Northrop Tacit Blue - Aeroplane

avia.wikisort.org - Aeroplane

The Northrop Tacit Blue was a technology demonstrator aircraft created to demonstrate that a low-observable stealth surveillance aircraft with a low-probability-of-intercept radar (LPIR) and other sensors could operate close to the forward line of battle with a high degree of survivability.

Tacit Blue

Role	Stealth demonstrator Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Northrop Corporation
First flight	February 5, 1982
Retired	1985
Status	Retired
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	1

Development

Unveiled by the U.S. Air Force on 30 April 1996, the Tacit Blue Technology Demonstration Program was designed to prove that such an aircraft could continuously monitor the ground situation deep behind the battlefield and provide targeting information in real time to a ground command center.

In December 1976, DARPA and the U.S. Air Force initiated the Battlefield Surveillance Aircraft-Experimental (BSAX) program, which was part of a larger Air Force program called Pave Mover. The BSAX program's goal was to develop an efficient stealth reconnaissance aircraft with a low probability of intercept radar and other sensors that could operate close to the forward line of battle with a high degree of survivability.

Tacit Blue represented the "black" component in the larger "Assault Breaker" program, which intended to validate the concept of massed standoff attacks on advancing armoured formations using smart munitions. The Pave Mover radar demonstrators provided the non-stealth portion of the program's targeting system, whereas Tacit Blue was intended to demonstrate a similar but stealth capability, while validating a number of innovative stealth technology advances.[1]

The radar sensor technology developed for Tacit Blue evolved into the radar now being used by the E-8 Joint STARS aircraft.[2]

Tacit Blue was given the designation of "YF-117D" by the Air Force, implying it was a variant of the Lockheed F-117 stealth fighter.[3]

Design

Tacit Blue, nicknamed "the whale" (and sometimes also called an "alien school bus" for its only slightly rounded-off rectangular shape),[7] featured a straight tapered wing with a V-tail mounted on an oversized fuselage with a curved shape. It was the first stealth aircraft to feature curved surfaces for radar cross-section reduction.[8] Northrop would use this stealth technology on the B-2 bomber. A single flush inlet on the top of the fuselage provided air to two medium-bypass turbofan engines. Tacit Blue employed a quadruply redundant digital fly-by-wire flight control system to help stabilize the aircraft about its longitudinal and directional axes.

Operational history

The aircraft made its first successful flight on February 5, 1982, in Area 51, at Groom Lake, Nevada, flown by Northrop test pilot Richard G. Thomas.[6] The aircraft subsequently logged 135 flights over a three-year period. The aircraft often flew three to four flights weekly and several times flew more than once a day.

Another Tacit Blue test pilot, Ken Dyson, told CNN in 2014 that Northrop had manufactured additional major components for the jet, which amounted to half of a second plane. "If we lost one, we could have a second one up and flying in short order," Dyson said.[9]

After reaching about 250 flight hours, the aircraft was placed in storage in 1985. In 1996, after Tacit Blue was declassified, it was placed on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio and has been on display in the new fourth hangar at the museum since June 2016.[10]

Specifications

Data from ^{[citation needed]}

General characteristics

Crew: 1
Length: 55 ft 10 in (17.02 m)
Wingspan: 48 ft 2 in (14.68 m)
Height: 10 ft 7 in (3.23 m)
Airfoil: Clark Y mod.[11]
Gross weight: 30,000 lb (13,608 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Garrett ATF3-6 turbofan engines, 5,440 lbf (24.2 kN) thrust each

Performance

Maximum speed: 250 kn (290 mph, 460 km/h)
Service ceiling: 25,000–30,000 ft (7,600–9,100 m) operating altitude
Thrust/weight: 0.36

References

Assault Breaker Program Analysis.
Ramon Lopez (8 May 1996). "Out of the black comes Tacit Blue". Flight Global.
von Ehrenfried, Manfred "Ductch" (2013). Stratonauts: Pioneers Venturing into the Stratosphere. New York: Springer. p. 204. ISBN 978-3319029009.
Vartabedian, Ralph (26 February 1993). "Job Stress Catches Up With 'Dr. Stealth' of Aerospace : Science: Eccentric genius John Cashen's departure for Australia has many questioning the technology's future". L A Times. Retrieved 28 August 2018.
"Tacit Blue". CNet News. Photos: A brief history of stealth aircraft. November 23, 2007. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
Grier, Peter (August 1996). "The (Tacit) Blue Whale". Air Force Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
Rogoway, Tyler (March 1, 2014). "Lockheed's Senior Peg: The Forgotten Stealth Bomber". Jalopnik.
Merlin, Peter W. (2011). Area 51. Arcadia Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 978-0738576206.
Patterson, Thom (February 2014). "Area 51 Spy Plane and Other Aviation Tales". CNN. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
National Museum of the USAF Fact Sheet
Lednicer, David. "The Incomplete Guide to Airfoil Usage". m-selig.ae.illinois.edu. Retrieved 16 April 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northrop Tacit Blue.

Northrop aircraft and aircraft engines

Manufacturer
designations

'Greek' series	Alpha Beta Gamma Delta
'N' series	Note: Northrop company designations include a wide variety of technologies. Only aircraft, aero engines, and missiles are linked here. N-1/M N-2 N-3 N-4 N-5 N-6 N-7 N-8 N-9/M N-10 N-12 N-14 N-15 N-16 N-18 N-19 N-20 N-21 N-23 N-24 N-25A/B N-26 N-29 N-31 N-32 N-34 N-35 N-36 N-37 N-38 N-39 N-40 N-41 N-45 N-46 N-47 N-48 N-49 N-50 N-51 N-52 N-54 N-55 N-59 N-60 N-63 N-65 N-67 N-68 N-69 N-71 N-72 N-73 N-74 N-81 N-82 N-84 N-86 N-87 N-94 N-96 N-102 N-103 N-105 N-110 N-111 N-112 N-117 N-124 N-132 N-133 N-134 N-135 N-138 N-141 N-144 N-149 N-150 N-151 N-155 N-156 N-165 N-204 N-205 N-250 N-251 N-267 N-285 N-300 N-301 N-302 N-303 N-304 N-305 N-306 N-307 N-311 N-320 N-321 N-322 N-330 N-353 N-370 N-381
'P' series	P530 P600 P610 P630

By role

Attack	YA-13 XA-16 A-17/Nomad N-3PB YA-9
Bombers	YB-35 YB-49 B-62 BT B2T B-2
Drones	Q-4
Fighters	3A XP-56 P-61 XP-79 F-89 XFT F2T F-5/CF-5/CF-116 YF-17 F-18L F-20 YF-23
Reconnaissance	F-15 RF-61 RF-5 N-165 N-204
Trainers	T-38
Transports	Alpha Beta Gamma Delta C-19 C-100 YC-125 RT
Experimental	N-1M N-9M JB-1 MX-324 MX-334 M2-F2 M2-F3 HL-10 Tacit Blue X-4 X-21

Aircraft
engines

XT37

Names

See also: TR-3

USAAS/USAAC/USAAF/USAF fighter designations 1924–1962, and Tri-Service post-1962 systems

1924 sequences
(1924–1962)

Pursuit (1924–1948)	P-1 P-2 P-3 P-4 P-5 P-6 P-7 P-8 P-9 P-10 P-11 P-12 P-13 P-14 P-15 P-16 P-17 P-18 P-19 P-20 P-21 P-22 P-23 P-24 P-25 P-26 P-27 P-28 P-29 P-30 P-31 P-32 P-33 P-34 P-35 P-36 P-37 P-38 P-39 E P-40 P-41 P-42 P-43 P-44 P-45 P-46 P-47 P-48 P-49 P-50 P-51 P-52 P-53 P-54 P-55 P-56 P-57 P-58 P-59³ XP-59 P-59 P-60 P-61 P-62 P-63 P-64 P-65 P-66 P-67 P-68 P-69 P-70 P-71 P-72 P-73² P-74¹ P-75 P-76 P-77 P-78 P-79 P-80 P-81 P-82 P-83 P-84 P-85 P-86 P-87 P-88 P-89 P-90 P-91 P-92
Fighter (1948–1962)	F-38 F-39 F-40 F-47 F-51 F-59 F-61 RF-61C F-63 F-80 F-81 F-82 F-83 F-84 F/J H F-85 F-86 C D/G/K/L F-87 F-88 F-89 F-90 F-91 F-92 F-93 F-94 F-95 F-96 F-97 F-98 F-99 F-100 B F-101 F-102 B F-103 F-104 S XF-104 NF-104A F-105 F-106³ XF-106 F-106 F-107 F-108 F-109² F-110 F-111 B C K AFTI EF-111A
Pursuit, Biplace	PB-1 PB-2 PB-3
Fighter, Multiplace	FM-1 FM-2
Non-sequential	F-24 P-322 P-400

Tri-service sequence
(1962–present)

Main sequence	F-1 C/D E/F F-2 F-3 F-4 K/M F-5 G F-6 F-7 F-8 F-9 F/G/H/J F-10 F-11 F-12 C² F-13¹ F-14 F-15 E J STOL/MTD F-16 XL VISTA F-17 F-18 E/F G F-19¹ F-20 F-21 F-22 YF-22 FB-22 F-23
Non-sequential	F-35 I X-35 F-117

Covert designations

YF-110
- B/D
- C
YF-113 (I)
- A
YF-113 (II)
- B/D
YF-113 (III)
- C
YF-114
- C/D
YF-117
- A
- D
YF-118

Related designations

FV-12

¹ Not assigned • ² Unofficial • ³ Assigned to multiple types
See also: "F-19" • 1919-1924 sequence

Stealth aircraft

Stealth technology

United States

Experimental aircraft	Boeing Model 853 Quiet Bird Lockheed Have Blue Northrop Tacit Blue Boeing Bird of Prey Boeing X-32 Lockheed Martin X-35 Lockheed Martin X-44 MANTA Boeing X-45 Northrop Grumman X-47B Lockheed YF-22 Northrop YF-23
Fighter aircraft	Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Next Generation Air Dominance F/A-XX program
Bomber	Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider Next-Generation Bomber
UAV	General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger Boeing MQ-25 Stingray Boeing MQ-28 Ghost Bat Boeing Phantom Ray Lockheed Martin Sea Ghost Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel Northrop Grumman RQ-180 Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie

China

Fighter aircraft	Chengdu J-20 Shenyang FC-31
Bomber	Xian H-20
UAV	Hongdu GJ-11 AVIC Dark Sword CAIG Wing Loong-10 CASC Rainbow-7 CASIC Tianying FL-71

Russia

Experimental aircraft	Yakovlev Yak-43 Sukhoi Su-47 Mikoyan Project 1.44
Fighter aircraft	Mikoyan LMFS Mikoyan PAK DP Sukhoi Su-57 Sukhoi Su-75 Checkmate Sukhoi/HAL FGFA
Bomber	Tupolev PAK DA
UAV	Mikoyan Skat Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B

India

Fighter aircraft	HAL AMCA Sukhoi/HAL FGFA
UAV	DRDO Ghatak

United Kingdom

Fighter aircraft	BAE Systems Tempest
UAV	BAE Systems Taranis

France

Fighter aircraft	Future Combat Air System
UAV	Dassault nEUROn

Sweden

Fighter aircraft	Flygsystem 2020

Turkey

Fighter aircraft	TAI TF-X
UAV	Bayraktar Kızılelma

Iran

Fighter aircraft	IAIO Qaher-313 HESA Shafaq

Japan

Experimental aircraft	Mitsubishi X-2 Shinshin
Fighter aircraft	Mitsubishi F-X

South Korea

Fighter aircraft	KAI KF-21 Boramae

Northrop N-9M (United States) and Horten Ho 229 (Nazi Germany) are the first propeller-powered and jet-powered flying wing-stealth aircraft in the world, respectively.

На других языках

[de] Northrop Tacit Blue

Die von Northrop gebaute Tacit Blue, zu deutsch etwa „stilles Blau“, ist ein Versuchsflugzeug der US Air Force, das zeigen sollte, dass Stealth-Aufklärungsflugzeuge nahe der Front operieren können, ohne vom feindlichen Radar entdeckt zu werden. Tacit Blue hat viel zum Verständnis der Stealth-Technologie beigetragen und war ein wichtiger Schritt bei der Entwicklung des Tarnkappenbombers B-2 Spirit.

- [en] Northrop Tacit Blue

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Development

Design

Operational history

Specifications

See also

References

External links

На других языках

[de] Northrop Tacit Blue

[fr] Northrop Tacit Blue

[it] Northrop Tacit Blue

[ru] Northrop Tacit Blue