
Boeing publishes photos of 1960s stealth plane experiment - correctifier
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/09/boeing-publishes-photos-of-secret-1960s-stealth-plane-experiment/
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edwhitesell
Pretty cool for the 60s. Even more impressive if they released RCS numbers to
compare to the SR-71 and F-117

My first thought is it looks like a cross between the X-47B [0] and the RQ-4
Global Hawk [1]. Interestingly, both of those came out of Northrop Grumman
years later.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_X-47B)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_H...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_RQ-4_Global_Hawk)

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ianstallings
Yes and what is strange is it isn't faceted like the F-117, which Lockheed was
making during the same era. As far as I can recall Ben Rich said that he had
stumbled on a paper by a Russian scientist regarding how to defeat radar using
various angles. But their limited computation capability led Lockheed to
create a faceted design instead of a round one. One has to wonder why Boeing
didn't do that. Was it just guess work? Or was it some information-sharing
between the two groups and Boeing simply took a different, yet better
approach?

Northrop's Tacit Blue might have been the influencer for both programs:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Tacit_Blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Tacit_Blue)

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vonmoltke
As mentioned in the article, Boeing did this work two years before Ufimtsev
even published his paper. It was also a full ten years before Lockheed even
started designing the F-117.

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ianstallings
Sorry I missed the article, I thought it was just an image gallery and had to
scroll down through a strange(imho) layout. Thanks!

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DannoHung
Woah. It's crazy how similar the air frame design is to all of the 5th gen
stealth fighters being produced.

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dhimes
I always thought that when they revealed it they should have published photos
of empty sky, saying "Look! There it goes!"

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jasonkester
I went to an air show in the 80s that had a stealth fighter on display. Or
rather a plane-sized empty area of tarmack roped off with a sign describing it
as such.

So it looks like they stole your idea.

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themodelplumber
Wow, if the design that resulted in those now-well-known aesthetic qualities
goes back that far, I wonder what they're thinking is new and cool these days.

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trhway
one would wish it. Unfortunately, this contraption was Boeing's F-35
competition entry
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32)

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sanoli
I actually liked the way the x-32 looked. If Disney made a movie like 'Cars'
but called 'Jet Fighters', I always thought the X-32 would be a candidate for
the protagonist.

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trhway
i see your point and raise you that :)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLh1sSFs8Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmLh1sSFs8Y)

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sopooneo
One question, in case anyone here knows: if the "1948 'Key West Agreement'
(PDF) that put jet fixed-wing aircraft purely in the domain of the Air Force"
is a thing, then how come the Navy runs the Blue Angels?
[https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/](https://www.blueangels.navy.mil/)

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smackfu
It's mainly a poor summary of those agreements, of which the Key West
Agreement was only the first. A better way to put it would be that the Army is
not allowed to have fixed-wing aircraft, and the Air Force is not allowed to
have helicopters. The Navy is just restricted to air operations that support a
naval campaign.

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ZanyProgrammer
The Air Force also has helicopters.

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hugh4
You seem to be correct -- Wikipedia says the USAF has about 200 helicopters
for search and rescue and "utility".

Presumably an exception to the rule.

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smegel
Why link to blogspam instead of the real thing?

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mindcrime
These days it seems that anything that contains an embedded link is
"blogspam". Never mind if TFA provides additional information, analysis,
insight or context, if it's not "the real thing" then it's spam. Or so you
would believe from reading the comments around here.

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roflchoppa
man i need to get some of the radar signal absorbing paint.. ya know for
science n stuff

