Aviation Week, often referred to as Aviation Leak in defense circles, is out with a fascinating story on a top-secret space plane, supposedly built and operated by the U.S., beginning in the late 1980s. Reporters from the magazine have been on the story for the past 16 years, and while available evidence tends to support existence of the space plane program (nicknamed "Blackstar"), Aviation Week has never been able to completely confirm the project.
According to the magazine, Blackstar may have recently been shelved, perhaps due to operating costs, or failure to meet performance expectations (more on that in a bit). Blackstar apparently consisted of a "mothership" that resembled a 1960s-era XB-70 supersonic bomber, which carried the space plane high into the atmosphere. At that point, the orbiter craft was released, using its own engines to carry it to the upper reaches of the atmosphere, or if the mission required, into low earth orbit. After completing the mission, the space plane glided back to earth, landing on a runway like a conventional aircraft. The magazine claims that orbiter landings have been reported at a number of USAF installations, including Hurlburt Field, Florida, Kadena AB, Okinawa, and Holloman AFB, New Mexico.
The space plane's biggest advantage is/was its unpredictability. As Aviation Week notes:
"The manned orbiter's primary military advantage would be surprise overflight. There would be no forewarning of its presence, prior to the first orbit, allowing ground targets to be imaged before they could be hidden. In contrast, satellite orbits are predictable enough that activities having intelligence value can be scheduled to avoid overflights."
My knowledge of the alleged Blackstar program is what I've read in Aviation Week and other publications. But it certainly fits the pattern associated with other, high-priority black world programs in the past. In the mid-1970s, for example, the Air Force launched its Have Blue program, which resulted in the F-117 Stealth Fighter. Have Blue was conducted under the tightest possible security; the two prototypes flew out of the Air Force's Groom Lake complex in Nevada, often at night to minimize detection by Russian spy satellites. Defense contractors were given broad latitude (and almost unlimited funds) in the successful effort to develop a stealth fighter.
Based on Aviation Week's reporting, the biggest difference between Have Blue and Blackstar programs seems to have been the early participation of Lockheed, which was apparently the primary contractor for the space plane. By comparison, Lockeed was a late-comer to Have Blue; in the 70s, the company was mired in debt over its L-1011 airliner project, and Pentagon officials wondered if the famous "Skunk Works" could actually develop a stealth aircraft ahead of rivals Boeing, McDonnell-Douglas and Northrop. Lockheed's success with the F-117 may have given it a leg up in the Blackstar competition, underscoring its legendary reputation for solving complex engineering problems and delivering technological breakthroughs, in minimum time.
Boeing also appears to have played a significant role in Blackstar, thanks to its role in development of the XB-70 and related technologies back in the 1960s. Interestingly, both companies were "eliminated" from the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) program in the early stages of that competition during the 1980s. That process may have allowed Boeing and Lockheed to take their developments into the black world, for accelerated development of Blackstar, which may have been designated the SR-3/XOV.
It's a fascinating story, and I give it credence for a couple of reasons. First, Aviation Week is virtually without peer in its coverage of the defense industry; they've been on the story for more than a decade and developed credible information and sources that provide limited confirmation of the Blackstar program.
Secondly, I've spent enough time in the Spook world to understand that we don't willingly give up a surveillance capability unless there's something in the pipeline to replace it. The Air Force's retirement of the SR-71--coupled with DOD decisions to eliminate such programs as the "unclassified" USAF spaceplane program and the Army's anti-satellite program--suggested that we had something better, and it appears that the XOV could have performed many, if not all of these missions, depending on its payload configuration. Aviation Week believes the space plane was used primarily as a reconnaissance platform, showing up, unannounced (and probably undetected) over high-value enemy installations, before sensitive equipment or activities could be concealed. It's exactly the type of capability the intelligence community needed, in an era when even low-tech allies could predict the passage of "standard" spy satellites and work around perceived imaging windows.
One final thought: if the SR-3/XOV platform has been shelved, we probably have something even better in the offing. I can't imagine the President and the DNI moth-balling the XOV, unless we have a replacement nearing operational service, or already in operation. And whatever that platform is (assuming it exists) is, I hope it remains as veiled as the Blackstar program and not on the front page of the NYT.
6 comments:
Dear *^,
You know I think about things and some of the things I think about I keep to myself for reasons of security and the lack of knowing who to suggest the ideas too. Now the writers of the "Black Star" article may be connected to the industry but there are things I wouldn't want to see written in NYT if you get my drift.
Thanks for the article these kind of things are very interesting. And I find that the NASA comet shot to collect the magic dust from a comet where the probe was slung-shot around and flown 3 billion miles + near a comet and then home and landed nearby a recovery station OUTSTANDING ! Missile defence is so much more than about shooting things down.
Then we have politicians like in Canada, Paul Martin etc. decline to sign on, it makes me sad. There is so much stuff we can be doing to develop the asteroid belt between Earth and Mars that I heard about that would make everyone on the planet employed and wealthy. Oh well... Martin is gone.
I will include a link to a story you probably know about and say that those "Rods from God" might come in handy for use on Iran.
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What will they think of next?
"I was young. We had lots of money. It was very exciting."
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html
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A post for another site, in New Times Roman or The New Roman Times.
Lazy ? You 'do' 'realies' how much work goes into refining the gold.
The dross rhymes with KOS, if I was a Democrat I'd join another party or kick those weirdoes out. BUT I'm a Maximust, in the end they carry me out
together. George is my friend.
To whom it concerns,
Let me see if the figures speak for themselves? If not you will need an interpreter i.e. an accountant.
The Manhattan Project. Remember ?
If there's too much info here please consider Carthage for those lunatics in the east before you go, thanks.
Saudi Arabia: Muslim 100%
World : Christians 33.03% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.8%, Orthodox 3.42%, Anglicans 1.23%), Muslims 20.12%, Hindus 13.34%, Buddhists 5.89%, Sikhs 0.39%, Jews 0.23%, other religions 12.61%, non-religious 12.03%, atheists 2.36% (2004 est.)
Canada: Roman Catholic 42.6%, Protestant 23.3% (including United Church 9.5%, Anglican 6.8%, Baptist 2.4%, Lutheran 2%), other Christian 4.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other and unspecified 11.8%, none 16% (2001 census)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.1% (2003)
Economic aid - donor:
ODA, $2.6 billion (2004)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$9,801.7 million (2003)
Combined Effort ?
GDP (official exchange rate):
$1.047 trillion (2005 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $32,800 (2005 est.)
Compare ^ to U.S. Defence spending which is about 3.7% GDP
======================================================
Do you know that "Carthage" is not even in some dictionaries today?
Carthage (kar`thij) An ancient city-state in North Africa near modern Tunis;
destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. Ancient Car.tha.go
Carthaginian peace A peace on drastically severe terms: so called in an allusion to the Roman destruction of Carthage. See Punic Wars in table under war.
That was a long war; 1, 2 & 3. (80 years +) In the 3rd Punic War the Romans destroyed and ploughed salt into the fields of the of the Carthaginians, so they could not grow food. This reminds me of other certain dwellers from the desert lands. Do you suppose they are related ?
*** * ***
Tunisia: Muslim 98%, Christian 1%, Jewish and other 1%
Following independence from France in 1956, President Habib BOURGUIBA established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. In recent years, Tunisia has taken a moderate, non-aligned stance in its foreign relations. Domestically, it has sought to defuse rising pressure for a more open political society.
Natural resources:
petroleum, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc, salt
PS Not being in the dictionary reminds me of the story "1984". Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I have a plan that might allow us to not nuke Iran, the Persians deserve better, it involves sniper teams and smart bombs and targeting those who preach hate.
PSII You ever see those "Shut the Fuck up, we'll defend America" logos ?
Well, maybe their hearts are subject to being consumed by hatred, "Loose Lips Sink Ships" is more to my taste.
(For Veronique who was murdered by criminals. Really)
~
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest... Lie, lie, lie...." S & G (At his own hazard.) From the "Boxer"
These re-entry vehicles glide in do they ?
Thanks.
PS Maximust refers to the Spanish General from the movie Gladiator and don't confuse GWB with Comados.
PSI I figure that once we get the world calmed down we can invest in a Global Emergency Service (GES) and shift the military complex resources to space exploration. Damn UN.
PSII Well Maximus was from a movie and Edward Gibbon is a good read and most people don't put the two together it seems. If it can be imagined it probably can be done.
PSIII This blog does not allow anonymous comments, ironic.
I trust you are on our side.
.
OS
The west is the best. Lived near Linden California, some of the nicest people any place, Indian is nice around Madison too.
Loose lips sink (space)ships.
I've seen it launch... quite public it was... doing its thing over the bay area years ago....
A stunning display of raw power.
IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO NOTICE.
Think of Venus flying away from you... contra-rotational...
All at spectacular altitude....
Witnesses by 100,000+ in the evening.
Commented upon the next day at work.
What a way to blow its cover.
Called it Aurora back then.
The mother plane was also witnessed time and again....
Attended to by a SQUADRON of F-16 escort planes !!!!
It looks like Star Wars... and the F-16's look like pie fighters.
It's that big.
Got to love President Reagan.
I read this article:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Blackstar_A_False_Messiah_From_Groom_Lake.html
And I have to agree that parts of this story simply do not add up, most especially the use of a laser from space to the ground for optical enhancement (the process only works in reverse, from the ground up). I'm not sure I believe that this is an accurate article, though that doesn't mean the craft itself doesn't exist in some form or another.
blenster
I'm going to believe my own lying eyes.
Your author is full of it. And they did launch their baby West over the Bay Area a number of years ago.
So spectacular was the display that it was all the talk at the lunch hour. It seems that everybody and his brother had seen it.
I considered its launch to be a strategic shot over the bow vis a vis North Korea.
Your author must still be on the government disinformation payroll.
BTW Honolulu is not a hot bed of aerospace research. The most secret base in the islands is Barking Sands; and no research is done there. It's a pure launching facility. A maximum security prison has fewer guards than Barking Sands. There's never anything to see there, either.
Between my own eyes, and first person accounts, yeah, it's for real. Must have cost as much as a carrier battle group. No wonder the mother craft is guarded by a F-16 squadron.
BTW forget all the nonsense about B-70 mother craft. The real mother is a staggering monster, many times the mass of a B-70. Further the fuel is clearly NOT based on boron. Virtually every technical detail raised by your man is WAY OFF.
The Aurora/Black Star is totally it's own thing.
I'd be surprised if there were more than two mother craft. The expense: beyond belief.
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