New US strike capability - Falcon

[Gawd]

GreyICE, making shit up doesn't count as evidence.

It does for George Bush.

Rimshot.

[GreyICE]

GreyICE, making shit up doesn't count as evidence.

Lets see, 20 seconds with Google...

http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,93616,00.html

Come on, they've been discussing this shit openly for 5 years, they've long had the goal of having conventional strike capacity globally. Global nuclear strikes has never ever ever been acceptable as a goto when we need force on the ground.

This is really an unacceptable level of ignorance here. The US military has never been all that clandestine about its goal to be able to strike worldwide, nor has the air force ever been all that quiet about its goal to have long-range bomber capability. I mean seriously guys, what the fuck?

I feel like I wandered into some twilight zone. The US Military having secret projects is now a conspiracy theory? I suppose it's a conspiracy theory if we suggest that some guy somewhere might have a girlfriend who cheated on him? Is it a conspiracy theory that Congresscritters are frequently working in the interests of major corporations? Oh, I know! It's a conspiracy theory that the construction industry in NYC is run by the mob!

Goddamn, this might be one of the alltime stupidest "skeptical" assaults I've ever seen, after the group of "Skeptics" critical of evolution (probably a theory made up by a bunch of conspiracy nuts).

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Goddamn, this might be one of the alltime stupidest "skeptical" assaults I've ever seen, after the group of "Skeptics" critical of evolution (probably a theory made up by a bunch of conspiracy nuts).

We're skeptical, but not gullible. That's the difference.

[Coito ergo sum]

Ah, the USA, land of the weapon manufacturers and war mongers. Always coming up with a new way to blow you up, just not in the USA of course.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's very clever but it would be nice if mankind could get away from making ever sharper spears. No wonder the aliens don't want to talk to us.

Since the other folks aren't going to stop sharpening their spears, we'd best sharpen ours.

[Coito ergo sum]

Is anyone in here an American? I'm going to invade a country next month and need to get some shipments of missiles and machine guns. How much do I have to buy for a free warship?

You're better off going to China and Russia. Those are the fellas who arm all you two bit countries with guns and tanks. Just about every tin pot dictator flies MiGs, not F's.

[Coito ergo sum]

I thought this is what those great big carriers were for...

Looking at the title of this thread, I thought they rediscovered the use of unions for defending workers' rights and conditions.

Ah, well, I suppose war is much more fascinating to our arm-chair generals.

An amazing new suborbital aircraft that skates along the top of the atmosphere and can reach any spot on the globe in under an hour -- vs --- unions going on strike to improve conditions.

Yeah - how could anyone not be more fascinated with the latter.

[Coito ergo sum]

Huh, nice to see them finally declassify the Aurora.

Ah, the phantasy phantom phlier!

It's funny. You tell people there's a black program they roll their eyes and claim there's a conspiracy. You point out that there's a $9 billion dollar hole in the Air Force budget that isn't accounted for, and they laugh. You point out that Boeing and other contractors all have black revenue streams, and they shrug and ignore you.

Then the US military announces the aircraft that is light years beyond what is possible with declassified technology and would have taken vast amounts of time, research, and testing to perfect, and yet it's mysteriously complete.

And they STILL hold this opinion. Really, watch. They'll have this test for a little bit, then all of a sudden they'll have asomething. They've been kicking around hypersonic black planes for decades at this point.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

P.S. The other alternative to this for prompt global strike is ICBMs with conventional munitions, and those can trigger nuclear war alarms. This program really does make us safer.

I don't think anyone denies that the military is working on top secret weapons, including aircraft.

[Coito ergo sum]

"urban legends" like the woman who boiled her brain in a microwave...thats an "urban legend", US military black ops/conspiracies/lies etc are NOT. Get it together.

It depends on the conspiracy, doesn't it? Some may be true, others not. However, because some are true doesn't mean we knee-jerk accept every assertion.

[Coito ergo sum]

a story that appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in various forms and is usually false; contains elements of humor or horror and is popularly believed to be true

I see no difference between 'urban legend' and 'conspiracy'.

A conspiracy is an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons. An urban legend is a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror.

So, they aren't the same thing at all.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's being called a conspiracy theory that the US military has black programs?

What the fuck? I mean are you fucking shitting me? Is there any rock-brained fool on this planet who thinks the US military doesn't have black programs?

This is so fucking stupid...

I would think the military isn't doing its job if it wasn't trying to create better weapons in secret.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's being called a conspiracy theory that the US military has black programs?

What the fuck? I mean are you fucking shitting me? Is there any rock-brained fool on this planet who thinks the US military doesn't have black programs?

This is so fucking stupid...

Well, yes they do have black programs, but the significance of this may be somewhat less than you imagine...

And a lot of them. But Aurora wasn't one of them. That myth has been followed back to its source and its just a laugh. But conspiracy theorists aren't deterred by facts, it's not about the overt issue to begin with.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_(aircraft)

Whatever it is, or was, or wasn't - so what? I hope they are working on something so fantastic that we can't even imagine, for all the money they get.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I don't think anyone denies that the military is working on top secret weapons, including aircraft.

Exactly, and there's no project that would consume 9 billion on its own. Random facts piled in a bucket don't make up evidence, unless one is a total ninny. Then, of course, anything is likely.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's being called a conspiracy theory that the US military has black programs?

What the fuck? I mean are you fucking shitting me? Is there any rock-brained fool on this planet who thinks the US military doesn't have black programs?

This is so fucking stupid...

Well, yes they do have black programs, but the significance of this may be somewhat less than you imagine...

And a lot of them. But Aurora wasn't one of them. That myth has been followed back to its source and its just a laugh. But conspiracy theorists aren't deterred by facts, it's not about the overt issue to begin with.

The "Aurora" has many sources. It's at this point a catchall term for rumors about the US Airforce's hypersonic spy plane/bomber. It's more than likely that several programs have been lumped together under that moniker, including the B-2 Spirit, the "Stealth Bomber" (which was most likely the actual "Code name Aurora" way back when). If you think the B-2 doesn't exist, it would be reasonably happy to dissuade you.

If they'd be really nice and declassify the names of all of their black programs, people interested in monitoring the US government's black programs could try and slot each rumor into each code name to make the entire process much more readable. Until then, the unfortunate fact is that wild conjecture, reasonably solid information, and damn near certain fact gets lumped into the same moniker, with the additional misfortune that one program may be spread out over several monikers, or several programs may be lumped under one moniker.

In any case, it seems virtually certain that outside of the Falcon program, they've been working on a prompt global strike bomber. To me, this announcement signifies that they're nearing the mass production stage. Prompt Global Strike is not a capacity you declassify until you're damn sure that its working - even for the US military, it's damn controversial. The only other prompt global strike weapon in our arsenal is an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (which is not the best delivery vehicle).

There's no reason why our research and development should be disclosed to the world before the time of our choosing, and the wild rumors and theories probably serve to provide cover for what's really happening. Like project Bluebook and UFO's - my conclusion is that the military just took the UFO "scare" as an opportunity to provide cover for its aircraft development programs. Easy to discount things as UFO sightings, and file it as an unexplained event - and let the theorists theorize.

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't think anyone denies that the military is working on top secret weapons, including aircraft.

Exactly, and there's no project that would consume 9 billion on its own. Random facts piled in a bucket don't make up evidence, unless one is a total ninny. Then, of course, anything is likely.

Well, yeah - and it all depends on the asserted conspiracy theory. If the question is: Does the US military create covert (black) development projects? Well, of course they do. They'd be stupid if they didn't.