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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jan 2008
Posts: 467
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Great article - SR-71 Blackbird...
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news 
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:54:24 -0400, "D.Duck" wrote:
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:05:19 -0000, wrote:
On Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:47:07 +0000, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
There has been some speculation that the oft rumored "Aurora" is
really
a revamped, updated SR-71 design with a hybrid jet/scram jet engine
capable of extra-atmosphere flight.
It's also been rumored that the Aurora was canceled in the '90s, due to
the expense.
That's what they want you to think. :)
There is some interesting speculation about "Aurora" in that it may
not be the classic high speed fighter style airplane, but a hybrid
zepplin with some very ineresting capabilities.
I have a hard time believing that they would dump the whole spy plane
concept due to cost. Satellites are nice, but even the most clued in
speculators admit that spy satellites are limited in time and space.
Real time data is paramount in times of crisis and that means spy
planes.
What about geosynchronous satellites. or aren't todays optics up to the
job?
Believe it or not, you have to move them. Everytime you move them, you
have to recalculate the orbits and the remaining fuel load. You just
can't move one from covering, say Moscow to St. Pertersburg without a
whole bunch of work.
And the constellation isn't that large - those spy sats are huge, cost
a ton of money and not easy to deal with. Spy planes are better
deployable assets.
Secondly, humint is much more reliable than elint in this instance.
Putting a crew in a cockpit and having them effectively scout, or make
decision based on what they see or even what happens, is more
efficient and practical.
I know, you're just lobbying for a job. You could take your Hasselblad up
there. 8-)
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