Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Condor Message-ID: <1990Nov16.054351.23977@cbnews.att.com> Date: 16 Nov 90 05:43:51 GMT References: <1990Nov14.011703.16442@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: Anime Inc. Lines: 68 Approved: military@att.att.com From: megazone@wpi.WPI.EDU (MEGAZONE 23) In article <1990Nov14.011703.16442@cbnews.att.com> v064lnev@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Zerxes Bhagalia) writes: >been code-named, the Condor, and may already be in service. Let me asure you I have heard rumors about an aircraft called the Lockheed Aurora, but the data seems similar. It is mentioned in the book Stealth: Deception, Evasion, And Concealment In The Air by Doug Richardson, published by Orion Books. There is an artists conception on pages 120-121 and some data. The drawing depicts what appears to be the SR-71's older brother. It has the chines and basicly the same nose. It has the same delta planform and the wing mouted engines, but there are four engines in two sets. The pods have inverted ramp intakes and standard looking adjustable nozzles. The fuselage has a definate 'wasp' look and it ends in a single verticle stabilizer. I like the looks. These are a few quotes about the aircraft from the book. "In February 1985, a budget document issued by the Pentagon accidently disclosed the existence of a secret multi-billion-dollar USAF programme code-named 'Aurora'. According to the unclassified 'P1' weapons procurement document, spending on the secret project would start in fiscal year 1986. [October 1985] with a funding of $80 million, rising to $2,270 million in the following year. Faced with press enquiries, embarrassed USAF officials refused to say any more about the programme, although unidentified Pentagon sources told the Washington Post that the programme might involve stealth technology or be linked in some way with the B-2 stealth bomber." "The designation 'Aurora' was already in use, having been applied to the then recently-delivered CP-140 derivative of the Lockheed P-3 maritime-patrol aircraft" "In January 1988, the New York Times published an article claiming that the USAF was working on an SR-71 replacement - a long-range stealth aircraft able to fly at more than 3,800mph (6,100km/h), five times the speed of sound, and with an cruising altitude of more than 100,000ft (33,500m). 'With the SR-71, they know we're there but they can't touch us', said one official quoted by the newspaper. "With the new technology, they won't even know we're there.'" "Further evidence for the new aircraft came the same month when Armed Forces Journal International revealed how reports by Sanford C. Berstein & Co had suggested that Lockheed sales associated with stealth programmes would peak that year, at about $1,120 million, then settle down to around $752 million through the early 1990s. AFJI suggested that these figures seemed 'consistent with a major programme such as an SR-71 replacement'." "In 1988, Aviation Week reported that Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas, Garrett, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney had all been cansulted by the USAF in a series of studies which had investigated the design of high-Mach aircraft." My opinion is that the USAF has now or is developing an aircraft to replace the SR-71. The USAF has stated that it wants a new manned aircraft recon system. Given the fact that the A-12/SR-71 was kept secrect for so long and more recently the F-117, it wouldn't surprise me if an Aurora was flying now. P.S. I have seen both A-11 and A-12 for the Blackbird, and have seen both argued as correct by different authors. Which is correct? ############################################################################### # "Calling Garland operator 7G," EVE Email megazone@wpi.wpi.edu # # MEGAZONE, aka DAYTONA, aka BRIAN BIKOWICZ Bitnet Use a gateway. Sorry. # ###############################################################################