NationStates Jolt Archive

The United States' new combat aircraft, the Grim Reaper, made its first combat flight today. The new supersonic attack jet attacked a pirate ship in the Atlantic Ocean suspected of hunting for civilian ships to hijack. The pirates were obliterated.
Exact specifications are not available at this time, but it is known that the Grim Reaper is an unmanned air combat/air to ground attack aircraft. Officials have disclosed that it is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, has active and inactive stealthing technology. A group of fishermen in the area, said they saw a shadow moving quickly and silent across the water as the aircraft flew over, causing them to get scared because it reminded them of the Grim Reaper, something that technicians who worked on the aircraft also report.
The aircraft is also equipped with electronic jamming and the technicians have made the claim, unverified by us, that the aircraft is able to knock out electronics before attacking.
Other aircraft in the area where the GR has been tested claimed their power went out when the Grim Reaper approached them, indicating that the electronics outage maybe a result of electromagnetic radiation being emitted by the aircraft.
The government reports that the Grim Reaper has never flown over other nation's airspace.
DOD has said they intend to replace their stealth bombers/fighters with Grim Reapers.

((OOC: Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a stealth plane if it knocks out electrical devices? People just follow the EMP trail and shoot the plane down. It gives the plane away.))

((OOC: Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a stealth plane if it knocks out electrical devices? People just follow the EMP trail and shoot the plane down. It gives the plane away.))

OOC: I believe so. They'll probably remove the stealth part because people would see the emitted radiation on their radars. But it should be fast enough that it doesn't need stealth. Because there are speeds beyond which, stealth becomes mute. There wouldn't be an emp trail but it would be like tracking a fast moving bird. The kinks are being worked out so I left it vague so there could be feedback that I could use to refine it.

OOC: I see. Still, overall, it looks pretty good.

A public test flight has clocked the Grim Reaper at over 6,000 mph and an altitude of 300,000 feet. But everytime the craft flew through the atmosphere, it suffered what techs are calling atmospheric burn. They are working to find ways to prevent atmospheric burn.
In atmospheric burn, the friction from flying through the atoms of the atmosphere heats up the leading portion of the aircraft and its wings causing some meltage and could lead to aircraft failure. A method was found to counter this but is being refined.

OOC: I see. Still, overall, it looks pretty good.

Yeah, I just need to figure out that friction thing.

Equipped with FEL (Free Electron Laser). The FEL uses electrons to create an extremely powerful beam of electromagnetic radiation.
The aircraft is equipped with 2 laser cannons used to shoot down air to air missiles in flight. The cannons are a modified version of the famed airborne laser, used to shoot down ICBM’s.
For dogfighting and air to ground attacks, the plane is equipped with tactical laser guns. These guns were originally meant to be equipped on C130 gunships. TLSG uses chemical lasers.
The use of lasers has an advantage over traditional bullets and missiles as lasers have a tendency to move at the speed of light. Hence the reason why the pirates had no idea they were being attacked until they saw the light from the lasers by which time it was too late.

is this FT or PMT

A public test flight has clocked the Grim Reaper at over 6,000 mph and an altitude of 300,000 feet. But everytime the craft flew through the atmosphere, it suffered what techs are calling atmospheric burn. They are working to find ways to prevent atmospheric burn.
In atmospheric burn, the friction from flying through the atoms of the atmosphere heats up the leading portion of the aircraft and its wings causing some meltage and could lead to aircraft failure. A method was found to counter this but is being refined.

[ You are not going to get a service ceiling of 57 miles out of this thing. That's just under the record limit of the X-15; a normal airframe will not be able to take the stress of flying that close the Kármán line.

As well, fitting two solid-state lasers on a single airframe as small as I think this is is a bad idea. You'll maybe be able to fit one spinal-mounted laser, and that's all—though I'm not sure what the use of it will be, since most threats will come from behind this aircraft (radar-guided vamps being barred, the only thing left is IR tracking, and you know where that heads).

You may wish to visit NSD (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?) for design help. ]

is this FT or PMT

OOC: PMT, but there are problems with it I'm trying to figure out.
Friction in the atmosphere being one. I think keeping some physical stealth features might help with that, but it won't make it invisible to radar.
The EMF thing is another issue that needs to be worked out. How would it not go down, from its own radiation?????????
How does the FEL work? I know its possible because Discover magazine has an online report saying the US DOD is building an FEL device and decided to put it on the plane.
Speaking of which, how do you prevent the laser firing systems from overheating???????

[ You are not going to get a service ceiling of 57 miles out of this thing. That's just under the record limit of the X-15; a normal airframe will not be able to take the stress of flying that close the Kármán line.

As well, fitting two solid-state lasers on a single airframe as small as I think this is is a bad idea. You'll maybe be able to fit one spinal-mounted laser, and that's all—though I'm not sure what the use of it will be, since most threats will come from behind this aircraft (radar-guided vamps being barred, the only thing left is IR tracking, and you know where that heads).

You may wish to visit NSD (http://z4.invisionfree.com/NSDraftroom/index.php?) for design help. ]

Where do you get 57 miles from??? What's the Karman line?????/

[OOC: Truly it is 56.8181... but whatever. 300,000 feet divided by 5,280 feet would be 56.8181... miles. The Kármán line is the boundary between the atmosphere and space.]

The Karman line is used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space

I need to fix that. If I wanted it to go into space, there would not be friction problems with it.
What's the max height for a terrestrial plane??????

[ About 20,000 km, tops. ]

"For two decades, unconfirmed press reports have speculated that the United States has been developing Aurora, a top secret hypersonic aircraft, sometimes dubbed the SR-72. Rumors of such “black,” or classified, research programs are hard to squelch: How do you prove something does not exist? As recently as June, an article in Defense News, a trade publication, reported that the Air Force was developing “a stealthy 4,000-mph plane capable of flying to altitudes of about 100,000 feet, with transcontinental range"

Discover Online News

If the max is 20,000 feet, how are they getting the SR-72 up to 100,000 feet????

Note that what he said was 20,000 KM, not 20,000 FT.

Note that what he said was 20,000 KM, not 20,000 FT.

OOPS. I thought he meant feet. lol

According to an online calculator, 100,000 feet equals 30 km.

I have no clue what any logic on this page is; I am thoroughly confused.