Has the NGAD "fighter" been spotted at Area 51?

originally posted by: darksidius
It is pointing in the direction of a spaceplane , the shape, the wing tips upward, no real Stealth make me thing of something related with high speed or , near space/space. You don't build a massive hangar in extrem south of the more secret base in the world for a slow no stealth plane.

The shape is all wrong for a spaceplane. Wings should be thick with a blunted nose. Fineness ratio and size of fuselage is not optimized for transatmospheric control and doesn't lend itself to housing a rocket or scramjet + rocket. Surface treatment isn't the right color for thermal protection. No reaction thrusters visible (although photo quality is poor).

Bassplyr the shadows match pretty well but they also have the advantage of knowing when the sat is going to be on station. The only thing that gives me pause is that they left it out for multiple passes, which makes painting the shadows on a hassle. You'd have to change them for each pass.

I don't believe there is any relationship but the cranked wing and sweep angle are reminiscent of the x-31. So consider the size, weight, speed regime of that and work your way from there. Good forensics starts with known quantities.

a reply to: Ornithologist

this looks like a drone of some sort.

a fast one, like M2-3 MAYBE

but it still looks cool


maybe this is our Bishop

a reply to: noscopebacon

not related but cool and has to do with my secret love the F22

a reply to: anzha

Could be the infamous companion to the 117

a reply to: Crumbles

i think you would be disappointed if you saw it, heck maybe you already have

originally posted by: JIMC5499

originally posted by: Bigburgh
Upsidedown aircrafts on poles

That's how they test the aircraft's radar signature.

Indeed.

If the said Aircraft was any bigger and I didn't know any better.... which I don't.

Edit:

a reply to: Bigburgh

a reply to: Zaphod58

pics are timing out

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thank you👍🏼

For finally showing up.


What are we looking at?

Edit: I want to see them do that with an AN-124 or AN-225.😁

Because I'm clueless. But you knew that.

a reply to: Bigburgh

In my post? RCS testing. They put the aircraft upside down in various configurations, and hit it with radar from a transmitter a set distance away, and figure out the RCS of that configuration. It includes with weapons, fuel tanks, ECM pods, etc. Depending on the pole they're mounted on, they can change the angle of the aircraft relative to the beam to hit the top or bottom, and rotate it so they can hit the back as well.

At Groom? Not anything classified. The planform matches a couple possible airframes, and they might be doing eploitation/testing work on them.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yes this.

At Groom? Not anything classified. The planform matches a couple possible airframes, and they might be doing eploitation/testing work on them.

I know about radar testing.

The aircraft in question, is it a wingman drone? Looks small. The width of the whiter portion of that taxi way I measured at 75 feet.

a reply to: anzha
Thats a shroud over whatever aircraft they are rolling out. They will fuel it and pull the shroud off when there are no overhead satellites just before flight.

a reply to: Bigburgh

Doubtful. The current Loyal Wingman systems are fairly small compared to the apparent measurements of this one. And their shapes aren't quite the same as this one.

a reply to: jwal5150

If that was the case, and this was a classified aircraft, the cover wouldn't allow the aircraft to be seen at all, let alone with this much detail.

a reply to: Bigburgh

The X-36 was one of the coolest little things I've seen. I would love to actually see a fighter come out of that design in some fashion.

a reply to: Hypntick

Iran tried it. That's this pic.
Qaher 313?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Only reason to have the cover - if this is a real bird - is to obscure certain details. It does appear (again if this is real) to cause some distortion.

Edit: fixed.

Could just be a gripen at groom used for exploitation studies, op force training or simply to test a new toy the americans want to sell to our European brethren.