BSAX/Tacit blue follow on ?

Hello everyone, here is a very interesting interview about Tacit Blue. (By the way I can only recommend you this YouTube channel by Steve Davies)
During this interview, it is mentionned some other classified programs that took place during this same timeframe that are still classified to this day. And when a follow on program is brought, the interviewee seems a little reluctant and stick to the official story that there was no follow on and it just helped forthe B2.

So here is my point :

There is no doubt that it helped for the developpement of the B2, especially for the curved surfaces for thr stealth ect... But that clearly wasn't the main objective.
The main goal of this program was to have a stealth plateform capable of loitering above the battlfield for extanded period of time while operating sensors and radars to transmit those informations. And since it was apparently a big success, to not say a revolution, it seems hard to believe that you don't make anything operational of such a potential application.

So here are the possibilities that I'm seeing :
-It was really cancelled, and they have waited for decades to start working on something operational (RQ3/RQ170 and now 180). But let's be honest, it seems hard to believe to wait so long to exploit such a revolutionnary concept ?

-An operational plateform was indeed made from this program that is still classified today (and maybe retired). And it would seem to be coherent with a couple of things. First it was mentionned on a B2 thread that a demonstrator for the B2 probably flew and is still classified to this day, we know that during the developpement the B2 was revised to add a low altitude capability wich brought a lot of change. So since it was suposed to be a high altitude stealth penetrating plateform at first, maybe they developped something from this proof of concept aircraft to keep the high altitude and long endurance profile and turned it into a big stealth sensor Truck flying high above the battlfield and operating sensors.
Secondly, it has been rumored for decades now that a classified aircarft dating from this period was operationnal for a while, and IIRC Boomer135 mentionned a couple time something similar.
I will also add the " a plea from area51" text by Steve Douglass that mention a classified airframe doing exactly this mission performing it's last flight. Even if on the text he seemed to was wrong with the name of the aircraft (see dreamlandresort thread about it), the airframe he describe could be very reeal and the timeframe seems to match with the arrival of the RQ-180 which would makes sense.

And yes I know that the theoretical airframe that i'm talking about isn't the 119/companion, I know it is an older design.

So maybe i'm totally wrong, i'm basic my hypothesis on no evidence, i'm just trying to connect the dotes and draw logical conclusion.
So worse case scenario, if everything i said is fasle... you can still discover a nice youtube channel ^^


As i'm writting it I realized that Tyler Rogoway more or less draw the same conclusion some years ago on this article, even if he use the (stupid) name TR-3 (which i know is totally wrong), the conclusion and the logic behind it seems to make sense.(aviationintel.com...)

Thank you for reading me, I hope I explained my thoughts well !
I wish you all a good day.

Ghoul

Okay the video seems to not have loaded correctly, so here is the link

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: Ghoul

Fixed

Thank you !a reply to: Bigburgh

originally posted by: Ghoul
The main goal of this program was to have a stealth plateform capable of loitering above the battlfield for extanded period of time while operating sensors and radars to transmit those informations. And since it was apparently a big success, to not say a revolution, it seems hard to believe that you don't make anything operational of such a potential application.

I know it's tempting to think that, but you have to remember the people who make the final decisions on what to fund are Congress. What's tactically or strategically the smartest decision isn't always made. Politics always plays into it. Look at the BRAC program. Which bases get "realigned" or closed always boil down to political factors rather than strategic ones.

a reply to: face23785
Yes you’re right, but sometimes there is canceled and « canceled », I think the blackswift project is a good example.

By the way the warzone wrote an an article about it.

www.thedrive.com...

Contrary to popular belief, not every capability that is tested goes anywhere immediately, if at all. Even ones that make sense sometimes take a lot of years to finally implement. Ultimately it comes down to budget. Having a battlefield surveillance aircraft based on Tacit Blue would have been a great capability, but it would have been expensive, coming right at a time when the B-2 was the priority, and a number of other programs were being cancelled or needed a lot more money than expected. Cost overruns eating budgets alive were especially prevalent at the time, leading to a lot of questions on priorities.

Stealth was still fairly new at the time, and was proving to be expensive to maintain, and until Desert Storm, an unproven capability. It wasn't until then that the Air Force decided that stealth worked, and was the future. Before then, it was just a cool first strike capability, that no one knew was effective. It worked really well in tests, but tests are controlled environments no matter how loose you make the parameters.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thank you for your Reply Zaph.

So do you think that after desert storm, a plateform as described could have been developed? Now that Stealth was a "real thing" that worked ?

By the way, if I remember correctly, on an older thread Boomer135 kinda hinted that he refueled a flying wing about a 1/3rd or 2/3rd (i don't remember which one) the size of a B2. Do you think it could have been related or it is completely different?

Rq180 was loosely described as a smaller version of the B2..Form follows function.I agree with Zaph,not everything makes it but companies do take bits and pieces of tech and add them to whatevers on the "want' list at that moment..

a reply to: Ghoul

I don't believe there was an aircraft built, no. I do believe the capabilities that were valuable and worked were added to existing platforms during the upgrade process.

a reply to: Zaphod58

*whispers under breath*

companion

*grabs popcorn*

a reply to: anzha

That was pre Desert Storm.

a reply to: Zaphod58

An existing unclassified platform like the E8 JSTAR ? Or an other still classified plateform ?
Btw the black airplane over wichita in 2014 wasn’t a kind a kind of stealth JSTAR ? At least that’s what i got from the thread about it.

a reply to: Ghoul

Both.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Interesting, thank you !

Could this still classified aircraft be the companion ? It would kinda surprise me but. And has this aircraft been mentionner or talked about in some other thread ?
I know boomer once said there is between 7-11 manned classified platform flying since 1985 that are still classified... so i guess there could be other candidates lol.

a reply to: Zaphod58

the same could be said about the sensorcraft

did it have a limited run before drones were practical? did the whale have a little pod for the same reasons?


we didn't always have high speed data connections and would need butts in seats to fly the aircraft and operate its insterments in real time.

there was clearly HALE platforms before current drones and the few manned air craft that zip around. I bet you the RQ-180 is the drone version of something that is manned and maybe still flying.

and there may be something that is a descendant of the whale