(Luft) Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD)

[Schneemann]

Etwas mysteriös und hinsichtlich der Bezugnahme zu Area 51 bzw. zum Groom Lake natürlich auch schön nebulös gehalten, aber möglicherweise wurde ein Modell des NGAD tatsächlich erwischt...

Did the Air Force's Secret New Fighter Jet Just Fly Over Area 51?

A mysterious object that resembles an aircraft was recently photographed at the legendary Area 51. The fighter jet-sized object could be the Air Force's Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) fighter, or it could be ... something else. Regardless, it's like nothing else in the current U.S. arsenal and has not yet been positively identified.

The alleged aircraft—first spotted by The War Zone blog in imagery obtained by Planet Labs, a commercial satellite company—appears to show a transparent, hangar-like shelter with an aircraft inside. The image was taken via satellite on January 26, 2022. This strange aircraft appears to be about the size of a fighter jet. It has a cranked arrow design, in which a pair of sharply drawn wings broaden out about halfway down the length of the jet. [...] There are at least three possibilities as to what the mystery plane might be. The first is that it's some kind of uncrewed aerial combat vehicle. The U.S. military plans to eventually fly large, fighter-like "loyal wingman" drones that can pair up with crewed aircraft. One example is this Boeing Australia design, also called Loyal Wingman. The Area 51 jet could be from another manufacturer, such as Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman. [...]

The third—and most intriguing possibility—is that the aircraft is a sixth-generation fighter. In 2020, Air Force officials announced the service's Next-Generation Air Dominance Fighter had been designed, tested, and flown in just one year, thanks to modern digital engineering techniques. NGAD is the expected replacement for the F-22A Raptor fighter. However, the service has not yet revealed any other details, including what the aircraft actually looks like and who built it.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/militar...r-area-51/

Schneemann