Mysterious X-37B unmanned space shuttle launched by U.S

[SavageEagle]

Also has anyone not heard of interchangable parts?... Aviation loves them.........

Minus the avionics and the weapons systems, please tell me what other aircraft parts are interchangeable with the F22.

 

[Von Mises]

In your Wikipedia you would have found there was 151 built says there was 187 planned.

Actually, there was over 700 planned.

Also would have noticed them saying that they wanted another order to replace some that may be lost in combat........ guess what the last 36 were for??????

The remaining will not be built because the program was canceled. That's why we stopped making parts. The remaining airframes were intended to fill the contract.

The cancelation was for another 36 aircraft... some planned to replace. It does not take long to build an aircraft.

So, tell me, how long does it take to make a copy of the worlds most technologically advanced aircraft? Having been there, I can tell you that an aircraft “assembly line” is an assembly in name only.

...... like I said..... the contract was not going to be open much longer.

Several years actually. In fact more could have been ordered. The problem plaguing the F22 is that it has no adversaries. That, and its performance is hampered by the pilot.

They wanted another 36 but it was known to not be a sure thing.... seriously.... Think of that order of 36 as spare aircraft.......

It wasn’t so well known to us, but we were just part of the program. Again, the remaining airframes were intended to satisfy a contract that had already been severely reduced. These were in no way spares.

Trust me, maybe a handful of people building those things cared about the contract ending......

How many hundred is a handful, in your opinion, and how many does it take before it becomes significant?

…..contacts end all the time in that line of work sometimes with no notice and nobody cares......

Indeed, contracts end. However, it is customary for the contract to be honored by both parties. Generally, contracts don’t legally just end without notice in any industry.

.....you just pack up and go to teh next job......

I’m sure this is comforting to thousands of unemployed Engineers, and Mechanics.

.....the only people it affected is maybe a few Lockheed employees but I am sure most if not all of them went to other departments......

Not the Lockheed I know.

.....The media made it out to be like he was canceling half the fleet... and that is not true.

I didn’t hear about the program cancelation from the “media”, so I’ll have to take your word on this. We were simply informed that the program was canceled when the budget was signed.......by Obama. Which is when the program was canceled.........by Obama. I recall that he was quite proud of that.

Even so, technically you are correct in that Obama didn’t cancel half the fleet. If this is indeed the intent of your assertion. Comrade Clinton and Comrade Bush got the most of them. But again, Obama canceled it.

They did not cancel all the parts for it at the very least they have a huge stock pile of parts for them..... at 60 some odd billion each they are not going to just park them when they break..... come on people...

There is no huge stockpile of our parts, and when they’re gone, we’ll have some very high-tech paperweights. The reason they cost so much is because the cost was spread over the 150 or so rather than 700+.

Besides, what makes you think Obama cares how much of our money he wastes? Did he suddenly get a clue as to the dwindling value of a dollar?

Also has anyone not heard of interchangable parts?... Aviation loves them.........

Not the Aerospace Industry I’ve been in for 29 years.

I don’t deride Comrade Obama for canceling the program, no more than I deride Comrade Bush for canceling the Comanche. As 22lr pointed out, the era of high performance suborbital manned flight is drawing to a close.

 

[Boilers]

X-37B unmanned space shuttle to be launched tonight | Mail Online

I must live in a cave, because this is the first I have heard about this.

Russian Scientist claims x37B is but one tool in the USAmerican arsenal to target other countries using CLIMATE CHANGE technologies - in effect, affecting their crops.

PostPartisan - Russians show U.S. conspiracy theorists a thing or two

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I have to agree with Von Mises here. The F-22 was the planned replacement for the F-15 and was to have replaced that whole fleet. The original buy was for @700, but was cut down considerably before it was finally cancelled. The ostensible reason is "no comparable adversary", but that is untrue as Russia has several aircraft in development that can at least match the expected F-22 performance.

The X-37 has been an AF project for a number of years. IIRC, there is a mockup of one at the AF Museum @ Wright-Patterson AFB. My understanding is that it is expected to be a sensor platform for short-notice/short-duration surveillance from near-space. I think the first time I saw this was either at the AF Museum or in Popular Science/Popular Mechanics a couple years (a few years?) ago. I believe there was a short article about it again in the same magazine in the past few months.

The SR-71 has not been replaced by a manned aircraft AFWK. There are rumors of a multi-mach aircraft being tested secretly (Code Name: Aurora), but if so, the tests have been successfully hidden from the hosts of UFO watchers (successful to the extent that no one can prove it exists, although some indiciary sighting have been noted). The more likely explanation for the retirement of the SR-71 is that a determination was made that low-earth-orbit satellites were less vulnerable to countermeasures and destruction, and signals intelligence had advanced to the point that intelligence decision-makers thought the two could adequately replace the manned aircraft.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Another reason for the cancellation of the F-22 program may be a determination that unmanned fighters (as explained by OP on this thread) will be able to outperform current and next-generation manned fighters at less cost overall. Considering the way hackers have been able to highjack unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan, I consider the idea of unmanned armed aircraft a BAD IDEA, but it will probably take a few "UAV-Jackings" where an armed UAV is turned back upon its owners for the bean-counting decision-makers to get the point.

 

[MilitaryArms]

I've never understood this aversion to weaponizing space. In this day and age every 3rd world country around the globe is developing ICBM's, nukes, etc. Our terrestrial technological domination allowing us to reach across the oceans is narrowing with each passing year as those who oppose us make advancements that rival our own.

We currently have the ability to travel in and out of space with relative ease. Space gives us another technological leap ahead of our rivals... most of them anyway. China is making major advances in space travel as well. But many of our enemies are still earth bound and I see it as foolish not to capitalize on our superiority of space.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I've never understood this aversion to weaponizing space. In this day and age every 3rd world country around the globe is developing ICBM's, nukes, etc. Our terrestrial technological domination allowing us to reach across the oceans is narrowing with each passing year as those who oppose us make advancements that rival our own.

We currently have the ability to travel in and out of space with relative ease. Space gives us another technological leap ahead of our rivals... most of them anyway. China is making major advances in space travel as well. But many of our enemies are still earth bound and I see it as foolish not to capitalize on our superiority of space.

We foolishly signed some treaties not to "militarize" space. At this point, neither Russia nor the US Govt can afford the cost of expanding our abilities to travel and explore further away from Earth orbit. Hopefully, our civilian space entrepeneurs can move us off the bullseye.

 

[beararms1776]

X-37B unmanned space shuttle to be launched tonight | Mail Online

I must live in a cave, because this is the first I have heard about this.

Sounds like a good name for a gun.

 

[jdhaines]

Another reason for the cancellation of the F-22 program may be a determination that unmanned fighters (as explained by OP on this thread) will be able to outperform current and next-generation manned fighters at less cost overall. Considering the way hackers have been able to highjack unmanned aerial vehicles in Afghanistan, I consider the idea of unmanned armed aircraft a BAD IDEA, but it will probably take a few "UAV-Jackings" where an armed UAV is turned back upon its owners for the bean-counting decision-makers to get the point.

You would think they would know that. They do it constantly in the movies.

I've only been in the aerospace industry for 4 years...but if there is one thing I have seen none of, it's interchangeable parts. There are specs and drawings, and big enough paperwork networks to make you want to cry and nothing is interchangeable for anything else.

 

[Boilers]

More X-37B news ...

US military's top secret X-37B shuttle 'disappears' for two weeks, changes orbit | News.com.au

 

[Blackhawk2001]

You would think they would know that. They do it constantly in the movies.

I've only been in the aerospace industry for 4 years...but if there is one thing I have seen none of, it's interchangeable parts. There are specs and drawings, and big enough paperwork networks to make you want to cry and nothing is interchangeable for anything else.

You know, I could believe a decision-maker was told "Our encryption algorythmns are so good, a hacker will never be able to get into System X", but since it's already been shown that hackers have managed to get into UAV datastreams, I can't believe anyone with sense would believe that. But then "sense" and "politics" (which the F22 cancellation decision was) are sort of oxymoronic when combined.

 

[SavageEagle]

Top Secret

Disappears

Whoda thunk it? Weaponization of space isn't a far cry, but it's certainly not likely at the moment. It could be a step towards it, but there are far more superior platforms for weapons in space. I do like the Spy sat theory. It could also be used to fix or upgrade existing sats as well.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

More X-37B news ...

US military's top secret X-37B shuttle 'disappears' for two weeks, changes orbit | News.com.au

Coooool!

 

[Blackhawk2001]

Top Secret

Disappears

Whoda thunk it? Weaponization of space isn't a far cry, but it's certainly not likely at the moment. It could be a step towards it, but there are far more superior platforms for weapons in space. I do like the Spy sat theory. It could also be used to fix or upgrade existing sats as well.

That would assume it had a remote handling system on it that was sensitive enough to capture and release a satellite, and robust enough to handle teleremote operations without disabling the reentry vehicle.

 

[SavageEagle]

That would assume it had a remote handling system on it that was sensitive enough to capture and release a satellite, and robust enough to handle teleremote operations without disabling the reentry vehicle.

I'm sure it could. However, I would assume those actions would be controlled just as a the predator is controlled from, wherever. With, of course, help from some computer either on board, remotely, or both.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I'm sure it could. However, I would assume those actions would be controlled just as a the predator is controlled from, wherever. With, of course, help from some computer either on board, remotely, or both.

The difference being, of course, if you screw up with a space vehicle/satellite combo, the cost is an order of magnitude or more over the cost of screwing up a Predator... Not to mention the fact that manipulating a payload with a claw arm while looking through a camera or two is not very easy (I know about this).

 

[SavageEagle]

The difference being, of course, if you screw up with a space vehicle/satellite combo, the cost is an order of magnitude or more over the cost of screwing up a Predator... Not to mention the fact that manipulating a payload with a claw arm while looking through a camera or two is not very easy (I know about this).

Very true. I suppose another possibility is that it could unload a spy sat along with it's own onboard surveillance and just set the sat just above the threshold so that it reenters the atmosphere after it's mission is over. In terms of military spending, small spy sats are pretty cheap. And small. So once they reenter, they'd burn up quick. No need for solar arrays either.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

It will be interesting to see how we cope with all the junk in Near Earth Orbit once we start getting further out on a regular basis.