From: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V5 #386 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Wednesday, 16 August 1995 Volume 05 : Number 386 In this issue: Re: Fighter Crashes in UK Lockeed store What *Is* the Blackhorse Project? UAVs Flying Over Bosnia [[UFOB]] Predator Picture F-117 Fuel Line 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: jburtens@bournemouth.ac.uk (John Burtenshaw) Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 11:32:28 +0000 Subject: Re: Fighter Crashes in UK >Date: 01-22-78; 20:06 >To: skunk-works-digest @gaia.ucs.orst.edu (Internet) >From: Matthew Williams @44792000 (VirtualNet) >Organization: Empyrion BBS >Subject: Fighter Crashes in UK > > >There have been quite a few Jet aircraft crashes in the UK recently. A >couple of bail outs and a couple of fatalities. I wonder if they were >testing new equipment for use in Bosnia. Hmm, interesting. Not that many in my opinion, the most recent was a Hawk trainer that the pilot lost control of on landing at RAF Mona and which went across a main road into a field. The pilot ejected. The few that I can recall were mainly low-level accidents that all airforces experience in training exercises at some time. A Harrier on a test flight from Boscombe Down (our equivalent of Edwards AFB) crashed which may or may not have been testing new kit. If anything I would thing that we would be testing rapid transport systems to get *our boys* out if it all blows up. Just my thoughts John =========================================================================== John Burtenshaw Systems Administrator, The Computer Centre, Bournemouth University - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Postal Address: Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, POOLE, Dorset, BH12 5BB U.K. Internet: jburtens@bournemouth.ac.uk Phone: 01202 595089 Fax: 01202 513293 AX.25: g1hok@gb7bnm.#45.gbr.eu. AMPRnet: g1hok.ampr.org. (44.131.17.82) CompuServe: 100336,3113 =========================================================================== ------------------------------ From: "Joe Pialet" Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 07:24:35 +0100 Subject: Lockeed store There have been several mentions of the Lockheed Employee Store in recent postings. It sounds like they have a lot of unique items which would be of interest to members of this group. Does anyone know if they do a mail order business / have a catalog? ------------------------------ From: "Terry Colvin" Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 08:00:31 EST Subject: What *Is* the Blackhorse Project? Date: 14 Aug 1995 11:33:01 -0400 From: Daniel Risacher Subject: What *IS* the Blackhorse Project? [Quoting from the BH web page] The Black Horse is a proposed design for a single stage to orbit, reusable launch vehicle. It is being worked on at the Space & Missles Technology Directorate of Phillips Labs at Kirtland AFB. This project is being developed by the United States Air Force. The primary person working on the Black Horse is Captain Mitchell Burnside Clapp, USAF. The key idea behind the Black Horse is that it can be aerially `refueled' from a modified KC-135 tanker. This has caused some people to describe it as `stage-and-a-half' rather than a true SSTO vehicle. It will take off horizontally from USAF runways, it will land horizontally on USAF runways, and it will be piloted by USAF pilots. Two demonstration vehicles are planned as stepping stones to the Black Horse, called the Black Foal and the Black Colt. The Foal will demonstrate aspects of the technology and provide proof of concept. The Colt will fly to half orbital velocity and will be a launch vehicle in its own right. [For more info see: http://www.im.lcs.mit.edu/bh/] [all the other URL's I've posted also still work] - -Dan Risacher >>>>> "Dan" == Dan \"Superdan\" Bailey writes: Dan> As a budding sci-fi writer, I am overwhelmed with curiousity. Dan> Just what is the Blackhorse Project, anyway? A new launch Dan> system? Could someone please fill me in on this, and maybe Dan> point me toward some references/ articles that would be Dan> readily available? Dan> Thanks! -- Dan Bailey - -- Daniel Risacher magnus@mit.edu http://www.im.lcs.mit.edu/homedirs/magnus/www/ ------------------------------ From: "Terry Colvin" Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 08:53:42 EST Subject: UAVs Flying Over Bosnia [[UFOB]] :US LOSES TWO UNMANNED PLANES WASHINGTON -- In a setback for U.S. intelligence efforts in Bosnia, two of four American unmanned reconnaissance aircraft sent to the region earlier this summer have been lost, the Pentagon said Monday. One plane was lost Friday and the other on Monday, said Army Lt. Col. Rick Scott, a Pentagon spokesman. Scott said the Pentagon has no confirmation of press reports that one of the planes was shot down Friday. He said the plane failed to return from a mission and Defense Secretary William Perry on Saturday ordered an investigation. Scott said a second plane was deliberately destroyed by its U.S. operators Monday after it suffered engine problems and lost power while over Bosnia. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the second Predator was deliberately steered into a mountainside after the engine problem became known. Scott said the second loss also will be investigated. The Pentagon did not say whether it planned to replace the two lost planes. "While we do not discuss specific means of intelligence gathering available to us, we continue to retain robust capabilities in the region despite these losses," Scott said. The aircraft, known as the Predator, are controlled by a "pilot" on the ground who can guide the plane to a target several hundred miles away where it can loiter for up to 24 hours at altitudes ranging up to 25,000 feet. It is equipped with cameras which work in both visible and infrared wavelengths. Its radar can send real-time images back to the ground operating base via satellite. The Predators operating over Bosnia are based at Gjader Airfield, Albania. When the Pentagon announced the deployment in late June it said about 100 U.S. military and civilian contractor employees would accompany the Predators to Albania. Bosnia has been the first mission for the Predator other than testing and training. It only began test flights last year. Perry has called the Predators an important part of U.S. efforts to improve intelligence coordination in the Balkans region. The Predators' exact missions in Bosnia are classified secret. Presumably they have been providing pictures of troop movements by the warring sides as well as refugee movements. It is not known whether the Predator was involved in photographing the Srebrenica area; U.S. intelligence has received information suggesting the Bosnian Serb army that took control of Srebrenica last month massacred Muslims there and dumped perhaps hundreds of bodies into a mass grave near a stadium. U-2 manned spy planes were said to have photographed the suspected grave. The Predator is manufactured by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., of San Diego. ------------------------------ From: RHOEFELM Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1995 10:58:52 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Predator Picture Hi, In today's "USA Today", 15 Aug 95, on page 4A, top right, there is a nice black and white picture of a Predator. Nice for those who haven't seen any visuals on this beast before. Caveat: I'm assuming that USA Today's caption is accurate and this is a Predator. Ralph S. Hoefelmeyer rhoefelm-cos3@kaman.com Enjoy Nature ... From the top of the Food Chain. ------------------------------ From: "Terry Colvin" Date: Tue, 15 Aug 95 09:33:53 EST Subject: F-117 Fuel Line Newspaper: *Fort Worth Star-Telegram* Article: Fuel line rupture on stealth jet blamed for fire Date+: Aug 12, 1995; page 30 "El Paso -- A fire that caused $2.02 million in damage to a stealth fighter began from a rupture in a fuel line, a part previously identified as defective after it failed in other jets, the *El Paso Times* reported yesterday. "The high-pressure tube, which is attached to the fighter's two jet engines, had failed at least five times on different stealths before the April 5 fire at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., about 90 miles north of El Paso. "It had not been redesigned, despite warnings to the fuel-line maker, according to an Air Force investigation. General Electric builds engines for the $46 million F-117 stealth, a radar-evading plane that came to prominence during Operation Desert Storm. But is buys the fuel lines from two suppliers." ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #386 ********************************* To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "majordomo@mail.orst.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. 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