Black project
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A black project is a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors. Examples of United States military aircraft developed as black projects include the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, both of which were highly classified and publicly denied until they were ready to be announced to the public. In the United States, the formal term for a black project is special access program (SAP). The money that funds these projects is called the black budget.
Examples
United States
Previously classified
- Manhattan Project
- B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
- Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter
- Boeing Bird of Prey stealth technology demonstrator
- F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground-attack aircraft
- KH-11 Kennen reconnaissance satellite
- SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3.3 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
- Lockheed CL-400 Suntan high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance prototype
- Lockheed U-2 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
- Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel
- Lockheed Martin Polecat unmanned aerial vehicle
- Northrop Tacit Blue
- Operation Cyclone[1]
- RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance UAV
- Lockheed Sea Shadow (IX-529) experimental stealth US Navy ship
- Hughes Mining Barge CIA project authorized 1974 to raise sunken Soviet submarine K-129
- SR-72 stealth reconnaissance UAV, confirmed by Lockheed Martin in October 2013.[2][3]
Speculated or classified
People's Republic of China
- Xian H-20 subsonic stealth bomber aircraft
South Africa
- Project Coast
- Atlas Carver multirole fighter aircraft
See also
References
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn. "Dangerous Travels". Dangeroustravel.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
- ^ "An SR-72 in the works?". Airforcetimes.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
- ^ "Meet the SR-72". Lockheed Martin Corporation. Archived from the original on 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
- ^ "Investigation Casts Light on the Mysterious Flying Black Triangle". space.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
- ^ "Mystery - Blimp". Fas.org. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
- ^ "The stealth blimp dot com". Thestealthblimp.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2013-09-09.