Popular Science article: The Top-Secret Warplanes of Area 51

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/95e16f096bd8d010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Images: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviatio...cbccdrcrd.html

[Jammrock]

Hey, that's not the Aurora from Janes. Though that looks way cool:



MACH 6 attack jet. Nice. Bet it has to be unmanned at those speeds.

Great article, Doc. Thanks for sharing.

[Umfriend]

I thought velocitiy did not matter, just acceleration?

[TransformX]

Well, considering you're not showing up on radar and not telling the world where you are and which way you're heading, at mach 6, you can meet lots of stuff that go 'bump'...

[Dr Mordrid]

Not at >100,000 feet & using standoff smart munitions.

[Elie]

Acceleration is not an issue if you have a dampening field to eliminate G-forces

[Dr Mordrid]

Wonder if it also has MHD ptopulsion? hmmmmm....

[RedRed]

The munitions would be the thing.

If it were travelling at mach 6 and at 100K feet, against a conventional aircraft flying near enough opposite it, modern Long range radar guided aa missiles would have no more than 1 second to lockon and fire before it would be out of range again (if even that!). At that speed, it would take perhaps a full minute to turn round to do a second run on the tail of an enemy fighter and get a bead on it again. Turning in a tight arc at mach 6 wouldturn the pilot to jelly, rip the wings off and probably stall the engine (the least of the pilots worries ).

Modern Phoenix missiles have an effective range of about 100 nautical miles, and is the US long rainge AA missile. Its also a heavy brute, with a tomcat only able to carry 6 with a much reduced range.....
Even this missile would probably need HEAVY modification to be able to be launchable from essentially 'space'.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/missile/aim-54.htm

Might be one for Dr Ms pulse laser reapon systems!

I am not sure of the point of it!

The others though, seem useful.... I liked the concept of the long range drone. Reminds me of the the Gothe experimental german bomber (the famous (infamous?) flying wing.....
Chineese have one on test at the moment.

[Technoid]

Hey, that's not the Aurora from Janes. Though that looks way cool:



MACH 6 attack jet. Nice. Bet it has to be unmanned at those speeds.

Great article, Doc. Thanks for sharing.

Actually pretty much spot on how it looked in the ATF game series from EA wich carried the Jane name

[Dr Mordrid]

MACH 6 = ~1 mile/second. 2 closing on each other from 100 nm would have ~50 seconds to detect/lock/fire, but in real life US radars can now see much further than that. They also have passive radar, meaning they can lock on using radio transmissions that happen to reflect their way.

MACH 6 is fast enough to start a scramjet, so it would likely have some scramjet AA in its stores. I know scramjet cruise missiles exist that use hydrocarbon fuel, so standoff attack is also an option.

[Dr Mordrid]

Meanwhile the combat sims of the F/A-22 are getting impressive; its kill ratio as of August is 108-0 against F-15's, F-16's and aircraft simulating SU-27/30's (probably modded F-18's). In one sim it took on 40 aircraft at once & survived.

[RedRed]

yup - I got my sums wrong

Dr M - you are, of course, correct. The speed of sound is roughly 763 MPH.
Mach 6 is 1.28 miles per second, I forgot to divide by 60

[Greebe]

yup - I got my sums wrong

Dr M - you are, of course, correct. The speed of sound is roughly 763 MPH.
Mach 6 is 1.28 miles per second, I forgot to divide by 60

That's @ sea level. Higher you go the lower it is.