Navy Bird Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 Hmm... https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/09/usaf-jet/168479/ Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 14 minutes ago, Navy Bird said: Hmm... https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/09/usaf-jet/168479/ Cheers, Bill Not s lot of detail, but why not? X-planes have existed before... and waiting 20+ years is not always an option if you want new things... (F-22, F-35 come to mind...) Still far away from an operational fighter I assume! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 15, 2020 Author Share Posted September 15, 2020 4 minutes ago, exdraken said: Still far away from an operational fighter I assume! No doubt. I wonder if this is related to the revival of the "Century Series" that was talked about a few years back. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slater Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 Sounds like a Skunk Works or Phantom Works program. Broken records? As in performance/low observability/etc. or design time, affordability, etc. type records? The world wonders. I take all this with a grain of salt. Nothing's ever as good as it's advertised to be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Maybe broken record in not hitting the news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 12 hours ago, Slater said: Broken records? Not necessarily records relating to flight performance at all. Could be related to any aspect of an industrial design and manufacturing programme they want to claim. The whole thing is rich with the odour of spin over substance though. From the first line... because the Air Force definitely hasn't built anything. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick4350 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 A picture of the aircraft would have been helpful ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Wonder if they will resurrect the 'Mustang' name for it. Regards Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I don't like the look of it in that top pic. A bit too stealthy if you ask me 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Licence building the F-313 from the Iranians? 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 7 hours ago, bentwaters81tfw said: Licence building the F-313 from the Iranians? They sent Mitchell Gant to Tehran to steal it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 4 minutes ago, Truro Model Builder said: They sent Mitchell Gant to Tehran to steal it. He has to think in Farsi. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 20 hours ago, Work In Progress said: The whole thing is rich with the odour of spin over substance though. From the first line... because the Air Force definitely hasn't built anything. The article (quoting the speaker) seems to go on and on and on and on about "digital engineering"... That's nothing new, CAD, CFD, FEA, CAM and many other design and analysis tools have been used for decades. Undoubtedly, we have better digital design tools then ever before. The claim that "you do not have to have huge facilities, huge workforces [and] expensive tooling,” has either been taken out of context, or is incorrect. If you want to build an aircraft, a huge amount of people are required (either distributed among many companies or otherwise) and a huge amount of tooling is required - you can't make a plane out of nothing. “It is letting us take aircraft assembly back to where we were in the [19]70s and prior to it... with small, but very good teams, of engineers and mechanics." Again, nothing new, that's just a reflection of the massive supply chain and different tiers of aerospace manufacturing. It's the same in the UK, the big aerospace companies don't do much manufacture, they assemble, manufacturing is done by tier 3 companies, who supply parts and small assemblies to tier 2 companies, that create large assemblies and supply them to tier 1 OEMs. I don't doubt that new technologies/aircraft are being developed, but this article just seems like a lot of talking about nothing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckw Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 I wonder if this is a manned aircraft? Perhaps it is a fighter drone - possibly using off the shelf components as a technology demonstrator Cheers Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 Given the times, it would be wise to treat this announcement with some scepticism. It does sound like spin. Anybody can design and build an aeroplane. A flying prototype is nothing more than that. It's the systems that take the time to perfect. The F35 proved that. It seems to me to be another attempt to reduce the costs of modern military aircraft. Look forward to seeing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2020/09/virtual-tools-built-air-forces-new-fighter-prototype/168505/ https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/09/who-secretly-building-usafs-new-fighter/168541/ https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/7/14/air-force-digital-century-series-concept-approaching-new Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted September 17, 2020 Author Share Posted September 17, 2020 I smell Musk. But maybe that's just my aftershave. Cheers, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Looks more like an attempt to create the illusion of something than an actual something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 We had this many years ago.... Not heard of it since! Boeing Bird of Prey https://www.tactical-life.com/lifestyle/military-and-police/boeing-bird-of-prey/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 It sits in a Museum somewhere in USA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slater Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 If the US can manage something like this, there's no reason why Europe couldn't. Presuming access to similar technology. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt-92 Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 On 9/17/2020 at 11:46 AM, noelh said: Given the times, it would be wise to treat this announcement with some scepticism. It does sound like spin. Guess someone felt upstaged at hearing of the Tempest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 https://theaviationist.com/2020/09/18/air-force-73rd-birthday-graphic-features-the-rendering-of-a-mysterious-next-generation-aircraft/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Coombs Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 57 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said: https://theaviationist.com/2020/09/18/air-force-73rd-birthday-graphic-features-the-rendering-of-a-mysterious-next-generation-aircraft/ Looks like someone crossed the MDD/GD A-12 with the Arrow from the Wing Commander games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 I found the statement "It is letting us take aircraft assembly back to where we were in the [19]70s and prior to it... with small, but very good teams, of engineers and mechanics" as something quite funny. US aircraft in the '60s and '70s did not come from small "cottage industry" firms but from large companies that employed hundred or thousand of people and occupied plants that were as big as a small town. Granted, with the concentration that occurred years later the same companies today are mastodontic in comparison but aerospace has stopped being a small enterprise business many years ago. at least when it comes to something like fighter design. Said that, I don't doubt that the US industry are capable of designing and building a combat aircraft prototype in complete secrecy, afterall they did in the past and sure have the resources to do it again. If this announcement is just propaganda, we'll find out at some point, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something real flying. If this someting will take 1 or 10 year to become operational it's then a whole different story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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