Message posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on September 15, 2020 at 20:40:43 PST:
Wow, very interesting! Like a good magician they had everyone looking for the B-21 and the RQ-180 while they secretly flew the NGAD fighter prototype. If there was any doubt, even with all the eyes (and ears) on them the folks at the Ranch still CAN keep a program secret! Assuming it is being tested there, which would make a lot of sense. My money is on Lockheed as the contractor. Northrop is busy with the B-21 and possibly still tinkering with the RQ-180. And Lockheed just built a large new building at Plant 42. As for manned vs unmanned, I would expect it to be "optionally manned". Assuming the prototype currently flies out of Groom the hand-off to TTR for evaluation would be just like in the days of the F-117. In fact in the light of this news I wonder if the still-operational F-117 are being used as a surrogate for the new fighter to test subsystems in air-air combat.
In Reply to: Next Generation Air Dominance prototype flown posted by Smythers on September 15, 2020 at 11:03:15 PST:
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