Cold War Era "Top Secret"/Black Ops technology
- Thread starter TerriO
- Start date
Said it in the other thread, but I'll repeat it here: I honesty believe these is tech. that the govts. of the world are keeping under wraps for whatever reason. I'm not talking about we should be a century ahead of where we are, just a handful or years, a decade at most. Stuff that was spun out of military and space research over the decades.
I'm not talking "Warp-Drives" and Little greenmen. I'm talking more along the lines of alternative fuel and energy research, various refinements and improvements of existing tech and infrastructures, improved communications and computer tech, weapons tech (naturally), maybe some biological and medical research. Why? Economy, safety, practically, military/govt. security.
I'm not talking "Warp-Drives" and Little greenmen. I'm talking more along the lines of alternative fuel and energy research, various refinements and improvements of existing tech and infrastructures, improved communications and computer tech, weapons tech (naturally), maybe some biological and medical research. Why? Economy, safety, practically, military/govt. security.
I don't know about energy, weapons, computer, etc. tech, but I do know something about biological/medical research. The government does not have advanced tech in this field. I work in biological research, and I am up on some of the more advanced topics. Advances are being made all the time by the thousands of scientists working in medical research. I really can't see any way the military could be and stay ahead of them all. In fact, much of the tech the military uses is developed in universities around the country. For example, there is a professor here at my university who has been working for some time on a way to freeze dry platelets for long term storage and use on the battlefield. His research was funded by a grant from the Army. I say "was" because he just retired a couple of years ago when someone else developed a powder that could be sprinkled onto wounds on the battlefield to cause immediate clotting, thus rendering his research unneeded. If the military were really a few years ahead in medical research, they wouldn't be funding scientists elsewhere to do develop tech they need.
There may be some narrow, specialized areas where they do have advanced tech they aren't sharing, such as bioweapons, but those fields would really be very narrow and focused.
I believe there are some achievement in the electro-magnetic field application considering the advancements in high temperature high power super conductive material.
Viewing the F-22 Raptor's ability for thrust vectoring and super cruise comes a possibility of not only turbine induced compression but also magnetic compression.
If this is true then scam-jet suddenly becomes the relem of possibility by suspending an plasma ball within the engine as a pilot-light to maintain ignition in hypersonic speeds.
Other appications utilizing electromagnetic field are rail guns, maglev technology and fusion reactors.
Of course these are all personal speculations that holds no ground but interesting to ponder about.
Viewing the F-22 Raptor's ability for thrust vectoring and super cruise comes a possibility of not only turbine induced compression but also magnetic compression.
If this is true then scam-jet suddenly becomes the relem of possibility by suspending an plasma ball within the engine as a pilot-light to maintain ignition in hypersonic speeds.
Other appications utilizing electromagnetic field are rail guns, maglev technology and fusion reactors.
Of course these are all personal speculations that holds no ground but interesting to ponder about.
There was another site that covered the same topic in much more detail, with far more entries. Wish I could remember what it was.
It's fairly unlikely that any piece of aeronautics hardware currently in operation contains any deep, dark secrets. The F-22 is open for sale for the right buyer, and it would be more or less impossible to "downgrade" some crucial supertechnology out of her for export clearance - it's a wonder she's flying even in the current as-intended form, and an attempt at selective gutting would put a quick end to that. It's a different matter if there's a special UFO sensor aboard or something, but the engines are likely to be fairly standard fare, without secret futuristic bells and whistles.
Of course the skies are full of prototypes that are not supposed to be seen, just like the test roads of car manufactures are full of prototypes that are not supposed to be seen. But when such vehicles are brought to operational use, they cease to be secret. The Soviets were perfectly aware of the U-2 when she finally started flying, and of SR-71, and of Discovery satellites and so forth; conversely, Russian military aviation projects did not remain secret once deployed. The very fact that "concerned citizens" can report about Aurora sightings tells that any opposing government could, too. Not that I'd believe in those sightings, because even the ones that make it into Aviation Week are wishful thinking at its worst.
On a more general note, a government would be unlikely to be the party in possession of the most advanced tech. The best researchers with the most funding would be in the private sector, and would aggressively push for the application of their findings for monetary gain. Secret government groups would be held massively back due to their very lack of contact with the rest of the world. Had the A-bomb development been dependent on what happened behind the fences of Los Alamos, we'd still be waiting for the first mushroom cloud; it was due to international openness and cooperation that the technology ever emerged, or that it could be made to emerge posthaste at a chosen moment.
Timo Saloniemi
Of course the skies are full of prototypes that are not supposed to be seen, just like the test roads of car manufactures are full of prototypes that are not supposed to be seen. But when such vehicles are brought to operational use, they cease to be secret. The Soviets were perfectly aware of the U-2 when she finally started flying, and of SR-71, and of Discovery satellites and so forth; conversely, Russian military aviation projects did not remain secret once deployed. The very fact that "concerned citizens" can report about Aurora sightings tells that any opposing government could, too. Not that I'd believe in those sightings, because even the ones that make it into Aviation Week are wishful thinking at its worst.
On a more general note, a government would be unlikely to be the party in possession of the most advanced tech. The best researchers with the most funding would be in the private sector, and would aggressively push for the application of their findings for monetary gain. Secret government groups would be held massively back due to their very lack of contact with the rest of the world. Had the A-bomb development been dependent on what happened behind the fences of Los Alamos, we'd still be waiting for the first mushroom cloud; it was due to international openness and cooperation that the technology ever emerged, or that it could be made to emerge posthaste at a chosen moment.
Timo Saloniemi
Most of the development is funded by the militaryblack budget but actually done by private entities suh as the lockheed skunkworks et al. However this does not preclude the military from having the tip top in tech. Recall too that the government can take a patent away if it is deemed in the interest of national security.
Also a quick review of the DARPA website gievs a taste of the forward thinking types actually in government employ - we can only wonder at the projects that are kept under wraps.
Actually, the F-22 is not available for sale to foreign countries. Last year Congress upheld the ban on the plane's sale.
The F-35, however, is available for sale to foreign allies in the future. While not quite as advanced as the F-22, it does contain many of the same systems.
And these planes have been in development for 20 years, they've got their roots in 80s and 90s state of the art technology. The F-117 is now considered almost ancient and outdated.
It's the stuff that they're operating behind the scenes or haven't told us about at all yet that I'm interested in. Spy planes, test demonstrators, aircraft like that. Skunk Work's deepest secrets.