tecoyah

Could be.....who the fuck knows....pretty cool pics though

http://seekers.100megs6.com//UFOManTR-3B.htm

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Hampshire

where was the photo taken?

Willravel

Seems to be the rumored "black triangle" military stealth blimp that America has supposedly been using since the 1980s.

Lighter-than-air vehicles held all records for payload, distance, duration, and altitude within the first four decades of the 20th century - even with the advent of the airplane. In fact, save for rocket-powered research aircraft, like the X-15 and the space shuttle, all absolute altitude records are still held by high-altitude scientific balloons.

Big Black Deltas, or BBDs, are considered to be U.S. Defense Department airships. They are so large they can carry massive payloads at low altitudes, cruising at speeds three to five times as fast as surface ships. BBDs are probably powered by electrokinetic/field drives, or airborne nuclear power units. These craft also fly at extreme altitudes, high above conventional aircraft and the pulsing of ground-based traffic control radar.

Elecrokinetic propulsion means that no propellers or jets are used. A hybrid lighter-than-air craft would rely on aerostatic, lift gas, like a balloon. No helicopter-like downwash would be produced. Except for a slight humming from high-voltage control equipment -- and in older BBD versions an occasional coronal discharge -- a Big Black Delta makes no noise.

Given a slew of BBD capabilities -- from silent running, diminished drag, elimination of sonic shockwaves, to operation from ground level to full vacuum -- it seems likely that this would have been considered and developed by now.

If the nuclear powered electrokenetic propulsion is too much for you to swallow, than thrust vectoring propellars like on the Osprey would surely get the job done.

Just my theory.

radioguy

for some reason, a stealth blimp just doesn't seem very "stealthy" to me. i mean, it's big and slow and big and slow. it would be pretty cool though.

Willravel

Well it can travel much faster than land vehicles (trains, boats, or trucks), which normally move the bulk of machenery and vehicles. We are talking about moving many times the amount transport planes can move, at a fraction of the price. The "stealth" feature is similar to the idea of the stealth fighter and bomber, the skin does not reflect radar. In addition to that, it can fly above radar when necessary. Theoretically, it can also fly below radar at night, when it can't be seen as easily.

This is a possibility, I don't claim to actually know this. Call it speculation.

TexanAvenger

We're not talking about a zepplin kind of thing, speed isn't the same here. And big doesn't mean it's readily noticable. If there're only a couple used, especially if they're only used every once in a while, it would, in fact, be quite easy to use them without making it obvious.

But, again, I don't think anybody here is going to claim to know if this is the case. It's all speculation at this point.

xepherys

Stealth requires neither quickness nor lack of size. Stealth, in regards to defense, usually has more to do with lack of radar visibility.

Killconey

That is a pretty sweet looking aircraft. My only thought is to wonder whether or not the designer realized his ship looked like a star destroyer. If the answer is yes, then please post any pictures you find of something that looks like an X-wing. Hooray for technology bringing us closer and closer to a galaxy far, far away.

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ObieX

edited out repeat information: woops there's a link right to this info LOL. There's a few different places to find info on this, that site summed up what i was talkin about tho. Says its about 2x the size i thought, i dunno how acurate those artist's conceptions are, i've seena few different styles. Probably the main problem with that artist's conception is the way the thrusters look, they would probably shift more toward the corners to provide more directional thrust, instead of just lifting thrust.

There's also some other types of UFO-like craft that are supposedly experimented with by the government and now private companies like laser-propelled craft, that probably look more like a conventional alien flying saucer (maybe more bell-like).

http://science.howstuffworks.com/light-propulsion.htm

Here's a company developing some, and they even have a video of them working. This goes a hell of a long way in debunking a ton of UFO sightings.

http://www.lightcrafttechnologies.com/

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Hain

All I have to say is son-of-a-bitch. My buddies and I were designing a helicopter that was going to look like this :maniacal grin:. If you can't figure out why--shame on you.

And Willravel, where did you hear about this Electrokinetic Propulsion? If it really works on large scales then I'd love to read it.

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Willravel

Oh boy. Please excuse the following as it is an explaination from an amatuer and contains many theoretical conclusions.

Type 1: When Thomas T. Brown applied a large electrical voltage to an x-ray tube he found that the x-ray tube could move. After applying large electrical voltage to capacitances, the capacitors also moved due to the electrostatic fields. These capacitors are called electrokinetic capacitors. The electrostatic fields of these capacitors possibly produced reaction thrust due to the acceleration of air ions. A claim indicates that the electrokinetic capacitors still could produced reaction thrust F when it was in a near vacuum. This indicated that the propulsion force F needs not be due to ion propulsion. The electrokinetic propulsion force F may be due to a new type of force in nature.

If some thrust F can be produced without the interaction of air ions, the electrokinetic capacitor may be some sort of tachyon drive. This electrokinetic force may be due to a new force in nature which is perhaps tachyons. The electrified capacitor may have generated tachyons which may be* very small particles that is used as a propellant. Tachyons are assumed to be very small particles that can travel faster than the speed of light c. Tachyons may even be gravity particles.

Type 2: The second electrokinetic propuslion device uses an electrostatic field to polarize non-electrically conducting water. The device could move, because the polarized molecules could produce the kineto-baric propulsion force.* This device was invented by Rudolf Zinsser and is called a kineto-baric force device.

If you do a search on Electrokinetic Propulsion on google, you might be able to find further research and specifics.

Hain

Yeah this is exactly what a feared... I did a search and I hadn't found anything remotely legitamate. Tachyons for one, are not gravitons because it have been experimentally shown that gravity travels at the speed of light by measuring the bend of light from moons of Jupiter. Air ions I believe... but that is huge. And the electrical voltage causes stuff to move is because of electrostatic attraction/repulsion yes, but the Earth is a rather large conductor despite what you may think.

I really am one of those physics students that needs to look at it work, take it apart and put it back together till it works, then I'll understand it. Reading something is not good for me to learn by.

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Willravel

I knew tachyons wern't gravitons, the paper I read was quite old and probably written by Geordi La Forge (tachyons can solve anything if according to Star Trek:TNG). If there is some legitimate research out there, I haven't found it. To be perfectly honest, it is far above my basic understanding of physics. Never send a musician to do a physicist's job.

thalakos315

wired magazine had a big long article on this very thing actually.. i have it around here somewhere. it even tells you how to build your own mini engine
pretty damned cool me thinks
the only thing is that this engine is ineffecient, you need an absolutely colossal amount of power to create a very minimal amount of thrust.

MSD

I remember seeing a video of three of these over Belgium on the news when I was about ten years old. Back then, I was naive, believed fully in alien visitation, and (promise you won't laugh too hard) had a horrible fear of alien abduction. I could barely sleep for a week after seeing that.

Eleven years later, I'm more inclined to believe the stealth blimp theory. BTW, it uses small lights and almost entirely non-reflective paint to blend in with the sky, it's not really radar-invisible.

ForgottenKnight

Considering the amount of research and development that governments do behind everyone's back and then cover up, I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the government finally declassifies some stealth spyplane like that ten years or so from now...

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ShaniFaye

It looks like a photoshopped ultrasound

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