US Military Thread

Kajiimagi said:

That red thing in front the air data cone? I'm guessing that is temporary.

Click to expand...

Yeah, there were some photos posted of it angled down when it was taxi testing a while back. People think because it was angled down, that for it to be level during flight, the nose must have to pitch up pretty good. Probably to allow the sensors underneath to get a good look at the battlefield.

Someone on another forum was pointing out it has an "active wing" where streams of jet exhaust are pushed through ducts in the wings, and out to the outer control services (you can see them as dark shapes on the edges of each surface). Supposedly to give it more control in flight and being less reliant on extreme movement of the control surfaces to help keep a low profile.

Rumor has it that with the SecDef signing off on the retirement of the U-2, there may be a SR-71 successor coming into the public eye soon (dubbed "The Tooth").