Is this a top secret plane?

I noted that an earlier post suggested a UAV because no cockpit was obvious. If this thing goes as fast as claimed, maybe cockpits are not desired or are materially impractical. It could still be manned but with real-time displays for an onboard pilot. Any control link to an unmanned vehicle can be disrupted and autonomous vehicles may still need human oversight.
I suggested that this might be an A-12 but when I looked for images, the Navy craft didn't show vertical wing-tips and had a different aspect to the delta. The cockpit was forward and blended into the apex.

Originally posted by gormly
You know what I just now noticed? (cause I am a clueless idiot sometimes)

If a post has an inferrence of earth bound origin, for example someone prefaces it with: "I took the pic near area 51" then there isn't one peep about it being an alien craft being covered up by Nasa or the US Government.

But if someone omits that and the picture is even remotely blurry, out of focus or really distant (think a snashot of a street map from 500 yards) then we get 100's of posts swearing it's from planet X or something..

I'd bet if this pic were posted without the area 51 reference, we'd have many members swearing up and down that it was alien.

It's ALL perception.

ack!

Personally I think it looks like that new UAV I saw on Future Weapons.
That baby rocks! I want one in 2018 when it goes live!

If you really want to find out if that's how people would react you should do an experiment.

-rrr

Awesome snapshots OP..How wide do you think this object actually was?..Could it have any connection to the Phoenix lights incidents?..Im posting simply because I have questions for the community who seem to really know their stuff about this topic but if this is a secret craft why would the AF/Govt conduct tests in broad daylight unless it really is just a UAV and everybody knows what they are, After seeing the Phoenix Lights documentary I really want to believe its something more..Thanks

That is the TR-3B Astra, no doubt about it.

A source of mine at boeing and in the airforce both acknowledged it's existance to me.

it's a craft used for recon, surveilence and transport, delta operatives use it for covert operations and some covert airforce elements use it as well in conjunction with delta.

I have no proof for my claims however but that's what I 'believe'.

excellent catch.

reply to post by Zaphod58


it does not matter that it is "retired" they fly in and out to go to airshows and aviation exhibits all the time in my opinion that is what it is

I, for one, DON'T think it's an F117. However, saying that it can't be an F117 because they've been retired is a pretty weak argument; it's pretty obvious that an airbase that tests new aircraft technology would have still have one or two around for testing stuff on/with. It's absurd to think that just because they've been officially retired means there's no way it could be one.

Is there any reason that the photos presented were shot at such a low resolution?

Panasonic DMC-FZ8 is a 7.2 mega pixel camera.

The reason I ask, is in the first image, the 'craft' has a pixelated edge. It appears not to be Anti-aliased the same as the rest of the image.

Object-based anti-aliasing

A graphics rendering system creates an image based on objects constructed of polygonal primitives whereby the aliasing effects in the image are reduced by applying an anti-aliasing scheme only to the areas of the image representing silhouette edges of the objects. The silhouette edges are anti-aliased by creating anti-aliasing primitives which vary in opacity. These anti-aliasing primitives are joined to the silhouetted edges, and create a region in the image where the objects appear to blend into the background. The method has some important advantages over the classical methods based on the accumulation buffer since it generates full-scene anti-aliasing in only two passes and does not require the use of the additional memory required by the accumulation buffer. Object-based anti-aliasing was first developed at Silicon Graphics for their Indy workstation.

Sorry, but I don't understand shooting a 7 megapixel digital camera at such a low resolution, unless you need to composite a aircraft into the image with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 Windows, because the 3D rendering program used is not of high resolution.

I feel that this is more than likely a hoax.

reply to post by Zaphod58


I agree totally, I was going to post something similar, perhaps you can ilustrate it for those who still say "F117".

I do how ever have questions for the person who posted the pictures.

1. Why only 2 pictures?

2. Did it make any noise?

3.How fast was it trveling?

4. WHY ONLY 2 PICTURES?

Is there any chance it could be the British UCAV - Taranis? I'm pretty sure that the US test UAV's in the UK, therefore is it feasible that the UK test UAV's in the US? Just a thought

reply to post by Curio


You are both missing the point. Looking at the photos up close as posted on the first page, clearly shows that it is NOT an F-117.

This is an amazing find though.

reply to post by ampaf707


Looks like an f-117 that's either been doctored or perhaps an upgraded version of the f117. Def not aurora because (to my understanding) Aurora is rather large.

Burr. When I think of groomlake I get chills up my spine. Alot of innovative ideas but... so much darkness.

These photo's look fake.. LOL, the pixel sharpness of the plane doesn't match that of surround pixel's, or that of any in the image.

Its funny how all these photo's captured of secret aircraft are conveniently crap quality. I wait till the day when I see a decent quality photo, then I will be less skeptical.

reply to post by miguelbmx


Lets be honest here. Most of the speculation is due to the lack of information being given by the OP. I see people suggesting it could be some nuclear powered triangle craft with thrust vectoring, but it seems like that would kick up lots of noise and dust. We're left guessing by the OP.

[edit on 7-11-2008 by Marcus Calpurnius]

reply to post by HunkaHunka


I still want to know the answer to this...

Also, the linked photos say they were taken with a Panasonic DMC-FZ8 which is a 7 mega pixel camera. The EXIF data says however that it's only a 2 mega pixel image. Why downsize the image?

Also if he/she had posted the original image all of the EXIF data would have been attached to the file. It makes me suspicious the file has been modifed if that data is not there. Someone would have to know how to remove that data to do that, which again makes me suspicious.

Come on folks, lets get some answers to this.

Here is more information in talking to my Partner

On the link to the picture on the Flickr site. On Flickr it says what kind of camera it was taken with.

www.flickr.com...@N03/3008567389/

Right hand side under Additional information

Take with a Panasonic DMC-FZ8 and then a link to more properties.

Image width is 1672 x 1254 pixels, that's 2,096,688 or 2 mega pixels. The camera specs state It's a 7mp camera.

All of this "additional info" is some of the EXIF info that should be embedded in the actual file. The image that's on Flickr does not actually contain any of this info, I downloaded it and looked at it, there's nothing there. It's also smaller than stated here.

It also clearly states the image was edited in Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for windows on November 5th. Maybe the owner just resized it to post it on Flickr, but who knows. Why not post the original image??? That's all I'm saying.

and another comment

I found a button on Flickr that lets you view larger sizes, so I did find the largest size, but it's still not a 7mp image.

If the camera takes 7mp images, why not post that image, why resize it smaller??








[edit on 7-11-2008 by Helmkat]

[edit on 7-11-2008 by Helmkat]

reply to post by ampaf707

It could be anyone of those mentioned in the responses, but hearing a dull roar makes me question it being an arora also newer technology would be more in line with ram jet tech which would produce more of a popping sound at that altitude. Loved the PICs though, keep up the good work

This vehicle is truly a UFO by the actual definition and is a very good find. Yes it is probably military, and since we don't have access to the classified directory of top secret planes, it would be hard to identify it other than if it matches against known military craft. Even with the picture as good as it is, it is still hard to make out the details that would really help in identifying it.

At long last A not so blurry photo!

I can actually clearly see what this is, GREAT PHOTO!

At least it's given us lot something worthwhile to argue about instead of the usual gash that seams to happen in between the good cases. This one is a thread i'll be watching close. I have no knowledge of aircraft though so my contribution will be limited. Still checking the thread for updates on the story tho!

Great stuff!

Nice pics for sure there!

However im gonna play devils advocate and say i doubt youve stumbled upon any top secret/black project, simply because logically if it was they would not be testing it during the day time where everyone and sundry can see it clearly (including those pesky spy satellites)!

Still definately looks to be a hypersonic frame and therefore is likely a concept model/demo model for a hyspersonic UAV project, still interesting to know such things are out there!

Originally posted by Chadwickus
Here's a zoom in of the second one:

It seems a bit more swept back and as mentioned there doesn't seem to be a cockpit.

It looks as if it's the Aurora. Here's a diagram of the top secret craft...



This one's facing the left, but notice the stabilators on the wings. Smacking resemblance, what? Good pics!

Cheers!

www.ufosnw.com...