Search results for query: darkstar

...to the mission. One of LM's critical mistakes here was that they tried to recycle much of the software developed for QUARTZ and ATF into DARKSTAR. This was much more difficult than they originally estimated. The software and VLO was about the only thing that DARKSTAR shared with QUARTZ...

Original Skunk Works DarkStar leaflet

If the LockMart-Boeing NGB is based on Quartz, at what point did the vastly different Darkstar planform emerge? It appears that Quartz went through three distinct stages in its evolution: AARS/Quartz, then a de-scoping into Tier III, and finally Tier III- (Darkstar.)

Huh, I finaly read it all and found this: From the keyword "their" I come to the conclusion, that the two engined DarkStar proposal is actual Lockheed design. However from other parts of the report I came to another conclusion, that this DarkStar development was only a concept or at best...

fightingirish, please note that this is truly notional study having nothing with actual LMSW thoughts of DarkStar development. Anyway, thanks.

Thanks for that. But my question was aimed primarily to DarkStar. Does its shape come from another/earlier program or was it all-new development?

...compared to B-2, V tail extended backward....) but nothing more. Two years later I wrote articles about UAV planes from Amber to Tier 3- DarkStar and that helped me to realize connections between Tier III, DarkStar and W570. When I was doing some graphics job not connected to aviation, I...

Ah. I do not know for sure, but I think it came from a QUARTZ configuration study, at least initially. It is possible that it has more heritage in another program though, like some of the Navy HALE programs from the 70s or 80s. Lockheed's very large Navy RPV (ENCHANTMENT) from the 80s had a...

Hi folks, today I found a 12-year old USAF study of a larger version of the Darkstar, called the Strikestar. It remembered me of reading a few years ago of an article in AirInternational, where a USAF U-2 pilot reported seeing an flying higher as himhelf during his sorties over Iraq during...

Thank you!

Amazing Thesis! Another highlights:

...may have lead to the author's confusion in some areas. As far as I have been able to tell, Tier III was the "flying clam" configuration of DarkStar, but QUARTZ was not (at all). Tier III was scaled down to Tier III-, but was not much like QUARTZ at all. Reading the paper, I think that the...

...aircraft for Tier II+ competition. Skunk Works joined the competition as a subcontractor to Raytheon, because it was not permitted to compete as a prime contractor, because - along with team-mate Boeing - it had been selected as a sole-source supplier to produce the stealthy DarkStar UAV.

...resulted in the configuration that is more familiar - a B-2 like flying wing, similar to Polecat (but much larger). After AARS was cancelled the Tier III designs varied from a smaller AARS (i.e. Polecat-like) to a straight wing design. The straight wing design evolved into Tier III- (Darkstar).

...Tier II, competition resulted in Predator ACTD 3. Tier II+, competition resulted in Global Hawk ACTD 4. Tier III- , no competition, contract was given to Lockheed/Boeing (LoBo) as Darkstar ACTD I can neither confirm nor deny that statement, but at some point soon it can be discussed in the...

Post #2 of 2: The Tier III . Everything below is quoting from the Thesis as precisely as I can where it refers to Tier III:

In the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) doc 'Future Warfare 20XX Wargame Series: Lessons Learned Report' (http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/R.20011201.FutureWarXX/R.20011201.FutureWarXX.pdf) there is the following reference: Whilst I can find other...

...the Tier 2+ and Tier 3, while still allowing commanders to have eyes over heavily defended airspace. The delayed first flight of the Tier 3- DarkStar UAV was primarily caused by the reuse of Tier 3 flight control and guidance software for the DarkStar- more changes in the Tier 3 code were...

...to everyone on the forum. The closest it comes to describing the "final" vehicle configuration for QUARTZ is the "flying clam" scaled up DarkStar. He does mention, however, that Lockheed alone went through over 50 iterations (as mr_london_247 quotes in his post). Several of those you have...

From the Skunk-Works Digest mailing list: There were several articles in AW&ST concerning Quarz and AARS in the 1990s. Unfortunately I don't remember the specific issues (read them in a library). Andreas, can you tell me more about this picture (found once from your site)?