From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V3 #5 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Sunday, 8 August 1993 Volume 03 : Number 005 In this issue: Aurora's true name revealed?? AW&ST/Popular Mechanics/Jane's Defence Weekly See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: TRADER@cup.portal.com Date: Sat, 7 Aug 93 12:16:18 PDT Subject: Aurora's true name revealed?? I've seen the code-name "Senior Citizen" used as the new identity of Aurora. Based on work I've been doing trying to investigate and understand the Department of Defense's "black" budget (i.e the Special Access Programs whose cost and purpose is highly classified), I believe that the name that is actually being used for this aircraft is "Senior Year". The reason I say this is based on information from "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993" (House of Representatives Report 102-527). In this document, Defense Program Element 0401316F, "Senior Citizen" is part of a group of tactical aircraft R&D programs. Under intelligence R&D programs, is 0301317F, "Senior Year" Operations. Given that there have been reports of Aurora activity for a number of years, it would be reasonable that the Air Force is operating the aircraft, but not building new Auroras. The "Senior" designation has been used for manned "black" aircraft for a number of years - I think the first "Senior" program was "Senior Book", the U-2R variant that was used during the end of the Vietnam War. Here's a list of recent "Senior" programs: "Senior Trend" - F-117A stealth fighter "Senior CJ" - B-2 stealth bomber (possibly "Senior SeaJay" - the name was spoken in a conversation) "Senior Citizen" - TR-3A ?? "Senior Year" - Aurora ?? Also, the Air Force has a new program called "Have Flag". It seems that the "Senior" designator is used for programs that are used in service, while "Have" refers to aircraft like "Have Blue" that are tests of advanced concepts. Paul McGinnis / TRADER@cup.portal.com "For a good time, call the CIA at 800/562-7242" ------------------------------ From: hanneton@magbio.ens.fr (Sylvain HANNETON) Date: Sat, 7 Aug 93 22:32:13 +0200 Subject: AW&ST/Popular Mechanics/Jane's Defence Weekly Hello, all subscribers, I'm writing this from France and I would like to ask the US contributors this vey simple question : What is the reliability of the above three magazines (see the subject line) as far as "Black Programs" are concerned ? I understand that P.M. is the less reliable one. Now, I knw some PM papers on the Blacks programs and almost all of the AW&ST papers. But I know nothing of Jane's except for a summary in a French magazine. In particular, the following text on the allegued "Big Wing" appeared only in PM, and not on AW&ST : does it mean the sightings are too dubious ?? "America's New Secret Aircraft", Popular Mechanics, December 1991 : "The big wing : Meanwhile, several Antelope Valley residents say they've seen a craft that simply strains credulity. According to reports over the past two years, a vast black flying wing, estimated at between 600 and 800 ft. in width, has passed silently over city streets, empty desert and rural freeways. The craft moved so slowly one observer said he could jog along with it. A pattern of seemingly random white lights on the vehicle's black underside provided "constellation camouflage" against the starry sky. Observers who followed the craft long enough detailed unlikely maneuvers in which the vehicle stopped, rotated in place and hovered vertically, presenting a thin trailing edge to the ground. Although such sightings encourage those who link the military with unearthly technology, a mammoth, quiet flying wing may have a conventional explanation : it could be a lighter-than-air craft pushed by slow-turning propellers. Certainly, such a vehicle could elude Doppler radar by slowing to a crawl. Alternatively, the fact that the craft holfs station vertically suggests that it might serve as a huge reflector for a bistatic radar system. Other possible missions include troop delivery or covert surveillance" Thanks, and sorry for the bad English and the typos. Emmanuel Marin. hanneton@frulm63.bitnet ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V3 #5 ******************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". 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