Check this plane out!!

[coho21 0]

Whoa! Baby!

Check out this plane.

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021018m.html

(someone want to help me out with the link? Thanks)

I wonder what else the govt.'s got up their sleeves.

J
YSD#0009

[Slappie 9]

Let's make it clickable

"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them."

[Guest]

Jah, some co-workers were remarking on that today.

My only question was "Klingon or Romulan?"

"The mouse does not know life until it is in the mouth of the cat."

[kingbunky 3]

wowsers! that's taking lifting-body technology to the extreme isn't it?

who gets to be the first to jump it?

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[riddler 0]

Here's another link:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,12543,365576,00.html

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[slotperfect 7]

What no floater bars? No camera step? I mean, COME ON!

Arrive Safely

John

[riddler 0]

Considering the "better-cheaper-faster" mantra of the air force these days, I doubt it even has an ejection seat.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[pilotdave 0]

Quote

Considering the "better-cheaper-faster" mantra of the air force these days, I doubt it even has an ejection seat.

The press release says it was fully funded by Boeing. This isn't a new plane, it's one they're done with. Sure makes ya curious what they're keeping secret now though!

Dave

[quatorze 1]

Quote

Quote

Considering the "better-cheaper-faster" mantra of the air force these days, I doubt it even has an ejection seat.

The press release says it was fully funded by Boeing. This isn't a new plane, it's one they're done with. Sure makes ya curious what they're keeping secret now though!

Dave

I have always wondered about things like that, hell the Have Blue project (ie the F-117 stealth fighter) made its maiden voyage in '78 or'79 and the Tacit Blue project (B-2 Stealth Bomber) first flew in '82-'83 and the general populace did not learn of them until Desert Shield/Desert Storm, in '88-'89. It does make you wonder.

I'm not afriad of dying, I'm afraid of never really living- Erin Engle

[flyhi 24]

Glad they're calling it the "Phantom Works". Lockheed's "Skunk Works" was probably the running joke of the entire world's secret aircraft community.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[bobsled92 0]

Hey Dave, I like the Commache there. That was the alternative to what they were trying for=STING BAT. Three blades,each 3 sections and curved(quoted as stealth). No tail rotor of any type, the tail boom was an air tube with vents on one side with thrust from "inducted turbine" at main fusalage.
The curved blades should cause alot of stress on the blades themselves but it would stop tip vortex(burrble) from shaking at lower forward speeds. We used tappered/sweep ended blades to help that (small heli=bigger shake)

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[robzay 0]

I bet you could hang a couple of people off the top side inlet!

[blewaway5 0]

yeah, definitely makes a person wonder. I heard somewhere that all the cool top secret technology that eventually trickles down to the public generally takes about 30 years to get from secret to public. The secrets must be something else these days.

Truman Sparks for President

[riddler 0]

Many of these test projects are. I used to work for Lockheed Martin and tested products by Boeing, so I have some experience with both companies. Many of the efforts these days are fully funded by the companies, but the details of cost, materials, etc are divulged to the customer (i.e. Air Force) and the point is to prove to the customer that you can do things faster and cheaper than the competition.
I did look closer at the pic, though, and I think it does have an ejection seat (just a visual guess, though).

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[phatcat 0]

What exactly is this plane's role supposed to be? What weapons can it carry? It certainly looks pretty cool, but based on the website, it doesn't look like anything beyond what an ambitious homebuilder could come up with, provided the cash.

[pilotdave 0]

It was nothing more than a technology demonstrator. Basically testing the overall shape it seems. I'm sure it didn't carry any weapons or do any role. Just testing an idea.

Dave