New tech is really old tech....

[Mother]

blue thunder was just an apache mock up correct?

and dont forget about "Firefox"

Firefox



F-19a spectre



F-19 Stealth



all real because i had the models...I don't need your reality

[YellowDuck]

Don't forget about the F-35 (JSF). If it ever goes into production.

[herm]

here is an interesting viewpoint on the f22

F22


BTW, to my clueless eye, the f22 and the jsf just dont seem _that_ different

i retract that statement...the jsf is butt ugly

[derby]

If you look at satellite images of the Groom Lake testing facility near the nevada test ranga (area 51) you will see that their main runway was extended to roughly 24,000 ft in the late 1980s-90s. This is a huge clue. Edwards afb and Vandenberg afb are around 15,000ft I believe. To me this would indicate they were testing something that traveled at very high speeds on approach and departure, most likely some sort of plane that could travel in both the atmosphere and space.

like the space shuttle? 

[abby normal]

the 'pulsed' exhaust seen in the SR71 image is actually a result of the supersonic exhaust speed and is called
'shock diamonds'.  what you're seeing are regions of high and low pressure as shock waves reflect off the
boundary between the exhaust gas and the ambient air.  pulse detonation is something entirely different and hypothesized to have been
developed for supersonic combusting ramjets ... which is still hypothetical to the general public since the
only scramjet so far deployed (which flew for like 1 minute after being boosted to hypersonic speed) did
not employ pulsed combustion.

and the advantage of the SR71 (or any other maneuverable spy platform) over satellite observation is
that satellites are predictable.  got some super-secret spy plane on your runway?  no problem.  simply move
it inside when the orbital platform is scheduled to fly over.  and no ... changing orbits is not done.  that
takes WAY more fuel than any orbital platform carries onboard.  do the vector analysis ... a plane change of 60 deg.
requires a velocity change equal in magnitude to the orbital velocity.

[derby]

also maybe a prototype given the NASA paint and co-pilot bubble. 

http://www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/17956/

[ducatiz]

also maybe a prototype given the NASA paint and co-pilot bubble. 

that's just the family version.

[NeufUnSix]

Definitely check out AVRO Arrow. It's a sad chapter in Canadian history - world-beating engineering shelved by petty political bullshit. The prototypes were destroyed and sunk into a lake. All that remains are some blueprints and memories. The movie was pretty good, it's regularly aired on Canadian TV.

For those unfamiliar with the Arrow, it was the first aircraft to break Mach 2. Nobody though it was possible (apparently they forgot what had been said about Mach 1) until the Canadians set about building a bleeding-edge fighter to do it.

As for "1980s" tech, remember that current stuff like the M1A1 was developed in the late 70s. And it is still more than good enough for the battlefield with the upgrades that have been made (depleted uranium armour, computer gun control, various refinements). An M1A1 has NEVER been lost to enemy fire. They have accidently shot at each other without penetrating the armour. The worst that has happened is suspension or engine damage, and the only crew to die overseas drowned when the tank collapsed a bridge.

[TAftonomos]

F35 is going in production as far as I know.  Eglin AFB is gearing up for the arrival in 2010.  Have family that work there. 

[Triple J]

http://www.sr-71.org/photogallery/blackbird/17956/

Of course you'd post a link explaining the 2nd canopy! 

[Monster Dave]

I was reading that the F22 can NOT be sold to other countries and that the F35 JSF will be available to our allies. It looks like there are orders already put in for it so I'd bet it's going into production.

[Monster Dave]

all real because i had the models...I don't need your reality

Well if that's the case you can't forget:

The Phantom X-19:


or the Night Raven:

[Monster Dave]

For anyone really interested, here's a neat series that's on YouTube about the competition between the F22 and the YF23

F/A-22 & YF-23 part 1

It's broken into several 10 minute parts but it's pretty interesting and explains why the Air Force chose the F22 over the YF23.

[Triple J]

i retract that statement...the jsf is butt ugly

You think the one they chose is ugly...check out the Boeing entry. 


There was another good Discovery Channel show on the JSF competition. Interestingly, the JSF requirements called for a twin engine fighter with vertical take-off capability, and supersonic speed capability (all navy fighters are twin engine for safety reasons). Lockheed convinced them that a single engine design was the correct route...so the JSF has a single engine.

This site has some cool videos of the JSF competition (X-32 & X-35), as well as some new JSF videos.
http://www.jsf.mil/gallery/gal_video.htm#

... that the F35 JSF will be available to our allies. It looks like there are orders already put in for it so I'd bet it's going into production.

An electronically stripped down version to be sure. The US never sells "full" versions of any of our planes to any of our allies.

[YellowDuck]

F35 is going in production as far as I know.  Eglin AFB is gearing up for the arrival in 2010.  Have family that work there. 

Currently in LRIP 2 I think.

Part of the issue with the F-22 is that it is being questioned why continue to produce it when the F-35 is coming down the pike.