The strange case of the black unmanned....

(Thread title continued) The strange case of the black unmanned aircraft at Kandahar.

Reports are coming out of Afghanistan this spring about sightings of a large reconnaissance aircraft unlike any previously known to the military aviation industry. Rumor has it that this aircraft has also been seen by U-2 pilots flying high altitude reconnaissance missions over Iraq. With remote, Taliban controlled areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan inaccessible to ‘boots on the ground’ intelligence, the United States and NATO rely heavily upon aerial reconnaissance using (U)nmanned (A)erial) ((V)ehicles . When aircraft designation includes (C)ombat then it is weaponized, can release bombs and is not restricted to surveillance. UAVs are very different than predator drones, whose sole mission is to take out a target.

Source

Sources at Janes Information Group, publishers of the world renowned “All the World’s Aircraft” and “Defense Weekly”, released a short report on 15 April 2009 about a mysterious UAV that has been seen in Afghanistan early in 2009. Experienced military personnel at Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan said the aircraft was unlike any known to them. Immediately after landing, it was moved into hangers used for the MQ-1 Predator drone and MQ-9 Reaper which fly frequent missions throughout the country. One source talking to Janes reported that NATO personnel photographed the aircraft, and were then detained by a security team who destroyed their photographs. Janes believes other photos exist but there are no publicly available copies at this time.

Source

Could these reports be those of the X47B UCAS



Photos: Northrop Grumman

Interesting reports of these black project craft and what a perfect test bed to try out the new toys!




[edit on 8-6-2009 by alyosha1981]

Just a bump to get this back out in the open, I want people to see this not only is it awesome IMO, but even as a believer in extraterrestrial I'm willing to bet at least some sightings may be attributed to this thing or something similar.

reply to post by alyosha1981


I just looked up the links.

The Navy has a 6 year deal with the makers. But they are not due to fly until later this year.

What is the Naval activity and involvement around sightings?

reply to post by atlasastro


I guess I'm not understanding your question, I've been up all night at work so I'm a bit tired. I assume the testing has been done by the navy and as such would account for the sightings as well as the secrecy.

The pictured drone looks like a stealth bomber so I would think it doesn't qualify as

unlike any previously known to the military aviation industry

Originally posted by alyosha1981
reply to post by atlasastro

 

I assume the testing has been done by the navy and as such would account for the sightings as well as the secrecy.

Not likely.

It's more likely that it's a special-ops unit acquiring some prototype designs and having their whiz-kids modify them to fit their mission. Seal Team Six is responsible for a lot of this type of development. They were looking for volunteers to expand their UAV capabilities about two years ago.

It's similar to some of the stuff that goes on at Groom Lake.

I'd recommend "Flight of the Old Dog" and the resulting "Dreamland" series by Dale Brown. It's about as accurate of a depiction of those types of projects as you are going to get.

Well, while its existence isn't a secret, naturally its capabilities are.

There is an article about it on Wiki, (probably from Grumman sources!) where the working name is "Pegasus".

Based on its shape, and similarity in design to stealths, I'd say it's meant to be virtually undetectable...compared, for instance, to other UAV designs, such as the "Predator". But as the Grumman link indicates, it seems to still be in development stages. Still, there could be other UCAS platforms operational that can be used to 'testbed' some of the components for "Pegasus". (Or, as Aim suggests, perhaps they have a working prototype. The 'deployment timeframe' could be a blackwash too...).

My wonderment is in the area of technology that had been talked about some years ago, but seems no one mentions it anymore: Being able to control an airplane by direct thought. I believe it was a hot topic during the "Cold War", as the USSR was working on similar ideas.

If it has been developed, it would be extremely useful, especially in a UAV/UCAS. A machine like that could exceed G forces that no Human could tolerate, as long as it was built strong enough, and I see no reason that they cannot build that strong! Plus, of course, a solid enough brain/machine interface and it would be like an extension of the operator's own body. Very interesting stuff, indeed.



[edit on 6/8/0909 by weedwhacker]

Well here's a photo someone took of what may or may not be it.

link

Maybe a Corax UAV in that photo?

Then there's the X-47 Pegasus but that has been shown in public before so doubt those pictures would be confiscated if it was that.

Edit: Looks like there's a thread here possibly connected to this one.

Thread

[edit on 8-6-2009 by Darthorious]

That's awesome, looks like a mix of the B-2 Stealth Bomber and the F117!

The UAV in question is from Lockheed Martin. It is called the Desert Prowler, which by the way you can see the patches for it from Trevor Paglins book. I guess I'm not sure why all the speculation when all the evidence has been laid out already by AVweek and Bill Sweetman.


Lockheed developed the UAV from the failed Darkstar. Not to be confused with the Polecat-175 which was built and tested for a different mission if you will, although you could call it an improved and enlarged version of the UAV in question.

Northrop does not have anything like that ready. It's more of a stealthy Predator if you will from Lockheed, and yes it does deliver weapons albeit the small kind like what the Reaper carries, only it was built with limited/basic stealth in mind.

I believe this was already discussed a few threads ago.

BTW all of this info is freely available through Google if you know how to weed through all the search results concerning aviation topics such as this.


One more thing, I assume this project is going "Grey" and when it is formally released, it will make the Predator a little obsolete based on press reports of what it can do. Being an almost ten year old system costs have probably come down for Lockheed and if it goes grey/white subsequent orders will make it even cheaper than the predator C.


I'm even willing to go out on a limb and say quite a few of the so called Predator Hellfire strikes, were probably a cover story for strikes from Lockheeds UAV.



[edit on 11-6-2009 by satcom]

Behold the first unmanned stealth aircraft. Just think they have things that surpass this relic.

Many strange sightings some could possibly be connected to some of these projects I would bet.

The UAV or UCAV that appears in the photos of the so called "Beast of Kandahar" does not appear to be any known unmanned vehicle including the X-47. the Polecat or Corax.

The wings appear to be cranked and it may very well have two air intakes and one or
two exhausts. Further, the landing gear and gear doors do not resemble any known type but seem to be more Northrop Grumman while the fuselage and/or wings more Lockheed Martin. All speculation of course as far as the identity of this aircraft goes. As for it's mission - it is intriguing to hypothesize that it is combat related.