Gawdzilla wrote:JimC wrote:GreyICE wrote:It's being called a conspiracy theory that the US military has black programs?
What the fuck? I mean are you fucking shitting me? Is there any rock-brained fool on this planet who thinks the US military doesn't have black programs?
This is so fucking stupid...
Well, yes they do have black programs, but the significance of this may be somewhat less than you imagine...
And a lot of them. But Aurora wasn't one of them. That myth has been followed back to its source and its just a laugh. But conspiracy theorists aren't deterred by facts, it's not about the overt issue to begin with.
The "Aurora" has many sources. It's at this point a catchall term for rumors about the US Airforce's hypersonic spy plane/bomber. It's more than likely that several programs have been lumped together under that moniker, including the B-2 Spirit, the "Stealth Bomber" (which was most likely the actual "Code name Aurora" way back when). If you think the B-2 doesn't exist, it would be reasonably happy to dissuade you.
If they'd be really nice and declassify the names of all of their black programs, people interested in monitoring the US government's black programs could try and slot each rumor into each code name to make the entire process much more readable. Until then, the unfortunate fact is that wild conjecture, reasonably solid information, and damn near certain fact gets lumped into the same moniker, with the additional misfortune that one program may be spread out over several monikers, or several programs may be lumped under one moniker.
In any case, it seems virtually certain that outside of the Falcon program, they've been working on a prompt global strike bomber. To me, this announcement signifies that they're nearing the mass production stage. Prompt Global Strike is not a capacity you declassify until you're damn sure that its working - even for the US military, it's damn controversial. The only other prompt global strike weapon in our arsenal is an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (which is not the best delivery vehicle).
Gallstones, I believe you know how to contact me. The rest of you? I could not possibly even care.