Mystery UAV spotted near Mojave Airport

a reply to: drwire

The dual-stream appearance of the contrail could be the result of a splitter plate in the center of the flattened exhaust duct. You can see the same arrangement in other aircraft such as the X-47B. So, it may not indicate twin engines at all.

originally posted by: Shadowhawk
a reply to: drwire

The dual-stream appearance of the contrail could be the result of a splitter plate in the center of the flattened exhaust duct. You can see the same arrangement in other aircraft such as the X-47B. So, it may not indicate twin engines at all.

I think a splitter plate cant create a vortex like a two jet engines do.

With the size of the flyng wing I doubt there is just one engine.

a reply to: penroc3

I used gigapixel ai software to get a better image from the source.

a reply to: grey580

very nice work!

The top one could be a polecat.

interestingly enough I spoke to their public relation people about the pointy aircraft and with the photo attached they didn't have any in the office because of COVID, a strange answer for sure.

originally posted by: ThePeaceMaker

originally posted by: circuitsports
It looks like the polecat with thinner wings to reduce signature, materials and more complicated modeling makes that possible.

I’ve seen stuff flying out in SoCal but I don’t take pictures, they know the area is being monitored and I don’t want to get caught up in any counter espionage crap for likes.

From what I gather as long as you’re in a public area when taking photos nothing can be done. If they didn’t want anything being seen they wouldn’t fly it anywhere near where it could be spotted

IDK I've seen vehicles with anti photography measures and pilots doing daylight training on public land take evasive measures when they realized I was taking pictures - it could be a hopped up RC jet baiting surveillance and monitoring information flow or counter espionage, I've spoken to and heard from numerous people who are sure the entire flightpath in that area is being watched 24/7.

We think they would just fly at night, but there is considerable advancements in low light surveillance that could actually make it easier to see more clearly at night in some weather conditions, thats at the consumer level.

That top image looks like the f19 concept - I had a die cast model of it back in the late 80's

ghosts

a reply to: grey580

The first photo looks like the LM 6th Gen fighter concept with inward facing control surfaces on the tail.
The second photo looks like a scramjet hypersonic vehicle.

a reply to: Masisoar

the pointy one has very obvious relation to NASA's quite boom demonstrators but with a bit nastier look

a reply to: circuitsports

i have a few rather conspicuous choppers that frequent my airspace but according to flight tracking software they belong to localized national guard bases and some just don't come up.


that being said, ISR(the persistent kind) i would assume would be tasked to drones, less fuel cost, less pilot and aircraft fatigue for something you can do for a few 100$ and a rental van.

i can imagine that state side surveillance would use some kind of mass produced drones with maybe some custom sensors like FLIR and maybe some various ISR stuff, no need to fly advanced drones over a non contested area.

i fly my drone around all over my neighborhood and almost nobody even looks up even if i hoover right above them.

i could imagine some state side NSA/CIA state side drones just landing on someone's roof and dropping a miniature mic/camera and battery pack to be picked up later


imagine what one person could do with a bunched of pre programed store bought drones that flew on a premade made so as long as they had gps for most of the flight for the terminal phase would be no problem, the question is what happens when 50 drones land around a head of state.

a reply to: grey580
I don't understand the shape of the first picture it look like something pointy with strange blade inlet and two inward stabilizer on the rear never see that. For the second it seem to be a quiet supersonic concept.

a reply to: darksidius



look similar?

a reply to: darksidius

It would be funny if it was the companion aircraft.

Pointy Boy looks like an older design to me, don’t know why but something about the tail looks older.

Here’s my completely uninformed opinion:
Pointy Boy is a late 80’s early 90’s silent boom hypersonic design. You don’t think the long pointy silent boom stuff we’ve suddenly been seeing lately originated in the white world did you?

I can’t make heads or tails of the first aircraft, it’s too dark & a strange angle.

a reply to: PhantomTwo

The other one is the LM Long Range Bomber Concept from 2003

a reply to: grey580

you have a pm sir

a reply to: darksidius

Reminds me of this guy.

a reply to: grey580
Some sort