Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!cbnews!military
From: ut-emx!chrisj@emx.utexas.edu (Chris Johnson)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Anyone Heard Of Project Aurora
Keywords: Aurora Hypersonic Black
Message-ID: <1991Mar12.233056.770@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 12 Mar 91 23:30:56 GMT
References: <1991Mar7.012714.29239@cbnews.att.com>
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From: ut-emx!chrisj@emx.utexas.edu (Chris Johnson)

In article <1991Mar7.012714.29239@cbnews.att.com> infmx!billd@uunet.UU.NET 
(William Daul) requested any information on a black project named "Aurora".

Everything I know (or think I know) comes from Aviation Week articles.  If
they are of interest, here's a few relevant portions of an article from
the October 1, 1990 issue, pp. 20-21.  (Reproduced without permission.)  

   "The variety of highly classified 'black-world' aircraft has prompted
   industry experts to suggest that the term 'Aurora,' which has been 
   used in reference to a purported new classified hypersonic aircraft,
   may be inappropriate.  Instead, Aurora may be one of several code 
   names 'nested' within other code names, all referring to a class of
   aircraft designed for multiple missions.

   A line item identified as 'Aurora' in a Fiscal 1986 Procurement Pro-
   gram document dated Feb. 4, 1985, supposedly was simply one 'site' 
   for B-2 bomber funds when that program was highly classified, accord-
   ing to a government official.  Listed under the 'Other Aircraft' cat-
   egory, 'Aurora' was projected to receive sharply increased funding.
   The Fiscal 1986 budget request for Aurora--$80.1 million--jumped to
   $2.272 billion in Fiscal 1987, according to the document.

   Because it was under a strategic reconnaissance section, the Aurora
   reference was widely thought to be a subtle admission that an SR-71
   replacement was under development.  However, given the B-2 funding
   practices of the time, the Aurora name may not have been related to
   a new hypersonic aircraft as originally believed.  The Air Force has
   yet to provide a detailed breakdown of B-2 costs."

If the Aurora name *is* actually related to a new hypersonic aircraft,
the following additional AW&ST articles may also be of interest:  Dec. 18,
1989, p. 42; Dec. 24, 1990, pp. 41-44.  If even half of what these articles
discuss is true, Aurora is quite a piece of work.

----Chris (Johnson)
----chrisj@emx.utexas.edu