Message posted by Vahe Demirjian (Member since 04/28/2022) on December 30, 2023 at 20:31:03 PST:
As has already been explained on this website and at the DLR forum, Aurora was the codename in the February 1985 Pentagon budget document applied to requested funding for procurement of the B-2 Spirit. The mention of the name Aurora above line items for the U-2 in FY 1986 Pentagon budget document along with budget holes in Lockheed's late 1980s finance reports, were the first seeds of speculation by some people, including Bill Sweetman, for assuming that Aurora was being used for an alleged hypersonic follow-on to the SR-71, and a January 11, 1988 Los Angeles Times news article was the first print media source to have the codename Aurora associated with a presumed hypersonic spyplane (the LA Times news article may have implicitly referred to the Lockheed Mach 5 Penetrator and Quartz because Wolfgang Demisch of the First Boston securities firm was quoted by the report as mentioning Lockheed's design studies for advanced high-speed aircraft and next-generation stealth).
Attached link: Air Force Developing New Stealth Spy Plane: Lockheed Apparent Contractor in Secret Project to Build Updated Photo-Reconnaissance CraftIn Reply to: experimental planes posted by joe on December 30, 2023 at 16:36:49 PST:
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