Lockheed "Speed Agile"

[IanMorewood]

Had to read all that lot twice before I realised it was a 1/4 scale model, thought the picture was from along way away. Those large engines don't scream stealth to me and there placement would make it one hell of a bad choice for a gunship.

[911newbie]

Furthermore you'd want 4 engines for a gunship no ?

- Low level COIN type role, bound to be subject to fire from small arms upwards, no ?

IIRC the C130 gunship had a pretty ropey survival record in Vietnam, and it's reputed to be as tough as old boots. Was withdrawn wasn't it ?

[dr_gn]

IanMorewood said:

Had to read all that lot twice before I realised it was a 1/4 scale model, thought the picture was from along way away.

The people standing next to it on the scissor lift should have been a good indicator of size

[ccr32]

rhinochopig said:

Odie said:

Fulton recovery system

Hell yes. If its good enough for Jim Bond.

Love the story about the development of that system when they moved from testing it on dummies to live animals...

Wiki said:

Fulton first used instrumented dummies as he prepared for a live pickup. He next used a pig, as pigs have nervous systems close to humans. Lifted off the ground, the pig began to spin as it flew through the air at 125 mph (200 km/h). It arrived on board uninjured but in a disoriented state. Once it recovered, it attacked the crew.

[coanda]

ccr32 said:

rhinochopig said:

Odie said:

Fulton recovery system

Hell yes. If its good enough for Jim Bond.

Love the story about the development of that system when they moved from testing it on dummies to live animals...

Wiki said:

Fulton first used instrumented dummies as he prepared for a live pickup. He next used a pig, as pigs have nervous systems close to humans. Lifted off the ground, the pig began to spin as it flew through the air at 125 mph (200 km/h). It arrived on board uninjured but in a disoriented state. Once it recovered, it attacked the crew.

And that is exactly what I would do if I was tricked into trying out the fulton system.

I saw it demonstrated at an airshow way back - must have been 91. Pretty sure it was at Fairford.

[coanda]

perdu said:

911newbie said:

Well it's being tested in a huge wind tunnel, so someone is spending serious money on it.
If it's not a C130 replacement, what is it ?

(and with those huge blades at the front it's as stealthy as my arse)

I heard that!

This isn't a low level aircraft. On the face of it, those front fans are not stealthy, however, they are set further back than most large bypass fans. In my opinion, at high altitude, that aircraft has a low probability of detection against the threat systems its most likely to face. Certainly all practical ground systems (excepting a few very specific systems), and most of the time, aircraft systems because the searching aircraft will need to be radiating in a small angle window to pick up the blades. The rest of the airframe shows quite a lot of RCS reduction design.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of work on making big fan blades good absorbers of RF energy. There are other systems that could be used, but since I don't see them mentioned in most places I look, I won't mention either.

I like the design, its great to see some creativity in the architecture of this aircraft. Placing engines at max wing up-bending span position generally makes for a lighter wing overall. The current position is a compromise between structural weight and RCS and maybe high lift (STOL advantages using entrained air and coanda effect).

[mph1977]

Oily Nails][url said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

both Victor and Vulcan were unintentionally stealthy aircraft with their buried engines and smooth transitions between fuselage and wings

[dr_gn]

mph1977 said:

Oily Nails][url said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

both Victor and Vulcan were unintentionally stealthy aircraft with their buried engines and smooth transitions between fuselage and wings

I've never heard the Victor being described as stealthy - surely that massive tailplane wouldn't help?

[Hooli]

Oily Nails][url said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

That was pretty much the reason I thought it looked good in the pic

[///ajd]

Not sure where plasma stealth technology is at the moment, but this could be an option for the fan apertures.

Wiki - plasma stealth - open source

[Jam Spavlin]

Oily Nails said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

Ahh my baby!

[Zad]

It looks like a less stealthy version of the Horten Ho-229! Obviously having wings greatly increased the radar signature and they elected to remove them



Or maybe the Hydra flying wing from the Captain America film (also inspired by the Ho-229 and Northrop YB-49)



Purely fantasy of course, but the ramjet driven boost props on the trailing edge are "Parasit" bombs, which detach. Based on the Focke-Wulf Triebflugel

[mph1977]

dr_gn said:

mph1977 said:

Oily Nails][url said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

both Victor and Vulcan were unintentionally stealthy aircraft with their buried engines and smooth transitions between fuselage and wings

I've never heard the Victor being described as stealthy - surely that massive tailplane wouldn't help?

they weren't designed as stealth aircraft, but the features mentioned helped with stealth rather than the radar reflective sharp transitions and podded engines etc that other designs have...

[Odie]

mph1977 said:

dr_gn said:

mph1977 said:

Oily Nails][url said:

I don't know why but I keep thinking of the Handley Page Victor bomber from that angle???

both Victor and Vulcan were unintentionally stealthy aircraft with their buried engines and smooth transitions between fuselage and wings

I've never heard the Victor being described as stealthy - surely that massive tailplane wouldn't help?

they weren't designed as stealth aircraft, but the features mentioned helped with stealth rather than the radar reflective sharp transitions and podded engines etc that other designs have...

Reduced radar cross-section, like the type 42 destroyers (The ship of a similar era)