80 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
80 lines
3.7 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: NEW SPY PLANE FLIES EIGHT TIMES THE SPEED OF SOUND FILE: UFO3109
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Copyright 1992. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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NEW YORK (AP) -- For years, the United States may have been operating
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secret
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new spy planes that fly as fast as eight times the speed of sound, according
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to
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published reports.
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The $1 billion jet would be superior to the record-holding SR-71 spy plane
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now being used globally, according to an article prepared for Jane's Defence
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Weekly, a British military-affairs journal, and cited in The Wall Street
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Journal
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on Friday.
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But an Air Force spokesman denied Saturday that the service is working on
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a
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replacement for the SR-71, as the author of the Jane's article claims.
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The speculation surrounding the alleged new plane is based partly on a
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trained aircraft observer's reported sighting of a wedge-shaped aircraft
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flying
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over the North Sea, the Journal quotes Jane's as saying.
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The mysterious plane reportedly was flying in formation with two
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U.S.-built
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F-111 bombers.
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The observer was Chris Gibson, a British oil-drilling engineer and
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aircraft
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spotter, who told Jane's he saw the plane more than three years ago for
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about 90
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seconds from a North Sea oil rig, according to the Journal. He reportedly
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later
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saw a drawing of a design in an aircraft magazine that had a similar triangle
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shape and didn't match any other known aircraft.
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Bill Sweetman, the stealth technology expert who wrote the Jane's story,
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says
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he believes the sighting is the missing link in a chain of events that
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explains
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a number of U.S. military developments, according to the Journal.
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Sweetman says Lockheed Corporation may have developed the faster
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reconnaissance plane to replace its SR-71 Blackbird after the United States
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took
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the latter out of service in early 1990.
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Lockheed spokesman Richard Stadler said the company won't comment on any
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secret programs it may have, but in the past the company has produced U.S.
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spy
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planes long before it acknowledged their existence.
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"The Air Force has no follow-on program for the SR-71," Air Force
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spokesman
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Lt. Col. Mike Gannon said Saturday night. "This story keeps coming back every
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two or three months, but we do not have a program as described there."
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Since the SR-71 was taken out of service, the United States has met its
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reconaissance needs through other, non-aircraft, means, Gannon said.
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The Jane's report says the engines are built by Rockwell International
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Corp.'s Rocketdyne Division. But a company spokesman not named by the
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newspaper
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denied the company builds engines for reconnaissance planes.
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The SR-71 holds the official speed record of 2,193 mph, compared to the
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estimated 5,280 mph of the model Sweetman speculates flew over the North
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Sea.
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Jane's suggests that the new plane -- rumored to be called Aurora because
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that name appeared in an unexplained defense budget line next to the SR-71 --
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costs about $1 billion and first flew in about 1985, the Journal says.
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The development of the "Aurora" may be the reason why the United States
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retired its last SR-71 in 1990, explaining that it would rely instead on
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satellites for reconnaissance.
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The Jane's report also suggests that the high-tech spy plane may have been
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responsible for a series of earthquake-like rumbles detected in southern
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California and other parts of the world.
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(presented without permission for research purposes only)
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*********************************************************************
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* -------->>> THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo <<<------- *
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*********************************************************************
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