Rockwell Silent Night and other unbuilt projects

Coolest unbuilt project?

I've always liked the North American Silent Night concept, the Mcdonnell Douglas Quiet attack, the Boeing Quiet Bird..and other 1960's/ 1970's concepts

What's your favorite unbuilt concept?

Mockups count as unbuilt..

I would go with the The North American XF-108 Rapier


the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar


and the Supersonic Low Altitude Missile. THE MISSILE FROM HELL

a reply to: CrownCartwheelCreed


The McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II

Artists’ conceptions and mockups of the craft revealed a flying wing design in the shape of an isosceles triangle, with the cockpit situated near the apex of the triangle. The aircraft was designed to have two General Electric F412-GE-D5F2 turbofans, each producing about 13,000 lbf (58 kN) thrust, and was equipped to carry up to two AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles, two AGM-88 HARMs and a full complement of air-to-ground ordnance, including Mk 82 bombs, or smart bombs, in an internal weapons bay. The A-12 gained the nickname “Flying Dorito”.

The F-19 for me.

a reply to: Drunkenparrot

Great choices. The Russians claim to have a similar missile..

a reply to: LookingAtMars

There's (supposedly) a similarly shaped airframe in operation and (possibly) a few of them at NAWS China Lake

a reply to: Jonjonj

Which one? ;-) The F117? THAP? LAP? CSIRS? Or..?

originally posted by: CrownCartwheelCreed
a reply to: Drunkenparrot

Great choices. The Russians claim to have a similar missile..

Don’t think I’ve heard talk of a SLAM equivalent from Russia, there’s the nuclear cruise missile but that’s a whole ‘nother ball of wax I don’t think it’s supposed to be a Mach 3 or multiple warhead system.

Didn’t dynasore fly subscale?

a reply to: BigDave-AR

They have a nuclear powered supersonic cruise missile. Not sure on payload/max speed.

www.cnbc.com...


Dynasoar is said to have ended around the same time Isinglass started so...maybe.. there was some sort of demonstrator/ flight...

North American XB-70 Valkyrie


I guess they built 2 of these. But they never deployed it. And they crashed one of those.
-dex

a reply to: CrownCartwheelCreed

It's the project pluto equivalent called Burevestnik. Been discussed on this forum and in the Military Projects forum several times now. Theoretically, infinite range, but single warhead.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Now back to the regular topic:

As for the A-12, I'd have loved to have seen a Nimitz deck with 20 A-12s, 14 F-22Bs, 24 F/A-18E/Fs plus Growlers and whatnot. Alas, it didn't work out that way. Then let the F-23 go to the USAF. Then we could have had a JSF that just had the USAF and USMC in it which would have probably reduced the price at least somewhat.

There would still be an independent McDonnell Douglas then and Boeing would have been only in the tanker and transport business. Whither Northrop? IDK. Bombers and UAVs, I'd guess.

a reply to: DexterRiley

Beautiful planes. :-) And the (speculative) basis for others..

a reply to: anzha

Agree..would be quite the carrier deck. And..everyone loved the F-23. Including, it would appear, LM.

As far as McDonnell Douglas... I am friends with John McDonnell's wife. They are happily involved in other(non aerospace) ventures. Anne is quite active with redeveloping the Soulard area of St Louis and John stays busy on several boards. Both are active in the charity realm..

a reply to: CrownCartwheelCreed

And you know, General Dynamics might still be in the fighter industry. Between the A-12 and the F-16, they might have had enough to keep them interested. And Northrop would have had the F-23, even if it was cut short, plus UAVs and the B-2.

At least on the aircraft side of things, it looks healthier as a procurement ecosystem/industrial base than today.

This one for sure LOL



or

I personally like the Convair KingFish but my scientific wild ass guess says its going by another name. Then theres always the thing that was told would float out of the hangar one day and ATS would melt...twice.


i.imgur.com...

a reply to: Trillium

Beautiful plane, eh? And that newer concept looks strangely familiar. Have you read this?

www.thestar.com...

a reply to: StratosFear

Wouldn't be surprised if Kingfish/her derivative flew. The CIA's next high speed aircraft project after the A-12/ Kingfish was named after a glue made from fish...