maybe this should have gone into the Sci-fi folder ??

Aviation Week & Space Technology -- Cover -- 03/06/2006, page 1

Artist's concept depicts an XB-70-like carrier aircraft dropping a manned spaceplane at high altitude.

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Possibly developed in the late-1980s, the highly classified two-stage-to-orbit "Blackstar" system could place a small payload in low Earth orbit or serve as a rapid-response reconnaissance platform. The two vehicles were seen several times throughout the 1990s, but may have been shelved in recent years, according to officials familiar with the program (see p. 48). Graphic by James Petty and Travis Thatcher.

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Aviation Week & Space Technology, 03/06/2006, page 48

William B. Scott, Colorado Springs

For 16 years, Aviation Week & Space Technology has investigated myriad sightings of a two-stage-to-orbit system that could place a small military spaceplane in orbit. Considerable evidence supports the existence of such a highly classified system, and top Pentagon officials have hinted that it's "out there," but iron-clad confirmation that meets AW&ST standards has remained elusive. Now facing the possibility that this innovative "Blackstar" system may have been shelved, we elected to share what we've learned about it with our readers, rather than let an intriguing technological breakthrough vanish into "black world" history, known to only a few insiders.

U.S. intelligence agencies may have quietly mothballed a highly classified two-stage-to-orbit spaceplane system designed in the 1980s for reconnaissance, satellite-insertion and, possibly, weapons delivery. It could be a victim of shrinking federal budgets strained by war costs, or it may not have met performance or operational goals.

A large "mothership," closely resembling the U.S. Air Force's historic XB-70 supersonic bomber, carries the orbital component conformally under its fuselage, accelerating to supersonic speeds at high altitude before dropping the spaceplane. The orbiter's engines fire and boost the vehicle into space. If mission requirements dictate, the spaceplane can either reach low Earth orbit or remain suborbital.

The manned orbiter's primary military advantage would be surprise overflight. There would be no forewarning of its presence, prior to the first orbit, allowing ground targets to be imaged before they could be hidden. In contrast, satellite orbits are predictable enough that activities having intelligence value can be scheduled to avoid overflights.

Exactly what missions the Blackstar system may have been designed for and built to accomplish are as yet unconfirmed, but U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) officers and contractors have been toying with similar spaceplane-operational concepts for years. Besides reconnaissance, they call for inserting small satellites into orbit, and either retrieving or servicing other spacecraft. Conceivably, such a vehicle could serve as an anti-satellite or space-to-ground weapons-delivery platform, as well.

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A two-stage-to-orbit system developed during the late 1980s consists of a large XB-70-like aircraft and small spaceplane carried semi-conformally. Credit: JAMES PETTY AND TRAVIS THATCHER

The spaceplane is capable of carrying an advanced imaging suite that features 1-meter-aperture adaptive optics with an integral sodium-ion-sensing laser. By compensating in real-time for atmospheric turbulence-caused aberrations sensed by the laser, the system is capable of acquiring very detailed images of ground targets or in-space objects, according to industry officials familiar with the package.

While frequently the subject of advanced studies, such as the Air Force's "Spacecast 2020," actual development and employment of a transatmospheric spaceplane have not been confirmed officially (AW&ST Sept. 5, 1994, p. 101). However, many sightings of both an XB-70-like carrier and a spaceplane have been reported, primarily in the western U.S. Only once have they been seen together, though.

On Oct. 4, 1998, the carrier aircraft was spotted flying over Salt Lake City at about 2:35 p.m. local time. James Petty, the president of JP Rocket Engine Co., saw a small, highly swept-winged vehicle nestled under the belly of the XB-70-like aircraft. The vehicle appeared to be climbing slowly on a west-southwest heading. The sky was clear enough to see both vehicles' leading edges, which Petty described as a dark gray or black color.

For whatever reason, top military space commanders apparently have never been "briefed-in"--never told of the Blackstar system's existence--even though these are the "warfighters" who might need to employ a spaceplane in combat. Consequently, the most likely user is an intelligence agency. The National Reconnaissance Office may have played a role in the program, but former senior NRO officials have denied any knowledge of it.

One Pentagon official suggests that the Blackstar system was "owned" and operated by a team of aerospace contractors, ensuring government leaders' plausible deniability. When asked about the system, they could honestly say, "we don't have anything like that."

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The "XOV," or experimental orbital vehicle, has a short, flat-topped vertical fin that may double as a mounting pylon. A "Q-bay" aft of the cockpit could carry small payloads.

Aerospace industry contractors suggest that a top secret Blackstar system could explain why Pentagon leaders readily offered the Air Force's nascent unclassified spaceplane project, the briefly resurrected SR-71 program and the Army's anti-satellite program for elimination from budgets in the late 1990s. At the time, an industry official said, "if we're flying a spaceplane, it makes sense to kill these cover programs and stop wasting money on things we can already do."

U.S. and European aerospace companies have pushed two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) spaceplane concepts for decades. Most large U.S. airframe manufacturers designed spaceplane-type vehicles during the 1950s and '60s, and XB-70 program documents include a concept for carrying and launching a low-Earth orbiter. Two former test pilots and executives for North American Aviation (later, Rockwell) said the company had a technically viable plan for such a system in the 1950s (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1992, p. 25).

Boeing is believed to be one of several major aerospace companies involved in the Blackstar program. On Oct. 14, 1986, Boeing filed a U.S. patent application for an advanced two-stage space transportation system. Patent No. 4,802,639, awarded on Feb. 7, 1989, details how a small orbiter could be air-dropped from the belly of a large delta-winged carrier at Mach 3.3 and 103,800-ft. altitude. The spaceplane would be boosted into orbit by its own propulsion system, perform an intended mission, then glide back to a horizontal landing. Although drawings of aircraft planforms in the Boeing patent differ from those of the Blackstar vehicles spotted at several USAF bases, the concepts are strikingly similar.

One logical explanation given for why a Blackstar system is developed says that, after the shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986, and a subsequent string of expendable-booster failures, Pentagon leaders were stunned to learn they no longer had "assured access to space." Suddenly, the U.S. needed a means to orbit satellites necessary to keep tabs on its Cold War adversaries.

DYNASOAR WAS TERMINATED shortly after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, after $430 million had been spent on the spaceplane's development. Political opposition and the fatal crash of XB-70 No. 2 on June 8, 1966, contributed to the bomber program's being canceled before Air Vehicle No. 3 could be built. However, at one time, there had been plans to mate the two vehicles.

The two-stage U.S. spaceplane concept apparently has undergone several iterations since then, but the basic idea remained--launch a manned boost-glide vehicle from an XB-70-like platform (AW&ST Dec. 24, 1990, p. 48; Sept. 24, 1990, p. 28). An aerospace industry source said the Air Force once used the "Blackstar" moniker, but others suggested the intelligence community referred to this TSTO combination as the "SR-3/XOV" system. The SR-3 is the large, XB-70-like carrier aircraft, while the small orbital vehicles drop-launched at high speed are called XOV-1, XOV-2 and so forth. At one time, the XOV designator meant "experimental orbital vehicle."

Based on information gleaned from multiple industry sources, the SR-3 features:

*A roughly 200-ft.-long, clipped-delta-winged planform resembling that of the North American Aviation XB-70 trisonic bomber. The forward fuselage is believed to be more oval-shaped than was depicted in a 1992 artist's rendering (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1992, p. 23).

*Canards that extend from the forward fuselage. These lifting surfaces may sweep both fore and aft to compensate for large center-of-gravity changes after dropping the spaceplane, based on multiple sighting reports.

*Large, outward-canted vertical tail surfaces at the clipped-delta's wingtips.

*At least four engine exhaust ports, grouped as two well-separated banks on either side of the aircraft centerline.

*Very loud engines. One other classified military aircraft may have used the same type of powerplant.

*Operation at supersonic speeds and altitudes up to 90,000 ft.

During the system's development cycle, two types of spaceplane orbiters may have been flown. Both were a blended wing/fuselage lifting-body design, but differed in size. The smaller version was about 60-65 ft. long and may have been unmanned or carried a crew of two, some say. Industry engineers said this technology demonstrator was "a very successful program."

The larger orbiter is reportedly 97.5 ft. long, has a highly swept, blended wing/body planform and a short vertical fin. This bulky fin apparently doubles as a buried pylon for conformal carriage of the spaceplane beneath the large SR-3. The "Q-bay" for transporting an optics-system pallet or other payloads may be located aft of the cockpit, with payload doors on top of the fuselage.

Outboard sections of the spaceplane's wing/body cant slightly downward, possibly for shock-wave control and compression lift at high speeds while in the atmosphere, whether on ascent or reentry. The only visible control surfaces are flap- or drag-type panels on the wing's trailing edge, one section on each side of the stubby vertical fin. A relatively large, spade-shaped section forward of the cockpit--which gives the orbiter a "shark-nose" appearance--may provide some pitch stability, as well.

The orbiter's belly appears to be contoured with channels, riblets or "strakelets" that direct airflow to engine inlets and help dissipate aerodynamic heating. These shallow channels may direct air to a complex system of internal, advanced composite-material ducts, according to an engineer who says he helped build one version of the orbiter in the early 1990s. Air is directed to what is believed to be aerospike engines similar to those once planned for use on the NASA/Lockheed Martin X-33.

A former Lockheed Skunk Works official once expressed confidence in the X-33 prototype orbiter's powerplants, noting that "they have history." Whether this implies the aerospikes had flown before, perhaps on an XOV, or simply referred to ground test-firings is unknown. The X-33 was a prototype of what was to be the single-stage-to-orbit Venture Star (AW&ST Nov. 10, 1997, p. 50).

Technicians who worked at a McDonnell Douglas plant in St. Louis in the late 1980s and early 1990s said much of the XOV's structure was made of advanced composite materials. Some wing skin panels measured 40 ft. long and 16 ft. wide, yet were only 3/8 in. to 1/2 in. thick.

"Two people could pick them up; they were very light," one said. These panels were stacked in a sandwich structure to obtain the required thickness, then machined to shape. Although much of the structure was honeycomb, it was "incredibly strong, and would handle very high temperatures," he noted. Inside skin surfaces "were ungodly complicated," though.

WORK ON THE ORBITER moved at a relatively slow pace until a "fuel breakthrough" was made, workers were told. Then, from 1990 through 1991, "we lived out there. It was a madhouse," a technician said. The new fuel was believed to be a boron-based gel having the consistency of toothpaste and high-energy characteristics, but occupying less volume than other fuels.

Regardless of where they land, spaceplane orbiters usually are retrieved by one or more "fat" C-5 Galaxy transports. Three of the oversized aircraft were modified with 8-ft.-wide "chipmunk cheek" extensions on each side of the cargo compartment aft of the nose hinge point; an extra six-wheel set of landing gear that partially retracts up against the aft fuselage, forward of the ramp; a shortened upper deck, and two internal harness/cradle supports. These alterations originally were made to enable carriage of dome-topped containers measuring 61.2 ft. long, 17.2 ft. wide (maximum) and 16.7 ft. tall at the highest point. The containers normally protected satellites during transit to launch sites.

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In 1994, NASA sources confirmed that two of the C-5s (Tail Nos. 00503 and 00504) were listed on NASA's inventory--although the aircraft did not "officially" exist, according to the agency's public records. Both transports apparently were deployed only upon orders from the administrator's office. The third oversized C-5 once had a red "CL" on its tail, and supposedly was used by the Central Intelligence Agency. All three C-5s may have been retired in recent years, according to a NASA contractor.

CRITICS ARGUE that there was never enough money hidden in intelligence and military budgets to fund a small fleet of spaceplanes and carrier aircraft. However, those who worked on the system's development at several contractor sites say they charged time-and-materials costs to a number of well-funded programs. Lockheed was the lead contractor for Blackstar orbiters being fabricated at McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s, and workers there typically logged their time against a specific Lockheed charge number associated with that project. But their time might also have been charged to the National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) and the Navy's A-12 fighter accounts, they say. Both multibillion-dollar programs were canceled with little but technology development gains to show for massive expenditures.

Whether the Blackstar system was ever declared operational or not is unknown, but several orbiters may have flown over the years. A former program manager at a major aerospace company once declared, "There's no question; Lockheed is flying a two-stage space vehicle."

Interestingly, after both Lockheed and Boeing pulled out of the NASP competition (or were "eliminated") in the 1980s, they may have collaborated to develop the two-stage-to-orbit Blackstar system under a highly classified "fast-track" program. However, many other contractors' "deep-black" teams probably also were involved in order to bring the nation's best expertise to bear on what must have been daunting technical challenges.

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Aviation Week & Space Technology, 03/06/2006, page 50

William B. Scott, Colorado Springs

Air-dropped spaceplane described as a transatmospheric 'boost-glide' vehicle

Sighting reports from fighter pilots, civilian contractors and an Air Force security police officer provided enough information about a super-secret "black" spaceplane to develop a technical profile of the vehicle. Both manned and unmanned versions may have been test-flown and operated during the last 16 years.

The two-vehicle Blackstar system's spaceplane has been referred to as "Black Magic," "Speedy" and "XOV" (experimental orbital vehicle) over the years, but none of these monikers have been confirmed by high-level U.S. government representatives. Intelligence officials called it the XOV, and that designation seems to be the most accepted in "black world" circles.

In general, transatmospheric vehicles have been classed as "boost-glide" craft for decades. Such vehicles would be boosted into space by internal powerplants, but returned to Earth unpowered.

A manned XOV was spotted at Holloman AFB, N.M., in 1994 by an F-15 crew chief as he prepared a fighter for an early morning flight. He alerted the pilot, who immediately climbed into the Eagle's cockpit and, using a small pair of binoculars, watched activities associated with the XOV/spaceplane for some time. He made a detailed sketch of the vehicle, and described it as follows:

*A 90-100-ft.-long, highly swept-winged, blended and contoured lifting body. The outer wing surfaces drooped or curved downward slightly, suggesting the spaceplane used compressive-lift techniques, while in the atmosphere.

*The vehicle's belly was "grooved" with longitudinal channels, possibly 1-2 ft. deep.

*It had a longitudinally lengthy, but unusually short vertical fin that could double as a carriage/launch pylon. The F-15 pilot said the vertical tail structure was partially covered with a tarp, but the aft portion of the tail fin/pylon appeared to be missing or damaged.

*A retractable nose gear sported several small wheels. A large, ski-like skid was mounted under the fuselage centerline, and two outrigger "pogo"-type wheeled gear supported each wing's outboard section.

*The only control surfaces observed were flap- or elevon-type panels at the wing's trailing edge on each side of the stubby vertical fin. Both panels were raised at the time.

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The XOV spaceplane has an odd spade-shaped forward-body planform, according to observers. The underbelly exhibits a series of grooves, riblets or "strakelets" that may improve heat dissipation during reentry or channel air to internal engines. Credit: JAMES PETTY AND TRAVIS THATCHER

*Four rectangular engine exhaust grates on the blunt rear surface of the vehicle. Two of these sections were seen on each side of the vertical fin, and described as "screened or radiator-like." This suggests that linear aerospike engines might power the spaceplane.

*Outboard of each rectangular engine-exhaust bank, near the highly swept delta planform's wingtips, was a single round port--possibly the nozzle of a reusable solid rocket booster. Observers at other locations have reported seeing long cylindrical pods lying on the ground near the spaceplane. Each pod was painted white with red stripes on each end. They speculated that these pods were boosters that could be inserted like shotgun shells into the outboard receptacles.

The Holloman F-15 pilot's sighting came only days after an unusual incident near Okinawa that may or may not have been related. In early 1994, fighter pilots flying in that area were briefly diverted to allow "an aircraft in distress" to land at Kadena AB, according to air traffic control transmissions.

An F-15 pilot obtained a radar lock on the vehicle, providing a data readout that supposedly indicated the "aircraft in distress" was at a high-supersonic speed and descending steeply, as it passed through about 45,000 ft. The unidentified aircraft landed at Kadena, and the base was immediately "locked down," a pilot said. Kadena employees, flight crews and contractors were prevented from leaving the base for a period. A civilian contractor who saw the spaceplane land was "debriefed" and hustled off-base within hours.

Possibly the same day, a modified "fat" C-5 left Holloman AFB on a "northern Pacific route," then returned within a week. That's when the Holloman-based F-15 pilot and his crew chief saw the boost-glide vehicle (during daylight hours). The pilot postulated that the spaceplane's vertical fin/pylon had been damaged, perhaps during launch over the Pacific, forcing the vehicle to make an emergency landing at Kadena.

Attempts to confirm both the Kadena-area and Holloman incidents have been unsuccessful.

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Aviation Week & Space Technology, 03/06/2006, page 52

William B. Scott, Colorado Springs

"Big. White or beige color. Very loud. I've never seen an airplane like it."

Those are typical descriptions from people who reported seeing an unusual aircraft, yet who characterize themselves as "not that familiar with airplanes."

But others who saw the same vehicle, and did know their aircraft, typically said something like: "Well . . . you're going to think I'm crazy . . . but it looked like the old XB-70--the Valkyrie. But there were only two of those built. One crashed, and the other's in the [National Museum of the] Air Force [in Dayton, Ohio]. So it couldn't have been an XB-70, right?"

About a dozen such reports have found their way to Aviation Week & Space Technology since 1990, often accompanied by rough sketches of the large aircraft. The most recent came last year from a retired test pilot living in the southern U.S. He saw the aircraft on a Sunday afternoon, and described the "loud rumbling" noise usually mentioned in sighting reports.

Two XB-70-like spaceplane carriers may have been built. One might have crashed, and a second is stored at the USAF's secret Groom Lake test site in Nevada, says an industry source. We've long suspected these aircraft were launch platforms, but that wasn't confirmed until James Petty, a rocket company president based in Salt Lake City, saw the white "mothership" carrying a small vehicle under its aft fuselage on Oct. 4, 1998 (see p. 48).

DETAILED FEATURES of the aircraft were provided by Nancy Weitzman, who was then a Ph.D. candidate living in Doylestown, Pa., and saw the SR-3 overfly her home in 1993. The aircraft was at an altitude of roughly 2,500 ft. and only a half-mile from Weitzman. She said it was close enough to see one pilot's helmet. Initially, the vehicle was maneuvering at slow speed and banking, offering excellent views of its top, bottom and tail sections. It then accelerated and climbed at a steep angle with all engines in afterburner, creating an incredibly loud noise.

While not "an airplane person," in her words, Weitzman is a longtime bird-watcher, and was a medical student then, making her an excellent, detail-oriented observer. Her engineer husband enhanced her sighting report by providing the correct aeronautical terminology for certain features. Based on her detailed description, plus tidbits provided by other observers, the following profile of the SR-3 "carrier" was constructed by Aviation Week:

*The SR-3 is a 180-200-ft.-long, light-colored, clipped-delta-winged aircraft that closely resembles the 1960s-vintage North American XB-70 bomber.

*Movable canards are mounted at mid-fuselage height aft of the cockpit. Weitzman reported the canards swept forward; others said they were swept aft, opening the possibility that canards may be positioned manually or automatically, depending on flight conditions.

*A dorsal ridge extends along the SR-3's spine from the cockpit to near the delta's trailing edge, enhanced by a dark line running at least two-thirds of the aircraft's length (AW&ST Aug. 24, 1992, pp. 23 and 25).

*Upward-swept "sails" or vertical tail surfaces are canted outward and mounted at the delta planform's wingtips.

*At least four engine exhaust ports are grouped as two well-separated banks, with ports on each side of the aircraft's centerline.

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The XB-70-like "mothership" could deploy an XOV spaceplane at supersonic speeds and altitudes up to 90,000 ft. The spaceplane may be embedded conformally under the carrier aircraft's aft fuselage. Credit: JAMES PETTY AND TRAVIS THATCHER

*Its belly is not aerodynamically smooth. Weitzman said the aircraft had several blended, curved areas and a large "hump" on the centerline, flanked by two smaller humps aft of two engine inlets. She likened the blended-body contours to the B-2 bomber's upper fuselage. These may ensure a small spaceplane can be carried conformally.

*A distinctive deep, rumbling, very loud engine noise.

Several SR-3 vehicles could have been built fairly quickly from material that had been delivered for XB-70 Air Vehicle No. 3 (AV-3). Work on AV-3 ceased when its contract was canceled on Feb. 15, 1964. However, more than 24,000 sq. ft. of honeycomb-core material, 157,000 lb. of sheet metal and 26,000 ft. of metal extrusions had already been delivered for AV-3, according to public records.

Tony Landis, a coauthor of North American XB-70A Valkyrie (published in 2002 as Vol. 34 of the Warbird Tech series), said his research "never found any reference to the disposal of six or seven warehouses-full of spare parts for the XB-70."

Overall, a two-stage-to-orbit system wouldn't have been technologically difficult to develop, according to aerospace veterans. A former NAA test pilot says, "We could have done it in the 1950s. The only reason we didn't was the expendable [rocket] guys got out ahead of us--and the rest is history."