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Interesting. I’ve never heard about them, I wonder how many new planes/weapons that are under test now and we will know about them only in 20/30years! > Northr

Interesting. I’ve never heard about them, I wonder how many new planes/weapons that are under test now and we will know about them only in 20/30years! > Northrop’s Tacit Blue This really looks like something that went out from Minecraft or a pixelated ‘90 game.

mellonaut 4y ago
> I’ve never heard about them They are designed to be stealthy, so the fact that they’re not on our radar means they are doing their job!
wantoncl 4y ago
Tacit Blue is at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright Paterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. Absolute gem of a museum, also free admission last time I went (2019). Plus the XB-70, plus an X-15, PLUS an F-12 or YF-12 (can't remember which), and a stealth fighter, and....just awesome stuff. I haven't even mentioned the 3 other hangars full of planes from every era of aviation, or Memphis Belle, or Bock's Car. Oh yeah, they managed to fit a B-36 INSIDE a building. :)
- rsprinkle 4y ago
  And a B-2 air frame.
- cableshaft 4y ago
  Can confirm, this museum is huge and a must see if you're interested at all in planes (don't even have to be that interested, there's plenty of cool stuff there). And free admission, also. I looked it up, and it looks like the Boeing X-36 and Bird of Prey[2] mentioned in the article are in this museum. They have a lot of experimental aircraft there, including a flying saucer[3]. Also you can walk inside four different Air Force Ones[4], which I thought was especially neat and interesting. [1]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/195764/nasaboeing-x-36/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact... [2]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196041/boeing-bird-of-prey/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact... [3]: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/avrocar https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/avrocar [4]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Presidential-Gallery/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Pres...
sidewndr46 4y ago
It'd take me a while to find it, but I remember reading an interview with an engineer about that aircraft. He said it was one of the least airworthy aircraft to ever have flown. It was a technology demonstrator, so that doesn't really surprise me too much.
sillywalk 4y ago
Interesting article about Tacit Blue: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41892/new-light-shed-on-the-once-top-secret-tacit-blue-aircraft-by-veteran-program-manager https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41892/new-light-shed-o... tl;dr from the article: "Tacit Blue's notional concept of operations involved flying over or very near the forward edge of the battlefield at around 25,000-30,000 feet and orbiting overhead at 250 knots or so while its radar scanned the area below."

mellonaut 4y ago

> I’ve never heard about them They are designed to be stealthy, so the fact that they’re not on our radar means they are doing their job!

wantoncl 4y ago

Tacit Blue is at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Wright Paterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. Absolute gem of a museum, also free admission last time I went (2019). Plus the XB-70, plus an X-15, PLUS an F-12 or YF-12 (can't remember which), and a stealth fighter, and....just awesome stuff. I haven't even mentioned the 3 other hangars full of planes from every era of aviation, or Memphis Belle, or Bock's Car. Oh yeah, they managed to fit a B-36 INSIDE a building. :)

rsprinkle 4y ago
And a B-2 air frame.
cableshaft 4y ago
Can confirm, this museum is huge and a must see if you're interested at all in planes (don't even have to be that interested, there's plenty of cool stuff there). And free admission, also. I looked it up, and it looks like the Boeing X-36 and Bird of Prey[2] mentioned in the article are in this museum. They have a lot of experimental aircraft there, including a flying saucer[3]. Also you can walk inside four different Air Force Ones[4], which I thought was especially neat and interesting. [1]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/195764/nasaboeing-x-36/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact... [2]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196041/boeing-bird-of-prey/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact... [3]: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/avrocar https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/avrocar [4]: https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Presidential-Gallery/ https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Pres...

sidewndr46 4y ago

It'd take me a while to find it, but I remember reading an interview with an engineer about that aircraft. He said it was one of the least airworthy aircraft to ever have flown. It was a technology demonstrator, so that doesn't really surprise me too much.

sillywalk 4y ago

Interesting article about Tacit Blue: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41892/new-light-shed-on-the-once-top-secret-tacit-blue-aircraft-by-veteran-program-manager https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/41892/new-light-shed-o... tl;dr from the article: "Tacit Blue's notional concept of operations involved flying over or very near the forward edge of the battlefield at around 25,000-30,000 feet and orbiting overhead at 250 knots or so while its radar scanned the area below."