The Darkstar

Dave Darling said:

Hey, they just announced this- the Darkstar is real! This is a super secret US Government mach 6 spyplane, they just went public with this! However I would bet anything they already have something even more advanced than this, the reason why they went public was that they already have something better! They have pictures of this thing on the internet.

Here Are The First Images Of Lockheed Darkstar On Display At Edwards AFB

Click to expand...

Now if only this plane could be made a bit bigger, and carry passengers. That means one could fly from NYC to Paris in an hour or two, accounting for acceleration.

Isn't it a prop from a film?

Larniavc said:

Isn't it a prop from a film?

Click to expand...

Yep, it appears so. Looks similar to the SR-72 airplane, but designed slightly differently. Top Gun (2022) is the movie. If you want another fun movie with airplanes, Stealth (2005) is a good film, discussing a fictional aircraft that has artificial intelligence (AI). The Stealth movie was not as well done, but it was entertaining.

Stealth plot on IMDb: Stealth (2005) ⭐ 5.1 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Dave Darling said:

Apparently they are working on a supersonic airliner right now, it can make it from NYC to Paris in 2 hours! Much better than even the Concorde!

Click to expand...

Yep. It is called the Boom Supersonic, and will run on sustainable aviation fuel. It isn't Mach 6, but is Mach 1.7, so twice as fast as an subsonic airliner.

Boom supersonic: Boom's supersonic jet moves toward debut flight (photos)

I was in love with SR-72. Such a noble mission and the best there was. That’s America.

Dave Darling said:

Apparently they are working on a supersonic airliner right now, it can make it from NYC to Paris in 2 hours! Much better than even the Concorde!

Click to expand...

The limitation of the Concorde was the sonic boom. No one wants to be under that flight path! Mach 2 was its speed, and that was 1975. You'd hope some progress has been made since then.

Aussie Pete said:

The limitation of the Concorde was the sonic boom. No one wants to be under that flight path! Mach 2 was its speed, and that was 1975. You'd hope some progress has been made since then.

Click to expand...

That is why supersonic planes will fly just under the speed of sound over landmasses (Mach 0.9 or so), and then once reaching the ocean, accelerate to supersonic speeds (Mach 1 and above).

AlexB23 said:

That is why supersonic planes will fly just under the speed of sound over landmasses (Mach 0.9 or so), and then once reaching the ocean, accelerate to supersonic speeds (Mach 1 and above).

Click to expand...

I doubt it. Supersonic will be viable once the shock wave issue is resolved. It is being worked on. Until then, the routes will be limited, the cost prohibitive and the greenie outrage will be louder than a sonic boom.

Aussie Pete said:

I doubt it. Supersonic will be viable once the shock wave issue is resolved. It is being worked on. Until then, the routes will be limited, the cost prohibitive and the greenie outrage will be louder than a sonic boom.

Click to expand...

Yep. Supersonic planes will probably not take-off, pun intended, until the sonic boom issue is fixed. Maybe artificial intelligence could help engineers design planes with the correct geometry to reduce the sonic boom.

Dave Darling said:

Hey, they just announced this- the Darkstar is real! This is a super secret US Government mach 6 spyplane, they just went public with this! However I would bet anything they already have something even more advanced than this, the reason why they went public was that they already have something better! They have pictures of this thing on the internet.

Here Are The First Images Of Lockheed Darkstar On Display At Edwards AFB

Click to expand...

Supersonic / hypersonic planes makes terrible spy planes with their massive infra-red signature that can be detected thousands of miles away.

A good spy plane should not only be difficult / very hard to shoot down but also be invisible to observation / detection.

Because even if say Russia can't shoot down an American spy plane, having an American spy plane over-fly Russian air space gets detected, caught on scanners, could give Russia the justification to conduct hostile actions against USA, for example conduct spy plane flights of its own over USA or even engage in cyber-espionage, etc.

Ofc, USA can always make up an excuse like "navigation error" why its spy plane ends up going over Moscow for example.

If Russia retaliates with similar spy flights, they can also make the same excuses so the best option is never get caught. A spy plane that is virtually invisible from detection. Would certainly be subsonic and would employ the latest in stealth tech.

Thus, I can only think that these hypersonic spy plane concepts are just "decoy designs" where the real work being made with a completely different plane, mostly likely a subsonic plane. Best bet is making it unmanned / autonomous to minimize weight and size and also to maximize operating altitude.

I've wondered if fully "radio transparent" stealth design is possible. It could be technically difficult but such stealth would be invisible to all radio frequencies. The current method of stealth - partial radio absorption and reflection can still be detected by high power, low frequency radars.