I love the shape of Northrop Grumman’s high-speed bomber concept. It’s beautiful, like the unholy destructive child of a B-2 Spirit bomber and the SR-71 Blackbird conceived by Industrial Light & Magic.
The high-speed bomber is nothing like Northrop Grumman’s heir for the B-2, the Secret X bomber or Boeing/Lockheed Martin’s own long-range bomber. It’s just a concept for now, so there are absolutely no details — but I guess this beast would fly supersonically and can deliver a few nukes to anywhere in the world in about four or five hours. The Dew Line
This is the F-X, the next-next-generation fighter that would eventually replace the current next-generation F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning. Of course, with the F-22s and F-35s having problems and the current economic climate, all these planes are far, far away in the future.
EckyThump
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 8:30 AMSomehow given the sped at which they are developing unmanned aircraft, I seriously doubt that this thing will have a cockpit! #]
Steve
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:50 PMThis is projected at like… 20 years in the future, when drones are all but guaranteed to be the norm yet they designed cockpits for them? It’s like a mock-up for a future warship and you include a sail.
olearymo
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 8:48 AMLooks very familiar. Wraith Dart.
TSH
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 9:45 AMI was actually thinking Colonial Viper (bomber) and Cylon Raider (fighter)
^_^
Randomguy
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 2:50 PMThe bomber does look like a Viper.
James
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 9:33 AMFunny how everything Techy these days has some kind of hexagon pattern going on in it’s background design.
Anyway, they’re some sexy looking planes.
Joe P
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 9:41 AMSexy looking until you see the bill for taxpayers. I would bet every dollar I had that this won’t be sold or even used much like the F22 Raptor. How much did that cost? And yet they haven’t even been used in a single mission. Ditto with half the ideas that come out of DARPA.
But I would have more luck laying an egg that hatches a Dodo bird than seeing the military industrial complex put in its place in my lifetime.
Boomzilla
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 9:49 AMThe b-2 spirit cost a billion bucks each 10-20 years ago, how much for these?2-3 billion?So lets send a 2 billion dollar jet to take out a few guy’s in a desert cave with ak-47′s.
Steve
Wednesday, September 28, 2011 at 8:49 PMYeah, and $9 billion aircraft carriers to protect our ships from car bombs.
Sid Meier
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 12:10 PMthe hexagon design is part of the marketing campaign for my upcoming game:
Civilization 6.
Keep an eye out for it ;)
Hugh
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 6:36 PM+1
Ozoneocean
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 3:38 PMPersonally I think the old B-1s are far sexier- they have the look of a swan in flight. This by comparison as crude, childish aesthetics.
…Even though it’s probably designed to be much faster, fuel efficient and far more stealthy :)
Franz
Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 5:19 PMLooks like something stolen from star wars, even though I’ve never seen any of them.
Metal Gear REX would be much more effective and cheaper…