My mom designed a mach 3 bomber that could carry 40 tons. It never got past the design phase since we had to clear the kitchen table for dinner that night.
I designed and built a Mach 5+ interceptor complete with long range drop fuel tanks, 8 x AIM missiles and two 20 mm cannons with 400 rounds each, Then my son pillaged my aircraft for legos to finish his stupid Ninjago castle...
There was this once time when the plasma centrifuge I was working on in my garage created a magnetic over polarization and the garage door got fried - only later did I realize that my neighbour’s pool house electrical panel was also jacked and my space ship was to blame
Let’s be realistic. The SR-71 is a fast plane that could have carried bombs if desired. For something born in the 60’s, it is a marvel of accomplishment.
@Skim_beeble 7124 The Yf-12. The precursor of the SR-71. Designed as an interceptor., it was operational long before the Darkstar could possibly been built!
@@mahbriggs RIGHT..... but Curious.....which came first YF-12, or this 'Dark Star' A/C??? It is an Interesting to wonder if US knew of this Soviet A/C so they built the YF-12. Also, didn't the US secretly purchased Ti to build the SR-7, thought I heard of this story. USN Vet, 84-05.
@@heatblast876 No they wouldn't. They collapsed because they couldn't support all their spending. Especially after Chernobyl. They literally could only afford paper tigers. They are here today though, it's the Russian Federation and we've seen their stealth fighter that they can't afford and that's only stealthy from the front.
I wonder how well those external hardpoints would handle additional weapons and mach 5 as you stated. The increased drag would be off the charts. And, what would that have done to that 10k mile range?
So, to summarize: It would carry a 20t payload internally, plus another 20t on external hardpoints, it sports gun turrets and defensive missiles. And the whole thing could do Mach4 or 5. Yeah, sure...
And dont forget all those remote guns that fire faster than current Phalanx cannons PLUS the radar jamming hardware! This concept was a regular flying Swiss Army bomber
@@BradiKal61 Oh yeah, right. The guns carry 154 metric propaganda-tons of ammo! And the radar-jamming equipment is powered by a portable cold fusion device! I really overlooked that. Sorry. :)
The US tried something similar with the XB-70 Valkyrie. They even built prototypes and operated them somewhat successfully, if you ignore the fact that the outer skin literally melted off the plane at top speed and every single flight resulted in all kinds of severe damage to the plane. The advent of intercontinental rockets made all further development obsolete.
It was called the XB for a reason. It was a test aircraft, used to determine what did and did not work. Only two were built. One had a midair collision, and the other was used for additional testing.
This guy's voice really adds that stressful lurking danger undertone that makes these videos so good. It's instantly recognizable and puts you in that dark mission briefing room with the projector illuminating the smoke as it makes its way to the tobacco stained PVC retractable screen.
I agree with other kitchen table designers here. I remember in 6th grade conducting hypersonic bombing raids on my school supplied notebook. I even made ‘pew pew’ and explosion sounds to illustrate the reality of the whole thing.
It took the US to get the skin on the SR-71 right. Traveling at 3.3 Mach the alloy had to be critical, so flying at Mach 5 the temp of the skin control was out of reach
I noticed that too! I’m glad others noticed it as well. I loved that movie when it came out. I was 10 years old. I must have pestered my poor mom enough because she did take me to see it.
@@jacksemporiumofstuff I loved this movie, too. Was so glad to get one of the commercial poster after the film was at the playing end in my cinema. 😍😍👍👍 I always wondered, on which basic plane they'd built it and never imagined it was a FA18-Hornet. 😮😮
This never even got off the drawing board and was probably an academic exercise. The payloads were not even real, just hypothetical and what would be good and payload was 5 to 15 tons.
I have designed a Mach-10 aircraft in my basement. It can carry 2-tanks, 10-nuclear weapons, 8-AAMs, 5-2,000lbs precision bombs, a full platoon of troops and evade any known defensive system. I decided to skip the cannons because they fire slower than Mach-10, meaning I would be shooting myself internally. I know, I'm a genius! Thanks!
Lots of wishful thinking going into the design of this aircraft. As they say, it's much easier to design something on paper than actually building it; the main issue being the cost it would take to do so. Not to mention, if there was a rush to try and get this thing built, there would have been some inherent flaw with the aircraft despite what's "officially" known. Besides, later down the line, while the MiG-25 is capable of reaching Mach 3, doing so for longer than a few minutes would destroy the engines.
The biggest obstacles are physics and a shitty military. Physics prevents non stop intercontinental supersonic non ballistic flight - you can't carry enough fuel. Having a shitty air force prevents them from doing inflight refueling. So even their current aircraft have zero chance of reaching the US.
Great video. We were motivated by so much Soviet malarkey. Russia had the metal bit not the industrial skill to build with titanium at this time. This is straight out of a comic book
The spec sheet reads like a wish list not something based on actual possibilities. Conventional engines are not going to get anywhere near Mach 5 even the mig 25 engines were scap after reaching max speed for more than an few minutes and no plane with external stores is going to reach those speeds as drag would destroy anything externally mounted. And the thought of external Gatling cannon turrets as well is laughable at those speeds.
It was meant to be an subsonic intercept bomber, and the internal weapons bays may be inverted inside, not out, which will not break down the side bay doors (even that it is inside, not out, that will not open like the F22 or F35 weapons bay), even it goes to mach 3 to 4.
@@heatblast876 I’m not sure you understand what you’re saying. Subsonic means speeds below Mach 1 and there isn’t a chance this plane could have hit Mach 4 with conventional engines. At best it could likely have been close to mach 3 but would have destroyed it’s own engines within 20 minutes at those speeds.
You know what shocks me, as our periodic table of elements hasn’t grown, even though it has almost doubled, they don’t want us to know shit , well, they don’t want the average person to know shit
Not a history or aerospace guy other than the electronics in metrology involved. But I got that is got to be one of the most beautiful and ominous designs I've ever seen. The thing is just drop dead gorgeous
@@fjfrancois i prefer sailing ships... but they are SOOO EXPENSIVE. As a kid i would take one wooden beam, and build the sailing ship from it. I built it for months. Then I relocated, and it remained somewhere lost. I also built models of planes. Last model I built was Tornado 1/72. I even created a rocket 2 feet tall with 6 small rocket motors around it. Was affraid to launch it, because it has no parachute. Now, I feel like I wasted a talent. I am just an ordinary german (court) translator, and I know I should become a designer or something similar.
It’s crazy how people are still convinced that war is better than peace. Collaborating on bettering humanity should be a priority. Not finding new more expensive ways to kill each other.
I am guessing they did not get very far into the design phase. They thought they could use machine gun/cannon turrets to shoot at enemy aircraft, in all directions, while flying at mach 3. Did they not take into account the speed of a bullet?...lol
would have, could have. Their best best space rocket is still a derivative of the A4. The TU 144 illustrates how this was a wonderful idea that was unlikely to ever see reality. On the other hand, this video was one of your better ones. Keep it up with relevant video, tight narration, good story line.
"Their best best space rocket is still a derivative of the A4. The TU 144 illustrates how this was a wonderful idea that was unlikely to ever see reality."🤣🤣🤣 Half-baked truth from an ideologically biased ignorant.
The Soviets were the Pioneers in rocket technology, the Russians still are, sure Nasa had to piggyback off them for 11 years to get to space. Enough said.
Interesting video. The US equivalent was the XB-70, of which 2 prototypes actually got built. The US also built several prototype interceptors, YF-12 (closely related to the SR-71) to counter such anticipated threats.
Good points! The YF-12 was actually before the SR-71. They realised there were too many problems with it as an interceptor (from turn radius and manoeuvrability, to acceleration, drag by external weapon attachments, flow interruption when opening weapons bays at high speed, its leaky tanks, etc), but for reconnaissance it had promise, which it then fulfilled.
However, the XB-70 "only" flew Mach 3, was designed for ½ the weapons-payload and didn't have all those extra bells & whistles like gun-turrets & missile hardpoints. All the YF-12 would have had, was 3 air-to-air missiles. Those projects were the cutting edge of the cutting edge and barely possible with neigh unlimited funds. I somewhat doubt the Russians could have pulled off that much more and that's probably why the project never left the drawing board.
@@owenlaprath4135 The problems you mentioned might....big emphasis on might..have been solved with a ton of dollars. A more critical problem was the intercept crew prep time. Pre-breathing pure oxygen for an hour before the mission negated a timely intercept.
@@owenlaprath4135 The YF had an additional problem which made it impractical for the intercept role...crew prep time was hours long and included a 60 min stint on pure oxygen.
The SR-71 flew at Mach Three and had extensive wear to it's leading edges from the heat. The hallucination of a much larger flying wing, flying at Mach Four is just that. And I love the inclusion of archaic protection designs like remote control machine guns which add tons of weight to the design. The Luftwaffe had a bomber design to bomb New York city too. Like this one, it went right in the trash can. Great video though. A very nice exploration of a Soviet dream jet.
A few questions. One. What happens when you open your weapons bay at hypersonic speeds? Two. What happens when you try to fire your defensive machine guns forward or any other direction at hypersonic speeds? Three. If you manage to survive an attack run over an enemy target, what happens when you return to your airfield that has been cratered by a nuclear blast? It looks like someone failed to think through all the consequences of surviving their own successful nuclear attack.
lol, yes, I'm pretty sure that whatever base it left from ... it wouldn't exist by the time the bomber is making it's return-home trip. Also, the made-obsolete-before-ever-built-by-better ICBMs thing aside, I think we need to look to the "badass, having every feature you could ever want, including maybe a top-secret popcorn maker in it", the T-14 Armada MBT, to see how things would have gone if the USSR (or today's Soviet Federation) ever tried to build one that worked in real life, much less build them in quantity. I love thinking about the "showcase" T-14 rolling along in a showy parade of RU military might, I think in Red Square, and it Broke Down (lolol), and had to be TOWED away (lolololol). 🤦♂🤣.
One: They'd have to slow down for the bombing runs for sure. NFi about the guns although I'm sure counterforces could theoretically maintain equilibrium. It's all SF anyway!
What happens if you need to change directions after you get up to speed? Like if this thing wasn't perfectly aimed at the time. I bet it losses stability in a drastic way.
I really enjoy your videos, the history is incredible. I'd really enjoy, longer, more indepth videos. Including, covering future possibilities of dark tech. Not complaining, I could watch this all day
You could make exactly the same documentary about literally thousands of US and British designs that were never built. Interesting tidbit: We built two XB-70s. Only one reached Mach 3 and the total program accumulated about 3 hours of time at Mach 3, which was a lot of effort for such a small amount of experience. We learned a lot, but it was not a success for its design mission. Maybe the Soviets were just smart enough to see it would be a waste of resources for little benefit.
I was in my late teens at the time and neer heard of it. At that time the US was working on the B-70, aMach 3 cruise, high altitude bomber that actually flew a few times
Looks wise, it's the best looking flying wing design I have ever seen, as far as expected performance......it probably wouldn't deliver as promised, as example I would look at the MIG25, it could maybe reach Mach 3 but it would tare its self up doing it.
I agree with all the other comment people on this but from a different perspective. I was a Navy jet pilot in the late 1960's. We knew the Russians had fast and maneuverable fighters, but the technology and industrial skills to produce a sophisticated A/C was lacking. This mythical bomber is basically a dream that would have become a nightmare to try to produce and fly, costing more effort and money to ever be of benefit.
Top gun Maverick was a beautiful route there for the average people to understand, but it shows you that when you push it too fast, it will disintegrate around you more than enough to understand, I’m going to reject the speed
Your videos are great, but there’s one thing you consistently get wrong about high speed bombers. There speed isn’t to evade getting shot down on their way out. Their speed is to evade getting shot down on the way in.
Ohh, that remains me about the Germany on WW2 plan, that the germans was going to/has created a strategic low observable bomber to strike on Manhattan with any sign on radar, with nuclear deterrence warhead bomb/missile to strike on the new York city. This would have been worst nightmare for US. Man, the German scientists were more smart than any country people at that time.
I always loved the look of the B58 I wish they gave it the capability to drop conventional munitions. It’s way before my time but I always liked that thing
I enjoy this video about this bomber but it's so full of BS that it's running everywhere. This bomber never got off the drawing board. The biggest problem was costs and heat. They never did solve the heating issue. That plane would build up so much heat that the nose may possibly catch fire. Now another issue was the vibration. That "bomber" would have shaken so bad they wouldn't have known which direction they were heading. A good idea for future bombers but for the time just more propaganda.
"The Dark Star was way ahead of its time". Well, yes, you might say that, if it actually existed beyond drawings on paper. It, however, did not. So something that never existed and could not have possibly lived up to the aspirational abilities, isn't *really* ahead of its time. It was just Russians dreaming.
Im about half way though the video... and I'm really digging the design and philosophy so far... but I also have a feeling that it would be far too expensive and revolutionary to build... I wonder how the story ends! lol EDIT: Defense turrets on the plane? Ok thats just stupid - the whole idea is to not be interceptable.... EDIT2: lol, didnt even try to build it - shocker
The usual. The Americans stole the design and built a spy plane. 50 years later in the comments Americans are dissing the Russian design. Of course, if it were the Nazis who came up with this idea, the Americans would've been salivating over it. Americans like the Nazis.
New ads are way better than the old one. I couldn't help but laugh at all the USAF appearances in Army ads. After spending 20 years on the C-130, I'd say that's the greatest thing we ever offered the army. I'm tempted to watch it again just to count the number of times it shows the Herk and the C-17. Score higher on your ASVAB and join the air force, everybody! ;)
Thank you for the great content as always. If that plane ever made it to flight it would have been the most beautiful plane made out of the USSR otherwise beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Am I the only one that doesn’t think that if we could get over this damn measuring contest within the countries, how bad ass we can actually be as the world, I know Napoleon syndrome will never leave us😊
The first 10 minutes of this video are just imaginative dreams of 1950 to 1970 military planners. Most of it described technologies that were not developed for another 50 years. In was the 1960's version of the "Trip to the Moon" - a silent 1902 French adventure film.
That is the only design of a weapon system I know of which the Soviets did not steal the existing plans for. That's truly an original and still fascinating concept. Interesting that the recent movie called America's secret hypersonic bomber "Darkstar".
This is one of several hundred proposals by various manufacturers throughout the cold war of bombers and weapons originally created. China is about the only one that actively steals existing plans of others. Once you go down the rabbit hole of Soviet paper projects, you’ll quickly, and I I mean VERY quickly, realize that they didn’t copy and we’re not afraid to experiment the least.
The Darkstar, as Im aware, is not a hypersonic bomber. The plane is based on the real project of the SR-72 Darkstar. It is a Supersonic Reconoicence plane, the succesor of the SR-71.
@@project-gladiator It's said that the design of the "katchousha" missiles, the Kalashnikov, amongst others, were stolen from the Americans by the Soviets! Furthermore the name "kalashnikov" which is by all means "American" was also stolen from the gringos!😂
Thank you. But anything can look as good as one wants (or one's Dear Leader wants), but making it a reality is another story. Speeds of Mach 5 and external gun turrets and external hard-points for external bombs are totally incompatible. I know Dark Skies is only saying what the designers told the Kremlin bosses, but so much of it is simply pie-in-the-sky propaganda--and saying what the Kremlin leaders wanted to hear.
Socialists certainly dare to dream big. Like socialism actually working. But political jabs aside, this was a damn impressive plane. Question is, would they have actually ever succeeded in building it? And how many would they build? I doubt they could have maintained them over extended times, given how litte economy the USSR had.
Was thinking the same as his video's are getting more and more of an 'alarmist, glowie, deepstate scare tactics' type vibe in an effort to attract easily-frightened subscribers that buy into his increasingly hysterical videos
"Can you put a lazer cannon on it?". "Certainly" "What about an invisibility cloak?" "I think we could do that" "In that case can we make it nuclear powered so it never has to land?" "We have the technology comrade" "Why don't we put the lazer cannon on the T-64 making it an invincible tank?" "Noooo comrade" "Why ever not?" "Because we actually have a T-64"
I can't believe it! At 5:22 the sketch of the proposed design, bottom right is the FIREFOX that Clint Eastwood made off with in the film of the same name. Wow! 🤣
As outrageous as this design is I'm surprised they didn't include an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, and a movie theater. This looks more like a wish list of what if then a serious design, but then the Soviets did dream big.
As an engineer, such a shame that ICBM technology ruined such amazing feats of engineering as this aircraft and the western equivalent XB-70 Valkyrie (of which the latter at least managed to reach the prototyping stage, although one could see that as a waste of money). Also, lmao at the armchair engineers who are apparently wiser than some of the brightest minds of the 50s and 60s. Surely they all work for raytheon/nasa/lockheed etc. Hindsight is 20/20.
I recently saw a story, where they were trying to deploy a Mach 9+ aircraft, but unfortunately the plane was lost during testing and the project had to be scrapped... and all of the team members lost their jobs, but the pilot was able to go and lead an elite fighter squadron and the rest is, top secrete... :)
I love the info in these docs but please change your voice. I find it a monotonous drone of a poorly executed dramatic tone that makes me switch off. Just a suggestion
My mom designed a mach 3 bomber that could carry 40 tons. It never got past the design phase since we had to clear the kitchen table for dinner that night.
I designed and built a Mach 5+ interceptor complete with long range drop fuel tanks, 8 x AIM missiles and two 20 mm cannons with 400 rounds each, Then my son pillaged my aircraft for legos to finish his stupid Ninjago castle...
There was this once time when the plasma centrifuge I was working on in my garage created a magnetic over polarization and the garage door got fried - only later did I realize that my neighbour’s pool house electrical panel was also jacked and my space ship was to blame
My mom has a bunch of UFO's too. (UnFinished Objects)
@@davidlapping4630 I designed a Mach 3 bomber with a payload similar to the AN-225 that is so efficient that it only needs two double-A batteries
My granny designed a hypersonic nuclear powered flying stealth submarine tank.
It is so stealthy we can't find where we left it.
"When you know you can't deliver anything, go ahead and promise everything".
Typical Russian behavior.
This seems to be the general premise of the Russian military.
Sounds disturbingly familiar in the 2020s.
Yes tovarich!
@@chrisgreener5599 ...as well as a lot of our own politicians.
Let’s be realistic. The SR-71 is a fast plane that could have carried bombs if desired. For something born in the 60’s, it is a marvel of accomplishment.
they made a version of it that carried missiles
@Skim_beeble 7124
The Yf-12. The precursor of the SR-71. Designed as an interceptor., it was operational long before the Darkstar could possibly been built!
@@mahbriggs RIGHT..... but Curious.....which came first YF-12, or this 'Dark Star' A/C???
It is an Interesting to wonder if US knew of this Soviet A/C so they built the YF-12.
Also, didn't the US secretly purchased Ti to build the SR-7, thought I heard of this story.
USN Vet, 84-05.
Darkstar…I see you in the morning…
It was called Oxcart..and it was FASTER than the SR71
Say what you want, but the look of that aircraft is astonishing! Especially for a 60+ year old design.
Ah, the soviets truly had some magnificent paper tigers.
If soviets were there right now, they would have been created various role of stealth plane in large amounts.
@@heatblast876 👈 Fake account. Russian troll bot.
... and the Russians continue that fine tradition.
@@heatblast876 No they wouldn't. They collapsed because they couldn't support all their spending. Especially after Chernobyl.
They literally could only afford paper tigers.
They are here today though, it's the Russian Federation and we've seen their stealth fighter that they can't afford and that's only stealthy from the front.
@@classicgalactica5879 “anyone who likes Russia is a bot account” bro shut tf up
I wonder how well those external hardpoints would handle additional weapons and mach 5 as you stated. The increased drag would be off the charts. And, what would that have done to that 10k mile range?
Wouldn't have been able to carry enough fuel to fly 1,000 miles in that configuration at anywhere near those speeds!
So, to summarize: It would carry a 20t payload internally, plus another 20t on external hardpoints, it sports gun turrets and defensive missiles. And the whole thing could do Mach4 or 5. Yeah, sure...
And dont forget all those remote guns that fire faster than current Phalanx cannons PLUS the radar jamming hardware! This concept was a regular flying Swiss Army bomber
Sounds like Russia to me!
Propaganda
Don’t forget the length of a football field!!!😳🙄🤦♂️🤷♂️🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@@BradiKal61 Oh yeah, right. The guns carry 154 metric propaganda-tons of ammo! And the radar-jamming equipment is powered by a portable cold fusion device! I really overlooked that. Sorry. :)
The US tried something similar with the XB-70 Valkyrie. They even built prototypes and operated them somewhat successfully, if you ignore the fact that the outer skin literally melted off the plane at top speed and every single flight resulted in all kinds of severe damage to the plane.
The advent of intercontinental rockets made all further development obsolete.
It was called the XB for a reason. It was a test aircraft, used to determine what did and did not work. Only two were built. One had a midair collision, and the other was used for additional testing.
This guy's voice really adds that stressful lurking danger undertone that makes these videos so good. It's instantly recognizable and puts you in that dark mission briefing room with the projector illuminating the smoke as it makes its way to the tobacco stained PVC retractable screen.
His fast babbling is annoying
Never let physics get in your way! Those pesky aliens must be helping!
Or the military industrial complex back-engineered their technology 👽
lol
I agree with other kitchen table designers here. I remember in 6th grade conducting hypersonic bombing raids on my school supplied notebook. I even made ‘pew pew’ and explosion sounds to illustrate the reality of the whole thing.
The Soviet designers put everything but a bowling alley and a Starbucks into that plane.
Atlas-F and Titan I in hardened silos changed everything then.
It took the US to get the skin on the SR-71 right. Traveling at 3.3 Mach the alloy had to be critical, so flying at Mach 5 the temp of the skin control was out of reach
I think the subsonic intercept bomber which is dark star would go around max 3 mach to 4/4.5 mach somewhere in that between.
Even Concorde was flown by the skin temperature, rather than airspeed.
One Blackbird pilot said he went so fast that exceeded design of the airplane instrumentation, so God only knows how fast an SR-71 could really fly
what's funny is the U.S. got alot of the material to build the sr71 from the soviet union.
Yes the Soviets were the premier provider for titanium.
Holy Crap...
Looks like something from the Movies!
Firefox, but as a Nuclear Bomber.
One of the sketches looks very similar to the Firefox. 😮😮 At 5:20 this is looking a little like the Firefox.
I noticed that too! I’m glad others noticed it as well. I loved that movie when it came out. I was 10 years old. I must have pestered my poor mom enough because she did take me to see it.
@@jacksemporiumofstuff I loved this movie, too. Was so glad to get one of the commercial poster after the film was at the playing end in my cinema. 😍😍👍👍 I always wondered, on which basic plane they'd built it and never imagined it was a FA18-Hornet. 😮😮
Was scrolling for this one
One thumb up from me 👍🏼
My immediate thought
This never even got off the drawing board and was probably an academic exercise. The payloads were not even real, just hypothetical and what would be good and payload was 5 to 15 tons.
I have designed a Mach-10 aircraft in my basement. It can carry 2-tanks, 10-nuclear weapons, 8-AAMs, 5-2,000lbs precision bombs, a full platoon of troops and evade any known defensive system. I decided to skip the cannons because they fire slower than Mach-10, meaning I would be shooting myself internally. I know, I'm a genius! Thanks!
Is it powered by 2 ls1 or hemi engines?😂
Have drawn your design on an used napkin?
Can it do the Kessell run in less than twelve parsecs?
I got a bridge to swap you for the designs for that plane.
That sounds great but doesn't have a USB port and a coffee maker like mine does😄
Lots of wishful thinking going into the design of this aircraft. As they say, it's much easier to design something on paper than actually building it; the main issue being the cost it would take to do so. Not to mention, if there was a rush to try and get this thing built, there would have been some inherent flaw with the aircraft despite what's "officially" known. Besides, later down the line, while the MiG-25 is capable of reaching Mach 3, doing so for longer than a few minutes would destroy the engines.
yes, the supposedly amazing Mig-25 could fly impressively fast ... ONCE. Then replace the engines. (again, lol).
The biggest obstacles are physics and a shitty military.
Physics prevents non stop intercontinental supersonic non ballistic flight - you can't carry enough fuel.
Having a shitty air force prevents them from doing inflight refueling.
So even their current aircraft have zero chance of reaching the US.
Great video. We were motivated by so much Soviet malarkey. Russia had the metal bit not the industrial skill to build with titanium at this time. This is straight out of a comic book
True. I always found it funny and crazy how CIA set up fake companies to buy titanium from the soviets for the SR71.
The USSR built its submarines out of titanium. They were way ahead of the US at that time. They even made a statue out of titanium.
You could say the same about the Soviets and Western malarky...
@@RS-ls7mm yet couldn’t build the MIG-25 out of titanium
@@jameson1239 They didn't make a lot of things out of titanium. Priorities. That was the main flaw of their system, really bad infrastructure.
Outstanding video and presentation
But what a let down after all that build up to say It Never Went Past the Design Phase! 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
The spec sheet reads like a wish list not something based on actual possibilities. Conventional engines are not going to get anywhere near Mach 5 even the mig 25 engines were scap after reaching max speed for more than an few minutes and no plane with external stores is going to reach those speeds as drag would destroy anything externally mounted. And the thought of external Gatling cannon turrets as well is laughable at those speeds.
It was meant to be an subsonic intercept bomber, and the internal weapons bays may be inverted inside, not out, which will not break down the side bay doors (even that it is inside, not out, that will not open like the F22 or F35 weapons bay), even it goes to mach 3 to 4.
@@heatblast876 I’m not sure you understand what you’re saying. Subsonic means speeds below Mach 1 and there isn’t a chance this plane could have hit Mach 4 with conventional engines. At best it could likely have been close to mach 3 but would have destroyed it’s own engines within 20 minutes at those speeds.
yes, I began laughing as it seemed that EVERY conceivable feature kept on coming, in the description here! I was waiting for that popcorn-maker.
You know what shocks me, as our periodic table of elements hasn’t grown, even though it has almost doubled, they don’t want us to know shit , well, they don’t want the average person to know shit
Not a history or aerospace guy other than the electronics in metrology involved. But I got that is got to be one of the most beautiful and ominous designs I've ever seen. The thing is just drop dead gorgeous
Amazing looking aircraft. I just wish that some company would produce this beast as a 1/72 scale model kit.
1/48 😊
@@fjfrancois i prefer sailing ships... but they are SOOO EXPENSIVE. As a kid i would take one wooden beam, and build the sailing ship from it. I built it for months. Then I relocated, and it remained somewhere lost. I also built models of planes. Last model I built was Tornado 1/72. I even created a rocket 2 feet tall with 6 small rocket motors around it. Was affraid to launch it, because it has no parachute. Now, I feel like I wasted a talent. I am just an ordinary german (court) translator, and I know I should become a designer or something similar.
I would have liked to have seen how a model might do in a wind tunnel test. Has anybody done a computer simulation this century?
Per example how are rule coud affect this layour
As thin as that aircraft looks it would probably be good on-air resistance.
It’s crazy how people are still convinced that war is better than peace. Collaborating on bettering humanity should be a priority. Not finding new more expensive ways to kill each other.
I am guessing they did not get very far into the design phase. They thought they could use machine gun/cannon turrets to shoot at enemy aircraft, in all directions, while flying at mach 3. Did they not take into account the speed of a bullet?...lol
Those were suppose to be laser turrets, bro!
Your voice is simply impeccable. Love how articulate each of these videos. Love it.
would have, could have. Their best best space rocket is still a derivative of the A4. The TU 144 illustrates how this was a wonderful idea that was unlikely to ever see reality.
On the other hand, this video was one of your better ones. Keep it up with relevant video, tight narration, good story line.
The German a4 rocket ??
"Their best best space rocket is still a derivative of the A4. The TU 144 illustrates how this was a wonderful idea that was unlikely to ever see reality."🤣🤣🤣
Half-baked truth from an ideologically biased ignorant.
The Soviets were the Pioneers in rocket technology, the Russians still are, sure Nasa had to piggyback off them for 11 years to get to space. Enough said.
I think the current war lets everyone know how good Soviet designs are!
Around 10 years later, Gene Roddenberry was designing the Starship Enterprise. That had about the same likelihood of being built.
The Soviets always thought they could get on the "meant to be" train as far as Tech is concerned but they never got onboard...
It's because they did it their own way, not to the tune of anyone else.
Interesting video. The US equivalent was the XB-70, of which 2 prototypes actually got built. The US also built several prototype interceptors, YF-12 (closely related to the SR-71) to counter such anticipated threats.
Good points! The YF-12 was actually before the SR-71. They realised there were too many problems with it as an interceptor (from turn radius and manoeuvrability, to acceleration, drag by external weapon attachments, flow interruption when opening weapons bays at high speed, its leaky tanks, etc), but for reconnaissance it had promise, which it then fulfilled.
However, the XB-70 "only" flew Mach 3, was designed for ½ the weapons-payload
and didn't have all those extra bells & whistles like gun-turrets & missile hardpoints.
All the YF-12 would have had, was 3 air-to-air missiles.
Those projects were the cutting edge of the cutting edge and barely possible
with neigh unlimited funds. I somewhat doubt the Russians could have pulled off
that much more and that's probably why the project never left the drawing board.
@@owenlaprath4135 The problems you mentioned might....big emphasis on might..have been solved with a ton of dollars. A more critical problem was the intercept crew prep time. Pre-breathing pure oxygen for an hour before the mission negated a timely intercept.
Archangel... Got its wings clipped.
@@owenlaprath4135 The YF had an additional problem which made it impractical for the intercept role...crew prep time was hours long and included a 60 min stint on pure oxygen.
The SR-71 flew at Mach Three and had extensive wear to it's leading edges from the heat. The hallucination of a much larger flying wing, flying at Mach Four is just that. And I love the inclusion of archaic protection designs like remote control machine guns which add tons of weight to the design. The Luftwaffe had a bomber design to bomb New York city too. Like this one, it went right in the trash can. Great video though. A very nice exploration of a Soviet dream jet.
I wanna see the bullet's trajectory when fired perpendicularly at Mach 4. LOL
@Sahadi420 // Flying faster than a speeding bullet. WOW, but problematic.
@@Sahadi420 LOL! the jet outrunning the bullets would be fng hilarious.
Truly, but big dreams, albeit unworkable in the short term, may eventually turn out to be the key to open a new door to far greater capabilities.
The foxbat fly at 3.2 and is a production fighter
A few questions.
One. What happens when you open your weapons bay at hypersonic speeds?
Two. What happens when you try to fire your defensive machine guns forward or any other direction at hypersonic speeds?
Three. If you manage to survive an attack run over an enemy target, what happens when you return to your airfield that has been cratered by a nuclear blast?
It looks like someone failed to think through all the consequences of surviving their own successful nuclear attack.
Good questions, IMO.
lol, yes, I'm pretty sure that whatever base it left from ... it wouldn't exist by the time the bomber is making it's return-home trip. Also, the made-obsolete-before-ever-built-by-better ICBMs thing aside, I think we need to look to the "badass, having every feature you could ever want, including maybe a top-secret popcorn maker in it", the T-14 Armada MBT, to see how things would have gone if the USSR (or today's Soviet Federation) ever tried to build one that worked in real life, much less build them in quantity.
I love thinking about the "showcase" T-14 rolling along in a showy parade of RU military might, I think in Red Square, and it Broke Down (lolol), and had to be TOWED away (lolololol). 🤦♂🤣.
One: They'd have to slow down for the bombing runs for sure. NFi about the guns although I'm sure counterforces could theoretically maintain equilibrium. It's all SF anyway!
What happens if you need to change directions after you get up to speed? Like if this thing wasn't perfectly aimed at the time.
I bet it losses stability in a drastic way.
@@keithgiesler1027 actually, they could not tow it. Fortunately, a mechanic came along and released the parking brake.
As always, love your soundtrack
I really enjoy your videos, the history is incredible. I'd really enjoy, longer, more indepth videos. Including, covering future possibilities of dark tech. Not complaining, I could watch this all day
Dude, all future military weapons would be classified. Don't ask the man to be a spy.
You could make exactly the same documentary about literally thousands of US and British designs that were never built. Interesting tidbit: We built two XB-70s. Only one reached Mach 3 and the total program accumulated about 3 hours of time at Mach 3, which was a lot of effort for such a small amount of experience. We learned a lot, but it was not a success for its design mission. Maybe the Soviets were just smart enough to see it would be a waste of resources for little benefit.
Even with today's technological advancements, building such an aircraft at that scale would have been a next to an impossible feat economically.
This would’ve been a pretty good use case for the YF-12
I was in my late teens at the time and neer heard of it. At that time the US was working on the B-70, aMach 3 cruise, high altitude bomber that actually flew a few times
the x-15 proved how hard developing things that fast were because of shockwave buffeting and heat
IMO they reached their pinnacle of aircraft design and production with the Tu-95.
Looks wise, it's the best looking flying wing design I have ever seen, as far as expected performance......it probably wouldn't deliver as promised, as example I would look at the MIG25, it could maybe reach Mach 3 but it would tare its self up doing it.
Like the XB-70 bomber, ahead of it's time. Too bad at least one prototype was never built and tested, would make a great aviation museum piece.
It was not equipped with anything and it never went mach anything, because it was never built. Not even a prototype.
Again, the narrator is truly from another planet.
Funny how similar this is in appearance to the Darkstar craft from the most recent Top Gun film.
Dingus
The Soviets were always ahead of the bourgeoisie.
@@cosmicwakes6443 the past century of history begs to differ
@@cosmicwakes6443 So the Soviet system didn’t produce wealth, got it.
I agree with all the other comment people on this but from a different perspective. I was a Navy jet pilot in the late 1960's. We knew the Russians had fast and maneuverable fighters, but the technology and industrial skills to produce a sophisticated A/C was lacking. This mythical bomber is basically a dream that would have become a nightmare to try to produce and fly, costing more effort and money to ever be of benefit.
That’s some cool stock footage. I doubt any of it had anything to do with the bomber itself, but there were some very cool shots.
@Dark skies are the videos in this channel available in dark docs ??
If the United States couldn’t build it, the Soviet Union never had a prayer. Rockets or not.
They won with Sputnik and Muttnik, so… maybe not as much of a gap as we’d have liked, if there even was one.
@@Justanotherconsumer heh, what are the names of all the Cosmonauts that walked on the Moon? 😉😅
This was completely insane.
ROFLMAO!!! Those Russkies were smoking some dank nuggets!
“If we could…we would”😂
I drew designs like this in study hall when I was a kid. But I knew they were fantasies.
Bunk. This "design" was a scam by one ineffective design bureau to seek out more funding. There was nothing feasible about this ridiculous design.
Russian wish list. Surprised it didn't have a laser that immediately turned enemies communist when hit.
Too much to ask.
The laser only produces an interim government that works towards communism, not communism itself.
Top gun Maverick was a beautiful route there for the average people to understand, but it shows you that when you push it too fast, it will disintegrate around you more than enough to understand, I’m going to reject the speed
Your videos are great, but there’s one thing you consistently get wrong about high speed bombers. There speed isn’t to evade getting shot down on their way out. Their speed is to evade getting shot down on the way in.
Either way, it's to avoid getting shot down.
Ghastly?? If it had a USAF insignia, your channel would be pumping it up as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The Russians know we could do the same to Moscow lol 😆 🤣 😂
That's the trick why MAD doctrine worked. Still, this bird was way ahead of the venerable B-52 Stratofortress.
With that ridiculous clown as the president of yours is now, and with Putyin, this terrifying and insane calculus is a given. Again... :(
Ohh, that remains me about the Germany on WW2 plan, that the germans was going to/has created a strategic low observable bomber to strike on Manhattan with any sign on radar, with nuclear deterrence warhead bomb/missile to strike on the new York city. This would have been worst nightmare for US. Man, the German scientists were more smart than any country people at that time.
@@jjeherrera why was the B-52 vulnerable???
@@treystephens6166 cuz its a bomber, bombers without support are free Kills
This is what happen when a Lockheed, and a McDonnell Douglas (coof Boeing coof) love each other very much Billy!
I always loved the look of the B58 I wish they gave it the capability to drop conventional munitions. It’s way before my time but I always liked that thing
What's surprising is how small it was compared to the Valkyrie or peacemaker
If the B58 penetrated Russian air defenses using its supersonic speed, it would probably run out of fuel over Russia.
The SR71 is an interceptor for a fictional soviet bomber? Somebody got played here :-) and it was expensive.
Yeah the Russians! They went broke
I enjoy this video about this bomber but it's so full of BS that it's running everywhere. This bomber never got off the drawing board. The biggest problem was costs and heat. They never did solve the heating issue. That plane would build up so much heat that the nose may possibly catch fire. Now another issue was the vibration. That "bomber" would have shaken so bad they wouldn't have known which direction they were heading.
A good idea for future bombers but for the time just more propaganda.
"The Dark Star was way ahead of its time".
Well, yes, you might say that, if it actually existed beyond drawings on paper.
It, however, did not. So something that never existed and could not have possibly lived up to the aspirational abilities, isn't *really* ahead of its time.
It was just Russians dreaming.
Im about half way though the video... and I'm really digging the design and philosophy so far... but I also have a feeling that it would be far too expensive and revolutionary to build...
I wonder how the story ends! lol
EDIT: Defense turrets on the plane? Ok thats just stupid - the whole idea is to not be interceptable....
EDIT2: lol, didnt even try to build it - shocker
The usual. The Americans stole the design and built a spy plane. 50 years later in the comments Americans are dissing the Russian design. Of course, if it were the Nazis who came up with this idea, the Americans would've been salivating over it. Americans like the Nazis.
New ads are way better than the old one.
I couldn't help but laugh at all the USAF appearances in Army ads. After spending 20 years on the C-130, I'd say that's the greatest thing we ever offered the army. I'm tempted to watch it again just to count the number of times it shows the Herk and the C-17. Score higher on your ASVAB and join the air force, everybody! ;)
Thank you for the great content as always. If that plane ever made it to flight it would have been the most beautiful plane made out of the USSR otherwise beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Reminds me of the PROJECTS I made back in Junior High. And with No VODKA either!
Am I the only one that doesn’t think that if we could get over this damn measuring contest within the countries, how bad ass we can actually be as the world, I know Napoleon syndrome will never leave us😊
The first 10 minutes of this video are just imaginative dreams of 1950 to 1970 military planners. Most of it described technologies that were not developed for another 50 years. In was the 1960's version of the "Trip to the Moon" - a silent 1902 French adventure film.
That is the only design of a weapon system I know of which the Soviets did not steal the existing plans for. That's truly an original and still fascinating concept. Interesting that the recent movie called America's secret hypersonic bomber "Darkstar".
This is one of several hundred proposals by various manufacturers throughout the cold war of bombers and weapons originally created. China is about the only one that actively steals existing plans of others. Once you go down the rabbit hole of Soviet paper projects, you’ll quickly, and I I mean VERY quickly, realize that they didn’t copy and we’re not afraid to experiment the least.
The Darkstar, as Im aware, is not a hypersonic bomber. The plane is based on the real project of the SR-72 Darkstar. It is a Supersonic Reconoicence plane, the succesor of the SR-71.
@@project-gladiator It's said that the design of the "katchousha" missiles, the Kalashnikov, amongst others, were stolen from the Americans by the Soviets! Furthermore the name "kalashnikov" which is by all means "American" was also stolen from the gringos!😂
The last time they tried to pull that off, Clint Eastwood went and stole it ! Today we have Brad Pitt, so no worries !
Thank you. But anything can look as good as one wants (or one's Dear Leader wants), but making it a reality is another story. Speeds of Mach 5 and external gun turrets and external hard-points for external bombs are totally incompatible. I know Dark Skies is only saying what the designers told the Kremlin bosses, but so much of it is simply pie-in-the-sky propaganda--and saying what the Kremlin leaders wanted to hear.
The titanium for the SR-71 came from the Soviet Union!!😂
Yup … the Titanium for the CF-105 did as well.
Brian didn’t have the balls to push it all the way and it still has more
Socialists certainly dare to dream big. Like socialism actually working. But political jabs aside, this was a damn impressive plane.
Question is, would they have actually ever succeeded in building it? And how many would they build?
I doubt they could have maintained them over extended times, given how litte economy the USSR had.
"Never went beyond the early design stage". So often so true for the USSR and now Russia.
Soviet science fiction. as usual...
I've not heard of this one. Thank you
I think it’s about time I unsub from this channel.
And why is that if you don't mind me asking did they get something wrong?
Was thinking the same as his video's are getting more and more of an 'alarmist, glowie, deepstate scare tactics' type vibe in an effort to attract easily-frightened subscribers that buy into his increasingly hysterical videos
@@gangstercheesefries1112 see the Red Baron’s comment below yours
@The Red Baron that's nothing compared to the cold war.
@@theredbaron5117 Forget about climate change. The Cold War was really scary. Let's hope it won't come back.
This is basically what the SR-72 will accomplish, but with even better performance.
Please can't you stop the sound of (music) or whatever you call it. It is so disturbing for us who have hearing problems
That was awesome. Thank You very much.
Let me rephrase what he said.
The Dark Star's ominous design seem to come out of a Top Gun movie.
"Mom can we get SR-71?"
"No, we have SR-71 at home."
SR-71 at home:
No one will ever match the Soviets grand ideas and the ability to keep them that way.
That's the coolest looking plane I think I've ever seen. Very sinister
Your over /understated vocals are sensational and perhaps the only reason you draw the numbers here. 👍 ☘️
This looks so 50’s or 60’s design, reminiscent of the Thunderbirds. 😂😂😂
"Can you put a lazer cannon on it?".
"Certainly"
"What about an invisibility cloak?"
"I think we could do that"
"In that case can we make it nuclear powered so it never has to land?"
"We have the technology comrade"
"Why don't we put the lazer cannon on the T-64 making it an invincible tank?"
"Noooo comrade"
"Why ever not?"
"Because we actually have a T-64"
I can't believe it! At 5:22 the sketch of the proposed design, bottom right is the FIREFOX that Clint Eastwood made off with in the film of the same name. Wow! 🤣
As outrageous as this design is I'm surprised they didn't include an indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, and a movie theater. This looks more like a wish list of what if then a serious design, but then the Soviets did dream big.
If the past 75 years have taught us one thing it is that the USSR was and Russia is incredibly inept. At most things.
As an engineer, such a shame that ICBM technology ruined such amazing feats of engineering as this aircraft and the western equivalent XB-70 Valkyrie (of which the latter at least managed to reach the prototyping stage, although one could see that as a waste of money).
Also, lmao at the armchair engineers who are apparently wiser than some of the brightest minds of the 50s and 60s. Surely they all work for raytheon/nasa/lockheed etc.
Hindsight is 20/20.
I recently saw a story, where they were trying to deploy a Mach 9+ aircraft, but unfortunately the plane was lost during testing and the project had to be scrapped... and all of the team members lost their jobs, but the pilot was able to go and lead an elite fighter squadron and the rest is, top secrete... :)
the soviets not only designed the dark star but they designed a space shuttle, a designer car company, and designer computer microprocessors too
I love the info in these docs but please change your voice. I find it a monotonous drone of a poorly executed dramatic tone that makes me switch off. Just a suggestion