Skunk Works Promo Video

a reply to: mightmight

Id bet the b21 is hanging out close by. But its a big hanger complex no reason both cant be hanging out in there .

My theory completely unsubstantiated is that northrop has a few birds of various makes in the area that we arent aware of.

After all the lrsb is a family of systems. Odds are good that northrop won that contract because it had other complimentary platforms that would gel so well when used in conjunction that it offered too robust a support system for the b21 to pass up. So personally i expect northrop to come out with a few more suprises in the next few years.

Not to take away from lockheed who is always on point and has some amazing platforms themselves. Hopefully this "sr72" or derivative of will be a forthcoming hooya take that you hacks in russia and china. This is what a hypersonic multi use platform is supposed to look like.

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
a reply to: nelloh62

Yours was a good find. I remember months ago you alerting me to that curious shadow and going sonething akin to am i seeing what i think im seeing here. Sure seems like it. Great eyes and good job on the work with the images you supplied. Its definitly food for thought.

Certainly seems to fit the shadow doesn't it I know it's a perfect fit but the shape seems to be there. Also Bass do you still want a copy of the sled driver pdf?

originally posted by: BASSPLYR
a reply to: nelloh62

I know what hanger that is. Interestingly its also a bomber hanger. Which raises even more questions. You dont think that this new bird could be based off another existing bird maybe? Or do the rolls of two prior different birds now that the kinks have been ironed out and technology matured?

The Purple Plasma Man to follow on the Green Lady?

originally posted by: penroc3

i wonder if the people who own that satellite or how ever that image was captured got to see what ever was covered up or if it goes through the DIA first, and all other imaging does as well if they want to show bases. but that bring up a whole new question are those companies really private then?

Yes, and no. "It would be unfortunate if a permanent communications mishap occurred with your beautiful, capital-intensive satellite."

a reply to: mbkennel

They probably did it to screw with us on here. "Leave the doors open and we'll filter it out and leave a rough shape that will make them have a meltdown"
Also if this is a Lockheed bird wouldn't it most likely be sharing a hangar with their entry for the LRSB rather than Northrops bird?

a reply to: Woody510

Um...yes...yes sir ,id love a copy of sled driver....

a reply to: BASSPLYR

DM me your email address and I'll send it over for you

Im wondering if sabre rattling with NK is escalating the timeline a bit?

a reply to: Blackfinger

I wonder what they are seeing on their radars, i bet they get some wild reading from time to time

First of all, thank you all for the thread it has been an enjoyable read. I have been a bit out of touch with skunkworks projects recently so this was a good re-entry point.

Anyway, what was bugging me was this supposed shadow on the hanger door at Edwards. It just felt wrong that they would have it positioned like that....

Then I spotted this guy...



Kind of strange to have the marker in that spot...and it lines up pretty nicely with where, I would assume, the front landing gear would be on this aircraft.



Lends pretty well to the theory that this is, indeed, the shadow of the aircraft.

I saw this as well, Calibrated... and thought the exact same thing. Very peculiar, but lines up perfectly.

Except that when they tow into a hangar, and they very very rarely taxi into one, they follow the taxi lines and position the aircraft once it's inside. Or follow the lines and position the aircraft just outside. They don't cut across taxi lines like that.

That line was not created by me, only the red overlay in the second picture I put up....

While not the same style as the other taxi lines....it is quite peculiar.

a reply to: CalibratedZeus

I didn't say that it was. But it could have been caused by towing AGE into the hangar, a vehicle driving into the hangar, or any number of other things besides an aircraft. The taxi lines are there to ensure clearance when moving aircraft around on the ramp. Cutting across them like that no longer ensures that clearance.

Our ramp and hangars had black lines like that all over them. A few were caused by aircraft, many were caused by ground equipment and vehicles.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Your further explanation helps and is very possible.

That being said, seeing as you have experience, I have some honest questions for you...

This spot outside another hanger has similar tracks, I am curious as to your thoughts on this other area:



Could they be markings by a vehicle as well? Could it be like a secondary taxiway style? I know you said they do not intersect so why do these?

Again the single line in the original picture just seems too perfect to have accidentally happened, in my opinion, which could very well be wrong.

a reply to: CalibratedZeus

If you check through Google Earth's image history you'll see this line has been around for a while and used to be another yellow taxi line on that ramp, looks like it's been there since at least April 2008. It appears that the yellow paint for the line has since been removed, I imagine what we're seeing here is the discoloured tarmac underneath where the line once was.

imgur.com...

Also, earlier in this thread, someone referred to the aircraft staging at the south edge of the ramp enclosure, south of the hangar being a clue. Again, if you go back through the Google Earth image history, this set of staging (or at least a very similar set) has been in that location since August 2005. I'm not saying it's definitely not linked to a programme based in that hangar, but that set of staging has been around for at least the last 12 years. In fact, the length of one of those long staging assemblies quite closely matches the leading edge distance of the B-2 at ~32m. It seems unlikely that a new programme is re-using B-2 staging, instead of its own special-to-type equipment.

Something ask myself a question it is the strange posistion of the shadow, in the lenght of the hangar its not a usual position for an aircraft , don't you think it could be the shadow of something Inside the hangar ? may be the door was open at each side of the hangar and its simply a shadow of something in ?

a reply to: CalibratedZeus

The most likely culprit for marks like that is AGE. The AGE guys are not known for keeping their equipment in the best condition. It wasn't unknown to have to get four different power units, or whatever out to an aircraft, because the previous ones wouldn't work. And the tug that pulls them has more than enough pull to drag even an AC unlit if a wheel locks up.

a reply to: darksidius

When i first looked at nellos discovery 6 months ago it was apparent that half the aircraft longitudinally was outside the hanger doors. The aircraft is sitting in the hangers shadow.

It appears google maps tried to airbrush out the physical aircraft but used a black that didnt match the dark gray color of the shadow of the hanger. Thus the outline of the physical aircraft is visible.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Hey can anybody measure that birds outline and get length measurements. Would be cool to start getting some metrics on her.

And again it sure looks like lockheeds depiction of the sr72 but its parked in a bomber hanger. Hmmmmm