Читать онлайн "Dark Eagles: A History of the Top Secret U.S. Aircraft" - Peebles Curtis - RuLit

Such explicit denials did not stop believers from quickly trying to cast doubt on Rice's honesty. It was suggested that "We" meant the air force, while Aurora was operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which controlled spy satellites. "And maybe," one believer continued, "Mach 5 or Mach 8 is 'not anything up close to' Mach 6 by Secretary Rice's reck-oning." The believer concluded, "This particular exchange of question and answer typifies the Air Force's practice of avoiding any direct and unambiguous denial."[779]

The suggestion that the NRO operated Aurora was later denied by the NRO's director, Martin C. Faga:

If there ever was a follow-on to the SR-71, that aircraft could be assigned to the NRO… in the case of a hypersonic vehicle, as has been widely speculated — by which I mean a vehicle faster than an SR-71—Mach 3, 4, 5, 6, 8—we at NRO have no such vehicle [flying] or under development. I'm not aware of any such activity, and the Air Force has said the same. I don't know what the Navy, Army, NASA or anybody else is doing. I'm just saying that NRO doesn't have an "Aurora" or anything else like it. It's a fascinating mystery.[780]

The air force also examined the "skyquakes." Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory was hired to analyze a seismic recording from Catalina Island. Lincoln Lab concluded it was from an F-14 on a test flight off the California coast. The believers were quick to attack the F-14 explanation; one said, "This explanation doesn't hold water" and called it "an attempt to discredit the 'skyquake' evidence." They also quoted Edwards Air Force Base as saying a sonic boom from a jet at 50,000 feet only extended about twenty-five miles.[781]

Aurora also became a political issue during 1992. The October-November 1992 issue of Air and Space magazine published an essay on Black aircraft. Written by Steven Aftergood and John E. Pike of the Federation of American Scientists, it claimed: "In fact, it appears that Black aircraft programs are designed only to penetrate Congressional airspace. That is, wasteful, dangerous, or highly speculative programs will have a much better chance of being funded by Congress if they are highly classified."

The secrecy surrounding Black airplanes was described as exceeding all reasonable justification, not being effective, blocking technological development, and "promoting fraud and abuse."[782] Aftergood had earlier said, "It inhibits the oversight process and it puts these programs outside the sphere of democratic activity."[783]

The editor of a private newsletter echoed these remarks, saying,

[Missing part]

The real reasons behind the secrecy is becoming very clear to the American taxpayer. The cost of these programs must be enormous and the Pentagon is afraid that Congress might suffer an attack of sticker shock when they find out how much money the military is vacuuming out of the nation's treasury. It could also be that buried in the budgets of black programs could be evidence of monetary fraud, kickbacks and wasteful expenditures. It seems that many of these programs are designed not to evade radar but to evade accountability to Congress and the American taxpayer.[784]

Following Bill Clinton's election as president, some saw Aurora as a test of his "pledge for a more open government — and as a means of gauging his appetite for tackling the secretive, deep-rooted and conservative intelligence community."[785]

THE NORTH SEA SIGHTING

At the end of the year came word of the most important Aurora sighting yet. The December 12, 1992, issue of Jane's Defence Weekly carried an account of a sighting by a North Sea oil-drilling engineer. The witness said the sighting took place in August 1989 from the drilling rig Galveston Key.

The day was bright, with a hazy layer at high altitude. The sky above the rig was part of the Air-To-Air Refueling Area 6A. The witness reported seeing a KC-135 tanker, two F-llls, and a triangular aircraft a little larger than the F-llls flying north. The unknown aircraft appeared to be refueling from the KC-135. It was black and had a 75-degree sweep angle. The witness was also a twelve-year veteran of the Royal Observer Corps and had been a member of its international aircraft recognition team. The witness made a sketch but did not send it into Jane's until the fall of 1992, after the publicity following the "skyquakes." (In 1989, he was also still in the Royal Observer Corps and subject to the Official Secrets Act.)[786]

The sweep angle was nearly identical with that of McDonnell Douglas hypersonic designs studied between the late 1960s and the 1980s. The aircraft was estimated to be 90 feet long, with a 45- to 50-foot wingspan. As with most of the speculated Aurora designs, it was described as burning liquid methane.[787] The new Aurora shape was widely publicized, with a major feature story in Popular Science, and shorter articles in other magazines.[788]

In mid-1993, a short book on Aurora was also published.

Reports also claimed sightings had been made at Kwajalein Atoll and that a loud sonic boom, which had caused damage in Holland, was from Aurora. Other sonic booms were heard near the White Sands Missile Range.

It was said that they came from the Aurora. It was also said that Royal Australian Air Force aircraft had tracked and chased aircraft flying above Mach 6.[789]

As the reports continued, believers became more strident in their attacks on the air force's denials. The Aurora book's first chapter was titled,

"Would Your Government Lie to You?" One article began with the statement that "the Pentagon would like you to believe" Aurora does not exist, but people following the story "know differently." It went on to say that

"the Pentagon continues to deny the existence of the Aurora. In an attempt to protect its black projects the USAF has gone so far as to tell the world's leading aerospace experts that they are seeing things that aren't there, similar to the way they handled UFO sightings."[790]

THE TESTOR'S AURORA MODELS

As with the F-19, the Testor Corporation released two models of the Aurora in November 1993. The "SR-75 Penetrator" was their version of the XB-70-like Aurora. Launched from its back was the "XR-7 Thunderdart."

This Aurora was loosely based on the North Sea sighting.[791]

And as with the F-19 kit, the idea of a Black airplane at your local hobby store attracted press attention. The CBS Evening News carried a report on November 11, 1993. Dan Rather introduced the spot by saying, "Does the United States military have a new Top Secret — or at least used-to-be Top Secret — mystery plane… there have been several sightings, but not where you'd expect." The story began: "Presenting Aurora, the Pentagon's secret weapon… For years it was only whispered about. Now you can see it with your own eyes, right next to the '57 Chevy at this year's model and hobby show." After showing a copy of the Rice letter, the reporter asked, "So who are you going to believe: the Secretary of the Air Force or the toy maker?"[792]

When the air force was asked about the kits, they responded, "We're not saying no comment — we're saying such a plane does not exist."[793]

THE END OF AURORA

By late 1993 and early 1994, numerous articles about Aurora had been published. There was a qualitative difference with the stories about the stealth fighter published during the 1980s, however. The nightly flight activities at TTR clearly indicated the stealth fighter was operational years before the public announcement. These were rich in details, many of which, in retrospect, proved correct. The Aurora stories, in contrast, were fragmentary and stood in isolation. The Aurora had a distinctive sound and left a distinctive contrail, both of which could be heard and seen for many miles.