Message posted by Vahe Demirjian (Member since 04/28/2022) on December 15, 2023 at 16:50:24 PST:
Codenames beginning with "Senior" are assigned by the US Air Force Headquarters, and "Senior ___" programs are therefore USAF-funded. The Senior Crown and Senior Trend codenames for the SR-71 and F-117 respectively are well-known and I remember that the codename Senior Citizen was once speculated to have been used for either the rumored hypersonic follow-on to the SR-71 or the non-existent "Black Manta" before DoD documents came to light in the mid-1990s making clear that Senior Citizen was a tactical airlift operational support program. Setting aside the fact the codename for the Northrop Grumman B-2 was initially Senior Ice before being changed to Senior Cejay and that the losing Lockheed submission for the ATB competition was codenamed Senior Peg, a fair share of "Senior" programs are/were related to the U-2's reconnaissance subsystems, including Senior Blade and Senior Year. By the way, has new information come out regarding the Senior Blue air-to-air anti-radiation missile mentioned by James Stevenson in the 2001 book "The $5 Billion Misunderstanding: The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program"?
In Reply to: Re: Project Names at Area 51 posted by noskcaJ on December 15, 2023 at 15:54:28 PST:
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