Lockheed Martin Shows Off Mysterious Aircraft, Igniting Speculation

a reply to: grey580

Reminds me a bit of their SR-72 Darkstar. 🤷‍♂️ Skunkworks has things we probably can't even imagine, and I personally think the majority of "UFO" sightings are military projects. But that's just my opinion.

I think that the future of military aviation is going to go the "unmanned" route. Unfortunately. I always wanted to be a bomber pilot until I found out my eyes disqualified me. But realistically, a UAV can pull maneuvers no human pilot could handle physically. Assuming the planes are autonomous, it would save the military millions in training pilots and trying to retain them. And you know the militaries AI makes Chat GTP look quaint.

a reply to: DerekJR321

UAVs are still years away from being able to do most of the missions that manned aircraft can do. And longer until they're air to air capable.

originally posted by: 38181
a reply to: Zaphod58

That’s the cool thing about physics. It has an absolute coffin factor no matter which way you go in our current physical realm .

Extreme conditions will kill the occupants. Should be on a Patch.

Titan was a joke in comparison.

Well thats where the inertial dampening of the mass reduction while under power comes in. While under power all things inside the craft deny gravitys pull rendering them essentially almost massless,which reduced g forces. Its why a Tri can do a 90 degree turn and not splatter the pilots inside.

originally posted by: dangermouse
Blended wing tail-less hybrid SCRAM????

I’d be VERY surprised if high speed was a major design feature of NGAD/PCA. Just about everything we’ve seen from people who report on this stuff has indicated that extended range and very low observability across the spectrum (particularly IR) were the priorities. I’ve also seen speculation that the standard cockpit format was going to be set aside for the sake of a lower RCS and that PCA would utilize smaller side windows (similar to what Skunkworks did with the “Darkstar” mock-up for the last Top Gun movie), and the F-35’s ability to “see” through the airplane.

Google image search broadhead arrow tips.

Some of them look just like the OP, minus the cockpit window.

a reply to: sqd5driver

Everyone is assuming this is NGAD, with no real evidence of what it is. Right now, it's just a shape they released.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: sqd5driver

Everyone is assuming this is NGAD, with no real evidence of what it is. Right now, it's just a shape they released.

Fair point. I’m more inclined to put it in the “not” column for now. Looks more like the F/A-XX concepts that have been floating around. Who knows…? The Internet would be boring as hell without all of this speculation. I’m still waiting for a 2 seat F-35C to take over the Growler’s role… Or a Bloc 70/72 F-16XL with a F-135 shoehorned in there to ensure maximum overkill for something we REALLY don’t need.

a reply to: sqd5driver

The F-35 EW system is actually really good, and quite intelligent without the second seat. The threat recognition system is insane. There was an exercise using simulated radar systems where the pilots never even saw the threat because the aircraft knew the radar was fake.

a reply to: grey580

Reminiscent of the futuristic X44 Manta airframe design.

just a logo it seems.

theaviationist.com...

a reply to: anzha

No, it appears that the logo is the eagle. Lockheed apparently calls it Bird of Prey.

a reply to: grey580

This kind of reminds me of the black aircraft photographed “upside down” on the back of a flatbed a few years back

a reply to: TheFerretuk
Yes doesnt it

From a Lockheed Martin video uploaded on YT earlier today. Roughly the size of that 'logo' or something more modern still.

Thats just the polecap for the top of the pylon.a reply to: iAlrakis