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Read past headlines. The issue author raises is clearly with it's dual use. Secrecy in the title comes from that. Satellites and UAEs have long replaced planes
by borism 16y ago
Read past headlines. The issue author raises is clearly with it's dual use. Secrecy in the title comes from that.
Satellites and UAEs have long replaced planes, no matter how fast or stealthy, for intelligence gathering. One thing this thing will do good is deliver a some payload to any place on Earth REALLY fast.
Anyway, since 2007-8 there's brand new hangar at Area 51, the biggest so far: http://dreamlandresort.com/area51/2007_new.html http://dreamlandresort.com/area51/2007_new.html
- run4yourlives 16y agoSatellites will never replace aircraft until they can be "on demand". Orbits have been able to be tracked for years... changing orbits demands fuel that can't easily be replaced. A fast aircraft with stealth is best for "cuban missle crisis" type issues. A slow one for less urgent requests for tactical concerns. As of current public knowledge, UAVs do not have the type of speed or range that we're talking about here as being required... as far as we know...
- borism 16y agoJust wanted to amend my previous statement a bit: One thing this thing will do good is deliver a some payload (including satellite or UAV) to any place on Earth REALLY fast. This thing is simply not very good platform for intelligence gathering in itself. Not very easy to gather intelligence at speed of Mach 20+.
- run4yourlives 16y agoUm, the ISS is moving at around Mach 24 right now, so I'd imagine most satellites used for spying are already doing a similar speed, and they have no issues snapping pretty high resolution pics. I don't think this would be a concern for an aircraft doing a similar (or much more practical, slower) speed.