still flying the U-2, the plane the SR-71 was supposed to have replaced. Could be the U-2 simply retook its throne. EDIT: Also, I forgot! Right when we retired the SR-71, we DID have another craft performing reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union! The OV-100 series spaceplane, aka the Space Shuttle. It was able to fly targeted paths that normal satellites couldn't.
Satellites…
There is a new reconnaissance flying wing UAV being deployed in secret that fulfills the niche once occupied by the SR-71, the Northrop Grumman RQ-180.
Although we now that rumors of the USAF fielding a hypersonic follow-on to the SR-71 in the late 1980s and early 1990s turned out to be false due to the immaturity of air-breathing hypersonic engine technology as well the reactivation of the SR-71 in 1995 (although the Blackbird was retired again in the late 1990s), the fact that the USAF never built a Mach 6 replacement for the Blackbird in the late 1980s/early 1990s timeframe doesn't mean that the Americans did not shop for an SR-71 replacement in the last years of the Cold War. Since the early 2000s, it has become clear that in the 1980s, the CIA conceived Project Quartz (aka AARS) for a long-range reconnaissance flying wing UAV designed to penetrate Soviet airspace and detect Soviet mobile-launched ICBMs. However, Project Quartz/AARS did not progress beyond the design phase by the time it was canceled in 1992, although Boeing and Lockheed submitted proposals for the Quartz requirement. The proposed Tier III of 1993-1994 would have utilized the design philosophy and high-altitude, long-range capabilities of the Quartz program, but it also was not built, and the Tier III requirements were split into Tier II+ (which led to the RQ-4 Global Hawk) and Tier III- (which produced the RQ-3 Global Hawk). The RQ-180, with a wingspan greater than 100 feet and capability to overfly heavily defended airspace, encapsulates the design philosophy and operational capabilities that the Quartz project might have embodied (in other words, the CIA and USAF knew that hypersonic air-breathing technology was very much in its infancy and preferred a subsonic unmanned flying wing as the design layout for an SR-71 replacement).
Links:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-180
www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/aars-lockheed-quartz-tier-iii-frontier-systems-w570-arrow-shadow.511/
@@vahe2391 Thanks for the info!
I'm also sure that the general public is being drip fed UFO/UAP stories through the media these days. We'll see.
@@jblee344 Agreed. They do have limitations though. The SR-71/A-12 had big psychological benefits just doing a flyover, subtle and effective. Speak softly and carry a big stick doctrine.
My brother was in the AF from ‘81 until ‘97. He claimed that the SR-71 left three pings on their radar when it crossed their airspace. And that something was flying by that only left 2
Oddly enough, a ramjet is simple in theory, but hard to build. It's design resembles a "gas pipe" and it's said that it can attain those high mach speeds. The call sign "Gaspipe" was a giveaway!
I personally thought that the Arora program was a project to research and develop multiple advanced technologies like various propulsion methods, energy based weapons and stealth as well as other secretive ultra futuristic stuff we're not allowed to know about and these technologies were or are being developed using multiple aircraft designs that are also in themselves super advanced testbeds with catchy names. And I think basing Arora around the development of a single aircraft is a misconception.
Same with UFO's. In 40-70 decades ago, lots of different designs were spottet. From crafts with portholes to slimlined designs without windows. Only a decade apart. But this is a level deeper secretcy than Aurora. You know they already studied forces of nature that made gravity, acceleration, centrifugal and high G forces at start of the 1900. Then suddenly in 1916, it all went black and Electric science was not done publicly anymore.
@@Tbonyandsteak A very good point, I think a couple of reasons were that because of the need to build simpler and cheaper weaponry at the time was more of a priority as the wars going on around that era limited what funding could be used on expensive RnD and another reason was because the true genius behind electric research was not being given the resources he needed to develop what could have been mankinds brighter future, purely because of greedy powerful idiots running industry back then.
I obviously talk about Tesla, he could have changed the world had he been allowed. A conspiracy? Yes, however, to this day I think he was put down by the greed of powerful, selfish and corrupt people.
@@lurchibold You just have to read about Radient energy and the electric science from that time. Tesla's vision did not came out of nothing. It's a powerfull knowledge they took away. Replaced it with the Atomisn cult and Mathematic Theories. Dont think it was against Tesla as such. It is also a dangerous knowledge, Death rays, Zero point energy, Resonnance that can be millitarised. Just imagine on Zero point energy, when you encrease the energy just by 1.01 for each wave in megaherz. That would be almost as a nuklear bomb. I can understand if they were afraid of this, but not if it used against the population. Those people are ruthless, some even spoke of a time of post humans(post means after). Quite creepy dark dark dark place.
Btw. Remember a time several decades they argued that Science evolved, but not the maturity of humans and that was a big problem. Quite hypocritical when they use against people.
Finally someone said what is most probable: Gibson witnessed an F-117 Nighthawk. Flying alongside two F-111’s is also an important context clue. Both aircraft essentially had the same mission in the USAF, so it stands to reason that they trained and flew together. 🤷🏻♂️
The F-117 is not a wedge shaped triangle, there’s a clear difference and the guy was trained in observe bf aircraft he’d have known immediately
@@cancelanime1507 Or he saw it at an angle where he couldn't make out the cutouts.
@@HB-C_U_L8R It wasn’t at angle bro it flew right over him at low altitude on a clear day, it wasn’t an F-117..
@@HB-C_U_L8R you obviously have no experience with visually identifying aircraft
The F111 is quite a bit larger than a F 117 . Wasn’t the aircraft seen with the tanker and F 111s larger then the 111s?
In 1996 I was working at a refinery. At about 3am I went out to get the final tank gauges of the shift and as I was crossing the containment levee I looked up and saw a plane approaching from my left. As it got closer I saw that it wasn't 1 plane but 4 planes. As it got closer still, I realized they weren't planes at all. There were 4 triangle shaped objects flying in a 1,2,1 formation at about the same altitude and traveling at about the same speed as a twin engine plane but they were completely silent. They weren't lit on the 3 points of the triangle rather they glowed an amber color as if lit from the inside. It's how I was able to see them in such detail. They weren't perfect triangles as the sides were slightly longer than the rear section was across and the rear section was slightly concave. When they were directly overhead they did something I can only describe as "Impossible." They did a tumbling, rolling, flipping, over, under and around each other for 4 or 5 seconds then they instantly froze back into the original formation and continued on as I watched, awestruck as they flew on until they were out of sight. No known aircraft could perform such a maneuver within Earth's gravity without ripping the airframe to pieces let alone anyone inside surviving. It was as if gravity had no effect on them whatsoever. That was the first time I saw them and I haven't seen them since. I have no idea what they were but Paul Hellyer, former defense minister of Canada, said years ago that the US military has weapons to fight an extraterrestrial invasion and has discovered a new form of energy. I don't know if these things were the weapons or whether they were what the weapons were supposed to fight or whether they were something else entirely. Believe me or don't believe me but I can tell you with certainty that there is stuff going on we don't know about. I did 6 years in the US Navy as a Cryptologist and I never heard of even a rumour of anything like this existing. One thing is for certain--we are either FAR more advanced than we are being told or ET really does exist or, possibly both.
About the year 2000 I also saw the type of plane you described. The plane was about 2000 feet nose down. Gravity didn't seem to effect the plane has I thought it was about to crash. The plane flipped or tumbling upright and continued slowly on a north east direction. I called my coworker to validate what I was looking at and we both described the plane has a star wars type of aircraft. This plane seemed like 3x the size of the b2 spirit with much more advance technology.
"UFO" technically means an aircraft you can't identify. About 20 years ago, I was out in the yard with my ~7 year old daughter and her BFF, looking at the stars. Her friend saw something in the sky and said "Is that a UFO?" I explained that it was a conventional aircraft (LC-130 from the local ANG base.) I explained about the position lights and landing lights, as well as the distinctive sound of the turboprops. Awhile later, she saw something else, and said "Is THAT a UFO?" What she was looking at was a glowing ball of light, moving from East to West at the apparent speed of a conventional aircraft. It was silent. Only position/altitude I can firmly state is that the range we observed it at was greater than 700 yards and altitude greater than 100 feet when I did the math on the angle. Did the math at the time of what speed and altitude would have been at different ranges, but don't know where it is ATM. As I watched, it went from one finger width above the visible horizon (tree line, ~700 yards away) to four fingers above the visible horizon in an instant. No clue what it was, but no conventional aircraft I know of could have made that maneuver without ripping its wings off and/or exposing any crew to fatal G loads.
we have some VERY High Tech stuff out there that we're not aware of (publicly)
I made a similar comment under Caleb Shonks comment here.
I too saw a "SILENT" machine of some type streaking across the sky super-fast at LOW altitude
(on Long Island) but I'm confident that MOST of the things we see MUST be just secret high tech & probably from our own world / humanity.
The Night that I saw the 'craft" .... it was an utterly clear and full moon night on a frigid February
and I figure "They" whoever "THEY" are..... wanted to do a low "Night Flight" to see the ground
& they probably figured with the frigid 12 degree temps NOBODY would really be outside much & staring at the skys
I just HAPPENED to be the ONLY freak laying out on a back deck to see the stars on such a pristine-cold & clear night
and if I had BLINKED.............. I wouldA missed it passing by, it went so damn fast. (& silent)
I did not freak out.... but I figure it was my FIRST "UFO" .... but it just looked like Some Kind of High Tech to me.... I did not immediately assume it is Alien
.... probably "Ours" .... most likely. Just secret.
I HAVE also seen the "donuts onA rope" trails passing over Long Island too (in daytime)
@@AutomationDnD I agree 1,000 %. I believe it's high tech that they're not telling anyone about. There was a time I would have called BS on stories like yours and even my own. But after I saw it with my own eyes it changed my thinking completely and I'm sorry I doubted these people. People have said that what I saw was the TR3B but I've seen CGI etbe TR3B and these 4 triangles looked nothing like it. The TR3B is a perfect triangle. These things weren't. And the way they were lit was nothing like the CGI of the TR3B. I have no idea what they were but I believe your story. I never call BS on anyone's story of what they saw because I've seen this strange stuff myself.
@@AutomationDnD About the maneuver you saw, I agree with you. What these things I saw did would rip a conventional airframe to the point that it would be in pieces lying on the ground and everyone inside (if there was anyone inside) would be a like a crunched up cracker in a bag. It was as if gravity had no effect on them. As in NO effect whatsoever. And, I hardly use the term "UFO" because it might be unidentified to me but there is likely someone, somewhere that knows exactly what it is. There's a guy named Luis Elizondro that was an insider tasked with finding out what all these sightings by military pilots have been. He tells an interesting story. He says that it's his belief that the US possesses some type of exotic metal. He didn't say what kind of metal only that it's "exotic." But, for sure, there are things out there that we know nothing about. And whatever these things I saw were, I hope they're either friendly or something we developed ourselves. I can't imagine a conventional aircraft trying to outmaneuver them. These things could literally dodge bullets and missiles by flipping around them. They were just that fast when they were tumbling and flipping around. A conventional plane could be behind one and it could flip up and be behind the plane in just a second or so. It would be Impossible for a plane to engage them. That's if they're armed. Like I said, I have no idea what they were but they're here for a reason and someone or someTHING had to develop them and build them.
Now to part II! Thx for highlighting it.
I remember reading about Aurora in Popular Science magazine and other magazines that covered aviation, and technology. This is very interesting. Please keep up the good work. Thank you.
Same! My dad had subscriptions to those magazines and I loved reading them as a kid
Me too! The late 80's, early 90's! But, the TR3_B or whatever exists now are on a totally different level and magnitude than the Aurora!
We used to - have a space shuttle, Went to the moon, Airliner going faster than sound.
Seems like we used to have cooler stuff than we have now.
I watched a YF-12A being refueled north of Chicago during the Sonic Boom tests it was being used for. I was using a 20-power spotting scope and had a relatively clear view as it dropped off the tanker cleared and then went through the afterburner stages and went up fast at an 80-to-85-degree angle. I believe it was gaining speed in the vertical climb. It looked from my angle as Gibson described for a few seconds.
The yf12 did not have a good enough thrust to weight ratio to accelerate in a vertical climb. It was very aerodynamic and built specifically for high altitude flight regimes. An incredible piece of hardware nonetheless.
What an amazing memory you will have for the rest of your life
Satellites and drones are minimizing the need for very expensive, manned spy planes. It takes much more than just the airframe. It requires special refueling aircraft, secret maintenance bases, specific ATC P&P and so much else. Satellites eliminate all of that.
The F-15 has been able to accelerate in the vertical for decades.
@@foxbodyblues6709I believe the other poster was referring to the official flight characteristics of said yf-12. Obviously aircrafts / engine combos exist that can do so.
I have a book about the Aurora project lying around somewhere that my grandfather, who was a massive aircraft enthusiast and worked on the Saturn V, used to own. It's all hypothetical, but it talks about some really interesting possibilities of how the engine worked, such as a normal turbojet engine in the SCRAMjet housing that was retracted at hypersonic speeds to keep from obstructing the mechanics of the SCRAMjet.
I think I have the same book
I served in the Air Force on the KC-135 back in 65-69. I enjoyed this very much. You did a great job in your research and in your presentation. Bravo, Well Done
you guys never bore me
The guys from the Royal Observer Corp are famed for their powers of observation and accuracy when making their reports. Whilst not having access to classified documents or being aware of the existence of specific black and classified projects, they in all liklihood will be aware that testing of unknown Aircraft is taking place and will have tasked with looking out for anything out of the ordinary. There were reports from locals in the region of RAF and more recently named MOD Machrihanish in Scotland, of strange sounding and strange looking aircraft in the vacinity of the base.
For those that don't know RAF Machrihanish was used by the USAF as a relief landing strip for the US Shuttles in the event of an emergency over the North Atlantic due to its extremely long runway, which incidentally is perfect for extremely fast aircraft.
It was known as the UK's Area51 and had a contingent of US Navy Seals stationed there. Pretty unusual to have special forces guarding an airbase. Whatever the truth, it is unlikely we will ever get to know, I will leave you with a final though.... If the Blackbird is 1950'-1960's technology and the F117A is 1970's technology then what the hell were they flying in the 80's, 90's and today..... As Professor Simon says "The truth is out there"
@Declan Brady the navy seals were there because of the US submarine base at Holy Loch and the runway was that long for our Vulcan bombers !
@@lairdpenfold They were keeping a close eye on the shed load of nuclear torpedoes and nuclear depth charges, and of course top secret US spy planes 😉
@@declanbrady5172 Ive seen the transportation of the torpedoes and depth charges as I lived close but never saw any spy planes and my family has aircraft background since the 50s my dad was Chief ATC officer at Glasgow airport at the time so looked at everything in the sky 🙂
Back in the 60's the fastest aircraft to date was built with a slide rule, the SR-71. Now 60 years later with super computers, yes I would conclude that there is a faster aircraft !
Why would Russia have the S-700 is there wasn't a need?
@@alwayscensored6871 probably because their other ones don't work very well.
@@4jqxc Haha, still wouldn't one aimed at me. Seen the 300,400,500 and first 700. Wondering about the 600. Look for the S-700 vid, fastest launch I have ever seen, insane sounds. Odu Puiu yt ch?
Have a look at skylon - it is what some of the british NASA ex-SR71 engineers have been developing
Back in the 70s the fastest airliner to date was built, the Concorde. Now 50 years later with super computers, why don't we have any airliners that even get close to its speed?
My point is, more speed comes with compromises that in many cases aren't worth the tradeoff. The SR-71 was already very limited in its capabilities and operational flexibility, so building something much faster would only magnify those issues.
The refuelling still shown at 11:34 is a retouched image from Mildenhall airshow in Suffolk, England, where 3 F-111F's were in formation with the KC-135. I was there and I have the exact same original photo. So do many more enthusiast who were present.
At 9:53, you said, "suffice to say" instead of, "suffice it to say" and that alone was enough for me to subscribe. Also, excellent video, well-written, well-read.
I’m fascinated by this story. My hope is that Aurora exists. Of course, civilians like me without clearance or a need to know will just to have to keep guessing. But guessing and speculating is fun. Thank you for the video and I look forward to part II
Its real and so is TRB 3. Look up 2018 ufo patent
@@peterparker9286 Yes yes yes. I've seen the patent too. It's about a triangle aircraft. The truth is hidden in plain sight
@@FearUniverse I have seen One. I had Eyes on Visual 150 feet above my head in day time. No Joke.
@@peterparker9286 Amazing! I believe you, and all the hundreds of comments describing the same thing, a triangle hovering in the sky and makes no sound. I hope i can see one myself one day 👍
@@FearUniverse This One flew right over my head and yes it was silent. It was just gliding along. I could tell it went fast because it had sheilding like the scales on a Snake.
There's a slight bias evident in your analysis of Douglas's recording.
To say that an aircraft flying at 67,000 ft "HAS to be" either the SR-71, U-2, or an unknown 'other' aircraft, is not sound reasoning.
It ignores the possibility of classified performance envelope metrics on other aircraft (although the only one I think comes pretty close is the F-15).
Also, no one can say definitively that there was no SR-71 or U-2 operating at that location and date. The flight plans of 71's & 2's are not entirely public information.
This guy Alex is a hack.
"Was" is correct, it's already been made obsolete by newer aircraft 😆
Not really happy about you writing off Chris Gibson .
So happy you made this a two part story 👍
I had the same thought: Gibson was not just some guy who was really into aircraft, he was a member of the UK Royal Observer Corps, which was an actual civil defense military unit dedicated to identifying potentially incoming enemy aircraft. He was working in the private sector when he had his sighting and if you read his description about it that he posted online and not the excerpt from the TV show you get a feel that he really was seeing something he wasn't supposed to see. Given that nobody who plans classified aircraft ever expected an aircraft expert to be on an oil rig I bet future OPSEC briefings for this and other projects were "OK, let's avoid all of the oil platforms when flying our secret aircraft shall we?"
They may have had a couple of good prototypes over the years, but nothing that was put into production. Look at what it took to keep a fleet of F-117's hidden. With today's communications, and constant satellite surveillance, it's a hundred times harder to keep these kinds of programs hidden. They can, but the costs to do so, are becoming astronomic.
A guy I knew worked at Macrihanish said he didn't see it 4 times in the late 80s early 90s, but the afterburners were impressive , did a fly over the runway once near speed of sound before disappearing almost vertical , very loud.
And I used to work at an airfield with retired UK mil radar op who when I asked him he said he would be briefed when it would show up on the scope, this would be years ago maybe 30 plus. Appears to not be flying now as no reports of it over recent years. So it did exist at one time.
Hi again, we were on it already and spoke about it but wanted to ask once again... do you recall what shape were the exhausts, was they round like the ones on Blackbird or elongated like those on F22/F35?
Btw, on one particular case it did a low pass over the runway at nearly Mach speed, am I understanding it correctly?
I work on a military base, and one night around 0200 I heard three f-16’s flying over the mountain. Then not even five minutes later we heard a pulsating noise flying after they passed. Lasting like a couple minutes, and we didn’t even see formation lights or anything in the sky. Working around jets I’ve never heard it before ever. This was back in 2008. To this day idk what we heard.
I was laid on my back in a park near Manchester England on a clear sunny day in 2008. I was wearing polorised sunglasses and just looking up into the blue. My attention watching an airliner flying high west to east (estimated FL 350) was destracted with a dark looking arrowhead flying way higher east to west. And yes it trailed donuts on a rope. I couldn't even estimate it's altitude with any degree of accuracy only that it was at least twice as high as the airliner, and covered my field of view in about three to five seconds, (I wasn't counting) the airliner still 'plodding' along for a while long after the arrow had gone out of sight.
Was the arrowhead big, like 747 big?
@@scotchsoda3165 Impossible to say. At that altitude it looked maybe what an F14 might look like, but then it could be twice that size. I have never seen before or since anything that high. I've had a lifelong interest/passion for aircraft so I'm sure of what it wasn't. It wasn't an airliner/private jet. It was dark, possibly black, but again, difficult to assertain. The trail is what struck me as unusual, never seen that before. And the speed was phenominal.
@@steveb6386 It's said the plane is huge, because of the massive engines, the sub-sonic engines for takeoff and landing, and all the fuel it has to carry. Bob Lazar said he saw the exhaust of the engines, when the hanger doors were open, and said they were massive!
@@scotchsoda3165 I don't know. I didn't have my camera with me, but even if I had, I doubt I'd have had time to focus, and even at 400mm (assuming it was fitted at the time) it would be hard to catch.
But didnt Bartlett see the "aurora" craft flying with two F-177's and a tanker? With two F-117's to compare it to, couldnt at least see it was different and, at least, that the mystery aircraft WASN'T a 117? If this was the case, I tend to believe Bartlett.
Nope, it was with two F-111's and a Tanker
My opinion is that they built and tested the Aurora over LA. I FELT that "earthquake" myself! It made our walls vibrate. I thought the ground shook too, but I was leaning on that wall when it happened. It happened at night too, not 7 am.
I also believe that it was a logistical failure. It probably burnt itself out too quickly. It's probably pushing the limits of modern materials, making it impractical to use every day.
Like the recent surface earthquakes occurring in a line from Oregon to Washington.
Excellent job, Alex. You never fail to captivate me with your analysis of the state of current aircraft (fighters& bombers) Thanks for all your hard work.
The Aurora and SR-72 covert programs were fronts for even deeper black projects including reverse engineered UAP craft and propulsion systems.
When the F-117's existence was revealed in November 1988 a single grainy picture was released, but the angle that the picture was taken at made it difficult to discern how long the aircraft was and how swept back the wings were. When Bill Sweetman released his book on the B-2 for Motorbooks International in the spring of 1989 he thought, based off of that grainy picture, that the aircraft was a borderline flying wing with a length of only 30 feet or so. During 1989 the F-117's at Tonopah started operating during the day and pictures and video started appearing in magazines (like that May 1989 cover of Aviation Week) and television. The first up close appearance of the F-117 for the public took place at Nellis AFB in the spring of 1990 and the USAF began to release higher quality pictures at that time.
Interestingly enough, Tom Clancy somewhat accurately predicted the F-117s role within the Airforce in Red Storm Rising. While his description of the plane was completely off (since there were no known descriptions, plus he actually deliberately adds mistakes to his books especially when it comes to technology, such as to make sure that noone could use his books as a source), he did get the rough dimensions as well as the role right (I think the story was that he knew the planes maximum possible size because he'd heard that a prototype plane of a highly classified nature had been transported to an airbase by truck, and therefore he knew that, at least with folded up wings, the plane had to be able to fit into one) and there are only so many roles a stealth plane that size can fulfill.
The german pulse jet engine found on the V-1 was able to fly at 500mph at 50cps even when combustion releases several times less energy than detonation. It's a totally viable engine.
That's a very different type of pulse jet. What's being suggested for Aurora is a pulse-detonation engine which burns its fuel using a shockwave rather than a flame front to increase performance and efficiency. It's much more difficult to build, has only been made to work relatively recently, and would be so loud that it makes normal pulse jets seem positively stealth and would be impossible to keep under wraps because it would have such a distinctive and overwhelming noise signature.
The first flight of a manned aircraft powered by a PDE was only in 2008. The engine put out a mere 200 lbs thrust which enable the aircraft to reach speeds of 120mph at 100ft - hardly a hypersonic spy plane!
The early style of pulse jet used in the V1 Doodlebugs are similar to those the youtuber Colin Furze makes in his shed with a pressure washer to hydroform the metal.
U2/SR71 is replaced by satellites, theres a long list of ~50ish Edwards AFB landings made by the STS program as far back as the early 80s, all way through early 2000s.
I was talking to a friend of mine that flew the sr73, and he said it’s way better than the 71 or the 72. Also, he didn’t officially exist, and neither did his airplane. Also, he didn’t actually exist.
I love these videos, especially the ones concerning secret military crafts.
According to Ben Rich (who used to be head of Lockheed's Skunk Works) Aurora was the name of their design for the Advanced Technology Bomber, which became the B-2.
Well, half right. At a cocktail party I attended Ben Rich confessed to the group the "Aurora project" was actually Lockheed's version of the ATB, based on a much larger version of the F-117. As we all know Northrup won the competition, which later became known as the B-2
I thought the B2 had a different code name...
@@michaellooney1089
Not at Lockheed! I suppose their design might not have been called the B-2 had it gone into production though.
I heard from an A12 pilot that Ben Rich's book includes some intentional disinformation. Didn't say what part, but it's fun to guess.=
My uncle worked in the secret aviation world for most of his life. During the 90s he was starting to lose his marbles and would abruptly start talking about very deep secret aviation stuff as if he were talking about the latest happenings in the car industry. Even showed me some drafts. One set he showed me is what he indicated was what he believed to be the program the public new ad Aurora. These were military grade space shuttles. The smallest was more or less a triangle in silhouet. The biggest looked allot like the SR-72 from top gun maverick but much bigger scale, no intakes, i think it hat a flat or ball pointed nose and; maybe this is just because it was a draft, it kinda reminded me of star wars space ships. Although he seemed to have more faith in that program than any of the others (or rather the technology from it as apparently these programs usually only result in new technology rather than complete aircraft) he talked about much more wild stuff. Stuff most people today would recognize as ufo technology, though he seemed to think it was novelty technology that wouldn't go anywhere.
I think the most shocking thing is that he spoke of the military presence in outer space as though it were well established and old news. And this was in the 1990s.
it is to be remembered that all sorts of strange stuff flew (and flies) out of Groom, and seeing one odd duck does not necessarily mean you saw a different odd duck.
Observers see a triangular-ish plane flying slowly, in formation with conventional aircraft or on ascent or approach to the airfield. fine.
Other observers see strange contrails or hear unexplained booms. also fine.
What isn't fine is assuming the odd triangle is the thing making the booms.
national security is adept at covering up real covert projects with black budgets and -cough- "camouflage* and misdirection.
convenient unverifiable fantasy stories incorrectly linking evidence created by multiple independent causes are excellent for creating a maze of craziness from which no one can readily extract useful intelligence.
I am almost certain that "Aurora" was used to conceal the actual stealth R&D programs during the Reagan administration.
Hey...I worked on the PDE you show at 9:50. Will you tell me where you found that animation?
I've seen the doughnuts on a rope in broad daylight over the middle of England (U.K.) The noise was like no aircraft I've ever heard before.
I would say yes to the existence of the Aurora. I built a testor model of the SR=75, back in the 90s. It was a beautiful kit, with the fuselage like the SR-71, but with 4 engines under the wings, similar to the concorde, but with raised wingtips. I wished i still had that kit. I would have shown it. Also it was discussed on the A&E show our century, which had a show called air combat. I remember that show because at the end of the episode where they were talking about reconnaissance aircraft, The host Edward Herman said, officially the Aurora doesn't exist, but back in the late 1950s, neither did the U-2, but we knew it existed, especially on was shot down in 1960.
The Testor kit you are remembering is their "SR-75" kit. The Aurora was the delta shaped craft it could carry on top like how a SR-71 could carry a D-21
@@brianwhedon8442 thank you. I didn't see the mistake I made.
@@beboy12003 It wasn't a mistake. You remembered the aircraft correctly but had forgotten that it was the "mothership" for the Aurora plane. I do not think you could buy the Aurora separately. The box said "SR-75 [something] with Aurora" big across the top. It was from the early 1990s when Testors was the best American model kit company
I still have my SR-75 With aurora .
The U-2 was revealed to the public in Feb 1957. It's like the SR-71 - it's believed to have been kept secret for years but that seems to be a myth that's appeared fairly recently. In fact the Blackbird was announced even before it made its maiden flight.
Retired "Blackbird" is from far 1960s. It was really ahead of its time. They were capable to engineer such a masterpiece back then. Now just imagine what are they capable now?..
I'm a star gazer here in the UK and people might be right about the Aurora spy plane, I remember this one particular night i was watching the lyrid meteor shower back in 2008 and spotted a triangle shape craft flying along side what looked like a refueling aircraft, I live in Salford and was looking north at the time and noticed the two craft traveling from east to west....I always wondered what i seen that night, But i've never seen it again in all the years I've looked to the skys
The major problem: military secrets are the hardest to keep. If you deploy the system, your opponents will acquire system within a 5/10 years. So you build it, make sure it works, retire the 2-4 built when replacement finishes prototype stage. Over 70% of thrust came from the inlet.
Ive seen it.2013 being escorted into Charleston,sc.
I believe it was the sr91
I live in Northwest Indiana and back in the early 2000's I was awoken late at night by a VERY loud sounding jet and the ground actually shaking like a small earthquake! I ran outside and could see a very large contrail in the night sky...
The contrail was unusual as it was very large for how high up it was! Another unusual thing is the contrail seemed to spanned across the entire sky, it took me seconds to run outside and I didn't see an aircraft, and no sonic boom that I remember! Which is all quite confusing... I've had Military and commercial Aircraft fly frequently around my house and they've flown rather low, so I kno the difference between a low flying Plane shaking the house and this was very different again bc the ground was actually shaking!!
The ground was shaking from the sonic boom look up ground zero population 5
It will explain the difference in high altitude booms
@@johnloman2098 or perhaps it was designed to muffle the sonic boom like the X-59? Lol honestly I've no idea, it was just an unexplainable and incredible experience to feel the ground shake and see the massive contrail across the entire sky! I specifically remember how it was blocking out the stars and how high up it was! What blows my mind is how fast I got up and ran outside and didn't catch a glimpse of w.e left the contrail!
@@Anarchy_420 one time I was lucky enough to catch one of the Space Shuttles re-entering the atmosphere at night time. It appeared as a little ball of fire in the sky and I think it may have left a small contrail too. The crazy thing was how long it took for the sonic boom to hit, and it did set off a couple of car alarms. I guess my comparison to your story is that when a plane (or other flying thing) is that high up in the atmosphere, it takes several minutes for the sonic boom to reach the ground, and by the time it reaches the ground the object that caused it will likely be out of view already. I think it was roughly six minutes? Don't quote me on that, it was a long time ago and I've done a lot of drugs since then. Perhaps you witnessed a high flying spy plane or even some craft skipping across the upper atmosphere. I wonder, with new telescopes and tracking technology, could someone make a setup that would track and follow high flying object? I know the military and NASA have ways to track things but there must be a cheaper civilian way to do this.
@@phoenixrising4073 there was no sonic boom
I worked at NASA Langley VA site as a contractor in the mid- 1990s and saw drawings for the Aurora. Never spoke about it as I was in a TS area doing refurbish work. Cool to see it on video now.
Sure
Black projects are always atleast 60 years ahead of what we know or think we know even.
Haha, that's funny. Military hardware is often way behind the curve. What black projects are you thinking of that were 60 years ahead of their time or were only revealed decades after they started flying?
I lived in Reno for about 20 years. I've seen the hypersonic pulse signature a few times. According to our neighbors, they don't come out of Groom Lake. They fly out of Tonapah. They both grew up there and it was an open secret.
What timeframe it did fly out of Tonapah?
@@RallyRacingVideo I believe they moved to Reno in the late 80's or early 90's so it was before that. I met them in 1992 or 93.
@@Magravated how did they describe it?
How did they describe them? Any info on the shapes etc?
Two recent predawn mornings convinced me its flying; flying really fast noiselessly.
If there was an operational hypersonic jet in the 80's I am pretty sure it would have been declassified by now. Modern computer aided design and simulation and material technology has progressed so much since that time that it would now be as old fashioned as the F-117 and already be replaced by something new and better. Given the technical difficulties surrounding ramjet technology a demonstrator craft that wasn't economically viable sounds a lot more plausible.
I mean, the f-117 was a fighter jet, kind of hard to hide that it exists when it is literally bombing people. If they were still using the Aurora, they wouldn’t want their enemies to know.
The hand drawn sketch you show of Gibson’s sighting is accurate. Around 1999 I saw one over Southern CA. Many years after the sighting, I still can’t forget the long, narrow shape of that black triangle! It couldn’t possibly be mistaken for an F 111, an F 117, or a B2.
However, that doesn't make it "Aurora". Ironically Aurora has become an urban ledged, like big foot and the Lock Ness monster. What a great way to hide a secret - in plain sight.
ua-cam.com/video/C2dgJp0dOdA/v-deo.html
What was your location back then in 1999? Could you tell any more details?
I was on a hill near San Diego with my wife watching the sunset. We saw the craft fly out of the sun, heading due east. Once it crossed the shoreline it turned slightly north of east. Hard to judge size, altitude, and speed, but it gave the appearance of an airliner entering final approach.@@RallyRacingVideo
I talked to a former air traffic controller who served in the 90s in New Mexico while I was at an airshow. I asked if he knew Aurora and he looked at me like I was some kid with Aspergers. He said he interacted with a pilot of an extremely fast aircraft flying at an extreme altitude who radiod in saying "darkstar incoming". I remember this was the same thing I saw in a documentary on aurora which featured a guy living in California having a recording of the same kind of interaction between a pilot and an atc. This was recorded right after he heard a pulse detonation sound over his house.
Always an interesting channel.
I live in LA (east side) and we don't always feel the earthquakes. This one time we ALL felt one so large that it "made the local news". Dr. Lucy Jones made her FINAL earthquake announcement. She told us that it was NOT an earthquake. 🤯 She said it was an "atmospheric disturbance". It was something that exceeded "mach 5".
That was the first time I heard about the "Aurora" aircraft and the VERY last time I've seen Dr. Lucy Jones announcing an "earthquake". She's still at Caltech and we have government controlled system that monitors earthquakes. It seems that they shut her down to HIDE this plane.
Don't know what it is called, but a few years back, while driving down the freeway at dusk, I saw an arrowhead shaped aircraft fly from horizon to horizon as fast as my eyes could track it and then it was gone over the horizon.
I wonder what happened to all the spare j58 engines left over after the SR71 retirement. I heard the los angeles to DC 68 minute sonic boom in los angeles .
Great video!! The pulse detonation engine you cited was using liquid fuel, as I recall. The Air Force had contracted with a number of universities in the early 90’s to develop pulse detonation methods for fuels other than the gaseous versions they had seemed to already understand the mechanics of, thus the version you cite. Specifically, the contractors were challenged with developing sustainable flame fronts that exceeded the speed of sound from liquid fuels. I’m convinced that the Aurora used some sort of pulse detonation, though one could conclude the evidence could conclude another sort of propulsion that wasn’t operating properly.
Pro pane
So what produced the donuts on a rope contrail that you dismissed out of hand? (there were radio intercepts that went with the contrail).
I was an Air Force officer in the 70s. I had familiarity with with U2 and SR71. The aircraft I witnessed in the mountains in Central Utah with my sons in the late 80’s was definitely one of those or an F117. I am untrusting of terminology I don’t have personal familiarity with, but Aurora was a candidate
The cheapest way to get a new shape would have been re-winging an existing fighter, such as F-16XL or SCAMP. Maybe it was just an F-117 with a trial wing?
SR71 follow-on, more likely.
I grew up next to Edwards AFB in the 1980's. Some of these aircraft that were not revealed to the public officially were not even a big deal. I saw an F-117 flying around in the day time over my town before 89. I saw a boomerang shaped stealth bomber flying around in the daytime and when I heard that the B-2 stealth was boomerang shaped I naturally thought this is what I saw flying around. It wasn't. The aircraft that I saw was a drab color. Like the same color as a B-1 and it was boomerang shaped but with a rounded point at the nose, not a sharp angle like the B-2. It also didn't have much of a fuselage, it was pretty much a flying boomerang with a round curve. I've seen this aircraft a few times in the late 80's and never seen it since or even heard anyone speculate about it. The F-22, big secret? Nah. I was on base with a friend in 94 and it was parked out in the open next to a parking lot. I walked right up to the chain link fence separating the parking lot from the airfield and looked at it. Nobody cared. There were aircraft models of the F-117 that were perfectly accurate going back to like 84. So when I hear stories like this, about some secret craft that's been around for 30 years, and nobody has ever actually seen it. I really doubt that it exists. Especially when they say that it's flying into Edwards. TBH, the security and privacy of any aircraft flying in and out of Edwards really isn't that great. California City, Lancater, Lake Los Angeles all surround the place. It's not a remote location like it was decades ago.
Every project no matter how big or small has disinformation, when u mention the boomerang, did it resemble the craft in the Phoenix lights sighting? Now after some research I’m 99% certain both the tic tac and the Phoenix lights incident are ballon craft, this man had invented or made with his company almost identical triangular shaped ballon craft, now we’re talking ones that actually go in to water and still go 500 mph and rumors of mach 9 in flight with turns 75 degrees, the man said they were just better next generation of his crafts he shows on the UA-cam video, u know a lot more than me, I just knew people who were talking about the old x 18 ar was all bs,
@@PhillyHardy No the boomerang craft that I saw was totally conventional. It made jet noises. it trailed jet exhaust. Even the local cable channel at the time would fill dead space with footage of the thing flying that was filmed from an adjacent aircraft. It wasn't really a big secret, I just don't know what it was because after seeing it a few times around 88-89 I've never seen or heard anything about it again. Honestly I would like to know what it was just to satisfy my curiosity. If I had to speculate I would say that maybe it was a B-2 prototype or possibly a competitor's submission to the program that didn't win the contract. I lived in the Antelope Valley near Edwards for 10 years. I never saw anything UFO worthy.
Hi Alex:
In addition to being an aerospace materials engineer, prior to that stint, I was a specifications engineer for one of Lockheed's (before merger w/Martin Marreitta) major subcontractors. Because of the many Lockheed programs that we worked on, we were on their distribution for all of Lockheed's Specifications & Standards. We were required to insure that the many manuals were kept up to date. In performing that task, you see special documents that pertained to specific aircraft and the Aurora was one of them. And yes, it had, for the time we're talking about, unique polymer fibers in unusual epoxy matrices.
Today, I know they are in use for more common special parts, but not in the non-military marketplace. The materials are sensitive to handle, somewhat toxic and difficult physically to use in molds or in autoclaves.
Easy Ed: Were the documents you are referring to classified? Seems pretty strange that a supposedly deeply secret program would have its name (which would be something randomly chosen like “Have Sky”) openly displayed.
@@Reach41 I thought it strange that these docs were available for Nearly any eyes.
1) Being in a controlled entrance facility where several different military programs were being built simultaneously, offered some security.
2) I was in the unique position to see them. Since the facility I was at didn't manufacture any of the parts as actual production lines, they were not distributed to anyone else. Oddly enough, engineers from our R&D did look and make copies on occasion, but that was a rare occurrence.
3) I discussed it with the previous specifications engineer, but offered little guidance other than, " lets not talk about this".
4) As I mentioned, we had specifications that were specific to other aircraft too, but none were as sophisticated as this one.
5) The actual "classified" things would be drawings and material specifications. We did have yhe material specifications later after must of the hub-bub was over. I suspect they were put on regular distribution when the program was completed. Being declassified at that point. Considering only trusted facilities would get them like our facility.
I moved up the engineering professionals tree about that time. As anyone else, I only saw specs that applied to the prgram I worked on. At that time it was extensive. I worked on the B-1B, C-5A Mod & B, C-130, Space Shuttle. Titan IV, Airbus A330 & A340 and finally the V-22. Due to a change in organizational structure, I regained control of specifications to Bell Helicopter and Boeing during the V-22 program.
Very cool. I was structures on a number of dark programs, including the YF-23.
@@Reach41 Just about everything in prototype phase is considered dark in today's world. I think the YF-23 was a much better bird that what we ended up with. Isn't it odd that we're already talking about its decommissioning!
@@JWHEdwards We were told that vectored thrust was the difference, superior in close-in dogfights using the gun. Neither vectored thrust nor close-in dogfights were in the mission profiles, or required by published aerodynamic requirements. So we were pretty surprised. It was like Lucy with the football. In reality, though, there was undoubtedly more to it than just the vectoring exhaust; Northrop was way over cost on the B-2, for example, which didn't work in its favor.
As for the advisability of a one-thing-does-everything kind of aircraft, most recently the goal of the F-35 (I retired from that program), the idea is foolish on the face of it. I see that as buying 600 Ferraris to equip a base motor pool for all anticipated needs, including base police for high-speed chases of terrorists, and hauling garbage to the transfer station, when after each use every car had to be restored to factory-new condition. Easily foreseen, but ignored, any safety situation that arose would put the car pool out of commission until it was resolved. In the extant case, it seems pretty obvious that buying a bunch of upgraded F-15s for air superiority, and A-10s for anti-tank missions and all the other things they excel at, and two or three squadrons worth of F-22s, would have been a better plan. Would have cost a lot less, reduced problems with mission readiness, and have been much cheaper to maintain. But what do we know?
I know this isn’t true or anything but I’ve always felt like it was possible that the cost of the F-35 program was artificially inflated to cover the cost of some top secret project. Like, I have a hard time believing that the X-37b is just used to test technology for future space missions.
Right On Great video and visuals
Just think how long the SR71 was kept secret even though it was fully operational 😎
Where has this myth about the SR-71 come from? It was revealed to the public months before its first flight, and four years before it started flying missions. It was anything but secret and for almost the entirety of its existence it's been one of the most famous and iconic aircraft every built that's been featured in films, TV shows, and countless articles around the world.
There is indeed a hypersonic test program that started testing in 1988, and is ongoing. What I have been told and found so far is that there are 13 different variants including 4 platforms that were (SSTO) aircraft undergoing testing and evaluation. Of the SSTO platforms, three were unmanned and one was piloted. Some of the data collected is being used in the NGAD/FA-XX programs along with a practical and production variant SSTO Hypersonic global strike platform by 2030- 2035. Two of the programs for the SSTO platform are called "pumpkin seed" and "little mouse". One is for a hypersonic kill vehicle for anti-satellite operations and the other is a glide vehicle for anti-ship warfare.
Were they operational assets already in the 90's? What speed were they?
@@RallyRacingVideo when you mean operational do you mean attached to a new wing and official?
@@e.s.5529 I mean operational missions like abroad on overseas locations or "world tours"
Sir please make a vedio on American very very secret aircraft tr -. 3b ( black manta )🌷🌺🥀😅😁😁😁😁😁😁🌷🥀🌺🌺😁😁🪂
What’s the one that they are bringing out to the public in December?
Maybe this helps.
Beechcraft was one of the few cryogenic tank manufacturers in the United States in the early 80's. My father was working on the starship program at the time. I remember him coming home and remarking that he had never seen such large tanks being built for liquid methane. The guys working on the project had no idea what it was going to be used for but it wasn't designed for space.
He maintained until his death the highest probability was for some type of high speed aircraft and speculated it's what we now call aurora.
So maybe Beechcraft built the fuel tanks for LM. Currently LM doesn't build much in house, lots of things are farmed out. Especially difficult components that are technologically difficult to produce.
So one more vote for something was built and most likely ran on cryogenic methane.
Interesting