Brilliant to finally see Aurora here in the UK last night

[Major Shaitan Singh]

 

[SQ8]

Isnt it odd considering that in Today's age of easily available Professional Cameras with 20MP quality on average, we still up seeing grainy pictures of such projects?

@jhungary @Nihonjin1051 @SvenSvensonov @gambit @MastanKhan ?

 

[Aepsilons]

Isnt it odd considering that in Today's age of easily available Professional Cameras with 20MP quality on average, we still up seeing grainy pictures of such projects?

@jhungary @Nihonjin1051 @SvenSvensonov @gambit @MastanKhan ?

Sir,

Are we sure its an Aurora , or Martians... ? lol

I jest, I jest.

 

[Aepsilons]

Another shot:

 

[SQ8]

More amazing that we are seeing a picture taken before 2005 in the UK last night!!!

That's a really old picture!!!

First real photos of the Aurora RS-? - Modern Military Aircraft

Oh, and the picture pre-dates even the date (2005) of the post in the link I provided!

I think regardless of the hype surrounding groom lake, aircraft like these were on the drawing board of the likes of Kelly Johnson back in the 50s. It simply was not found feasible enough later on. If anything, UAVs were/are the new black project avenue and the latest and greatest out there are the X-37 and the X-51.
Aurora may have been the moniker allotted to a program that may have ran in the 80s and 90s.. but I doubt if it ever left the wind tunnel. Systems like the KH-11 made this obsolete and no hypersonic system would be capable of loitering like the Global Hawk does. The only possible use for such speed is global strike response, and for that systems based on the X-51 will eventually come in.

 

[MastanKhan]

Isnt it odd considering that in Today's age of easily available Professional Cameras with 20MP quality on average, we still up seeing grainy pictures of such projects?

@jhungary @Nihonjin1051 @SvenSvensonov @gambit @MastanKhan ?

Hi,

When you get the opportunity to glimpse one of these aircraft----your camera is nowhere close by---you are never ready for it---most of the time it is your word against the world.

The only thing handy is the cell phones.

The satellites never made the SR71 obsolete---and same with Aurora----. These aircraft would still be flying---because they can fly over any area within hours whereas the satellites need time to adjust orbit.

 

[Aepsilons]

I think regardless of the hype surrounding groom lake, aircraft like these were on the drawing board of the likes of Kelly Johnson back in the 50s. It simply was not found feasible enough later on. If anything, UAVs were/are the new black project avenue and the latest and greatest out there are the X-37 and the X-51.
Aurora may have been the moniker allotted to a program that may have ran in the 80s and 90s.. but I doubt if it ever left the wind tunnel. Systems like the KH-11 made this obsolete and no hypersonic system would be capable of loitering like the Global Hawk does. The only possible use for such speed is global strike response, and for that systems based on the X-51 will eventually come in.

Studied this in limited detail back in my military days, curious at the design, but one thing i always wondered was whether or not such platforms were ever used in actual military operations throughout the years.

 

[kuge]

oh...man i thought the artic aurora...

 

[Gauss]

oh...man i thought the artic aurora...

that wouldve been so much better. who wants to see a stupid plane miles up in the sky anyway ?