What does Jow Forums think of this?
Boeing posted these images in their instagram story but were subsequently deleted. Apparently they might have actually built a giant mothership aircraft that could carry a Shuttle-type orbiter or even a hypersonic vehicle into the upper atmosphere for air launch into LEO. Would explain all the sonic booms in CA in the 90's.
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ntrs.nasa.gov
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>the French and (((Germans))) honestly believe they'll leapfrog the US with a 6th gen fighter despite the fact that no one has fielded stealth aircraft en masse except us since the 70s
Wew. Kinda lame that everyone else is just sitting on their ass while burgerstan carries the entire human race with their innovations.
I prefer Speed Agile since it's basically just a pelican.
>2035
>America scientists finally achieve their lifelong dream of creating a fixed wing version of the Pelican dropship from Halo.
>They inaugurate its first operational flight by playing the Halo theme on full blast while F-35D chaser planes escort it.
>Russia meanwhile is having problems with its newest Soyuz variant because the manufacturing techs keep installing the heatshield wrong.
> The 24th SU-57 is manufactured with great fanfare.
>China is just about to send its first second generation deepspace probe.
I've got a feeling that the real reason we never got to see the X-33 VentureStar fly is because it was never going to and it was all just a cover for this thing. The hypersonic parasite also known as XOV was supposedly going to use the linear aerospike engine developed for the X33.
Here's the hypersonic ramjet variant
I wonder how much of this got folded into the AHW/PGS programs
This style of drawing is done with markers right?
I love it so much guys, I miss those days.
ntrs.nasa.gov
Pretty neat read
>Brilliant Buzzard is real
I always thought that it was the most credible black project leak. Pretty neat.
Why, because Aviation Week put out a bullshit story on it?
It's gotta go somewhere.
god, the KC46 is a fucking nightmare. they identified like 8 maximum degree deficiencies in the system.
what is it with the air force and burning money?
>the entire USAF budget including new place procurement is utterly dwarfed by black budget shit
make my penis hard thinking of what kind of shit they're spending it on, but soft to know that i'll never truly know.
we'll see it after the taiwan war
Nah, it's painted by an actual artist
I'm no engie, but I've been wondering for years, why this thing hasn't been done decades ago. It doesn't seem complicated.
>regular plane carries the rocket as high as cruise apirplanes can
>rocket takes off from there, no need for complicated, expensive 2/3/whever stage systems
why?
you've now added layers of complexity to the (relatively) simple and understood process of launching a missile.
instead of setting the guidance and turning a key, you now have to either have a fuckmassive drone, or an aircrew, brief them, have all the time associated with an aircraft, hope they don't fuck up the flight, drop the projectile, hope it lights when it needs to so the trajectory still works, and then your math is all weird because now you're flying half of a ballistic arc.
it's really, really cool, but it's also an occams razor problem.
if you need a missile for missile purposes, use ground based.
if you need a missile for aircraft purposes, you use an ALCM.
at no point do you bolt a ground missile onto an aircraft.
I dissagree.
Space missiles are insanely complex. Long flight requires the use of fuel as coolant for jet engines, giant fuel consumption and different preasures at higher altitudes require stages in rockets for both weight reduction and different booster shape (or more complex shape-shifting boosters).
correct, however I believe that by using an aircraft launched missile, you're not eliminating problems, merely changing their envelope, and as such, the advantage could be dubious.
I'm sure there's a use-case it works perfect for, but on the whole it doesn't seem worth it to me.
The aviation/black project buff in me has always wondered what a secret space CIA/Air Force program would fly and I honestly believe after hearing about the Aurora and the sonic booms heard in the CA area I think this might have existed or still exist.
>I just moved to LA and the other day I drove up to Plant 42 in Palmdale to look at Skunk Works and all the other buildings and lo and behold a giant hangar was present on one side of the complex that belonged to non other than Boeing. The roof had a steep section that sloped down to a lower ceiling. It wasn’t designed for the Space Shuttle or any 747 as far as I know. But it damn sure fits the profile of the TSTO Booster Mothership.
As far I know most of the program was based around off the shelf parts at least engine wise, excluding the ramjet
planes can't fly high enough to make an appreciable difference in efficiency or cost for it to matter.
needing to be able to strap it on a plane severly decreases maximum orbital payload
I agree, CG renders might be more accurate, but they just don't have SOUL
it's mostly just fancy embezzlement.
Did they have actual engineers doing the design concepts for these artworks? I know the Lockheed ATF one was done by the BladeRunner guy but are they 100 percent bullshit?
its black so it probably wont work
Its far easier to embezzle in projects that are under less scrutiny
Most of these were done by artists who were contracted by various aerospace corporations.
Back in the day, I believe some corporations even had in-house artists whose entire job was making paintings and drawings for various programs.
They probably had technical illustrations to go off of though.
Is there any term for the artstyle? I love it so much.
the artstyle is called "when artists had skill and made an effort"
It's a shame.
>he doesn’t know about the Navy’s offworld officers
>mfw always wanted to be an artist when I grew up all the way until middle school
>got really good with pencil and oil pastels
>realized it wasn’t a realistic goal, joined the military after college
>artistic ability has degenerated and I don’t have much time to practice anymore
Any anons want a drawing of any weird plane/project in particular?
grumman X29
if you could go back in time, would you still make the same decision to join the military? I joined the Navy when I was younger and don't regret it, but sometimes I wish i used that time to write a book like I always wanted to. I know it's not too late but the older I get and the less time I have, the more that dream fades away.
You will have time once your kids are grown.
Ours are all over 21 now and once the newest grandbaby is born, we are done with helping them out.
Paying off our house is the goal now.
Wife is really pushing here move into upper management to maximize her pension.
You will have time.
Empty nest isn't bad at all.
Just don't let your health slip the way I have.
Sadly, I think the only avenue left for traditional artists with a hard on for military hardware is doing box-art for model companies.
I joined the Navy as well and I definitely don’t regret it, just kinda bittersweet looking back at childhood innocence, you know? I’ll pick up some paper and a decent pencil tomorrow. If this thread isn’t up by the time I finish I’ll post the result in whatever plane/neat technology threads come up in the near future.
Thanks gramps, hope all goes well with the grandbaby.
well i'll be damned, hello there shipmate? what's your rate? any good sea stories? I did 6 years as an AM and got out as a 2nd class, lots of good and bad times but I loved every minute of it. hope all goes well with your art.
Time to post some more aviation art
Damn that’s a neat pic. I’m a lowly butterbar that’s washed out of flight school, flying on instruments was too stressful for me. Trying to get picked up for intel or crypto now, so no real sea stories to speak of, apart from nearly running over a couple of bonanzas and Skyhawks that weren’t squawking.
you probably dodged a bullet, almost all the pilots i knew in my entire career were absolute entitled brats. intel or crypto are definitely the way to go, and i hope you get picked up. fair wind and following seas shipmate. oh, and when you do go underway make sure you stay away from the omelettes in the wardroom or you'll clog the head up.
Thanks man, yeah I liked flying for fun, but I just wasn’t thrilled about making a job of it.
>Omelettes in the wardroom
Oh fugg, that sounds scary. Never trusted eggs I didn’t cook myself.
You thought Stargate SG-1 was just a tv show?
>almost all the pilots i knew in my entire career were absolute entitled brats
SOURGRAPES
I believe it's called gouache (a type of watercolour painting). Syd Mead, the guy who designed most of the stuff in Blade Runner makes some pretty impressive stuff with this style.
I've never seen modern digital paintings achieve the same effect as this. It's really unique.