Aurora (project)
Aurora (also: "Project Aurora" , "Senior Citizen" , "Senior Smart" ) is the alleged code name of a US American hypersonic reconnaissance aircraft . Although there was no official confirmation, various media and specialist magazines have speculated about an aircraft project with this name since the 1980s. So far, Aurora has been considered a myth .
Proven history
The only documented mention of the name "Aurora" is found in a February 1985 Pentagon planning paper, which lists the provision of US $ 80 million for an air-breathing education program for the 1986 fiscal year . According to the same paper, the financing was to be increased to US $ 2.27 billion by 1987. Whether this was actually implemented cannot be proven, as the Aurora project was not mentioned in any other non-secret document. It remains unclear whether the budget was even intended for the development of a new aircraft.
The United States Air Force denied an Aurora project and later only spoke of an additional cost center that was intended for the then secret Northrop B-2 .
speculation
In the late 1980s, the press suspected that Aurora was the Skunk Works- designed successor to the Lockheed SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft (it was announced in 2013 that the successor was the Lockheed Martin SR-72 ). The speculation about the achievable speed ranged up to Mach eight and a service ceiling of 30,000 meters (100,000 feet). The most likely form of construction of the aurora is usually postulated as a flying wing , but this is shown in different variations.
It has been speculated on several occasions that prototypes were in flight testing; however, there are only unconfirmed eyewitness reports. The cipher "Aurora" refers to a number of sightings of experimental aircrafts , unidentifiable aircraft , radio messages and atypical contrails , as evidence of the existence of a hypersonic aircraft were interpreted.
Ufologists and conspiracy theorists occasionally mention Aurora and speculate about a stationing in Area 51 .
literature
- B. Sweetman: Aurora - The Pentagon's Secret Hypersonic Spyplane. Motorbooks Int., Osceola 1993, ISBN 0-87938-780-7
- Rudolf Storck: Flying wings, The historical development of the flying wings of the world , Bernard & Graefe Verlag (Bonn) 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6242-6 , pp. 448-450
Web links
- Aurora - Article on Mystery Aircraft , a subpage of the Federation of American Scientists
- Aurora - Secret Hypersonic Spyplane (English) ( Memento from October 17, 2000 in the Internet Archive )
- Its a bird-its a plane - its the black budget Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, July 1992 at google books
- Is it a bird? Is it a spaceship? No, it's a secret US spy plane The Guardian June 24, 2006
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Rumors of US Superplane Appear Unfounded nytimes.com, January 19, 1993
- ↑ Schwarzes Phantom spiegel.de, December 21, 1992, accessed on July 15, 2013
- ^ News Analysis, in Flight International from August 1-7, 1990
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/jun/24/freedomofinformation.usnews
- ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/aurora.htm
- ^ " The Air Force quickly denied the existence of a secret program, and said the" Aurora "budget line was simply one site for B-2 bomber funds when that program was highly classified. “ AURORA / SENIOR CITIZEN - Budget and Financial Data Federation of American Scientists , fas.org, accessed July 15, 2013
- ↑ Blackbird II billed as new black programs. In Flight International dated February 20, 1988
- ^ Rudolf Storck, Flying wings, p. 448 ff.
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/6039934/UFO-files-secret-US-spy-plane-Aurora-could-be-behind-sightings.html
- ↑ Secret Is Out on 'Quakes': It's a Spy Plane latimes.com
- ^ Report fuels spy plane theories bbc.co.uk, accessed July 15, 2013
- ^ Johannes von Buttlar: Project Aurora. Secret technologies of the 3rd millennium vgs Verlag 1999. ISBN 3-8025-1389-4