Re: Well, if not, then what?


Message posted by Andreas Parsch on April 06, 2003 at 11:17:06 PST:

> As I stated, "Switchblade" was cancelled. The new
> "BX" is only at present a proposal, that may not get
> fielded until 2037 - something like 3 decades. The
> so-called "large-size F-117" is what is reportedly
> being deployed. [...] The "large-size F-117"
> fulfills the interdiction role of the A-6 and F-111.

If you say so :-/ ... still a somewhat strange time-line for the "Switchblade". The "F-117B" (or whatever you call it today) would have become operational at about the same time as the -117A, i.e. mid-80s. But you say that "Switchblade" was cancelled in '92, yet imply that at least one prototype was actually built. That effectively means that development must have started at least in the late 80s, possibly earlier. I.e., immediately after a - presumably not cheap - top-secret stealthy interdiction aircraft was fielded, the development of _another_ design for essentially the same requirement was started. Hmmmm ...

> The designation (for attack) "11" was GD's VX-11.
> The name Astra still stands, according to reports
> I'm getting.

*sigh*

"A-11", "F-117B", "VX-11", ... what's next? "QX-71"?! You may as well forget about any alpha-numerical guesswork :-(.

Andreas


In Reply to: Re: Well, if not, then what? posted by wolfbane on April 05, 2003 at 16:39:35 PST:

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