Message posted by Gimbal on September 12, 2014 at 1:42:05 PST:
I can imagine there have been high altitude sub sonic aircraft that are able to loiter for days on end over an area of interest but not a Mach 5+ spy plane. Once the Cold War ended the fluidity of the arms race came to a halt and the shape of war changed with what had been seen in Iraq. If such an aircraft existed why would the U2 keep flying and why would the USAF/CIA launch so many satellites and continue to do so? It is a lot easier to shoot down an SR71/72/73 than ever war has moved into Space. The B2's and F117's were revealed so why not do the same with "Aurora" showing off your technical prowess puts your enemy under pressure. The X-37 has not been hidden away and has the World wondering what it does. Stealth not speed became the order of the day as did UCAV's let's face it they can not only keep an eye on things but deliver the punch there and then if need be. Certainly an SR72 type would have been under development and I would say the YF23 had some of that DNA in it but my feeling is the billions required to build it could not be justified and was put into stealthy UAV's/UCAV's instead. The F22 and F35 chewed up a lot of budget too. Hypersonic weapons and Space Planes are the next platforms of choice and the SABRE engine being developed in the UK could bust warfare in Space wide open and that is something you most certainly want to keep to yourself.I could be wrong and maybe I hope that I am and one day we see an Aurora type spy plane but I am not holding my breath.
In Reply to: Re: Aurora posted by Mark on September 11, 2014 at 19:48:01 PST:
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