According to the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

Report fuels spy plane theories

The UK knows more than it is saying about top secret American aircraft projects, recently declassified documents reveal.

Deep inside a previously secret Ministry of Defence report are a few pages which will reignite one of the biggest internet conspiracy questions - Is the US Air Force building secret spy planes which can cross the sky at 3,000mph?

The plane, which is often referred to as Aurora, is supposed to be a follow on from the U2 spy plane and the 2,000mph SR71 Blackbird, both of which were first developed and flown in secrecy as ‘Black’ projects.

WATCH THE REPORT ON NEWSNIGHT 14 JUNE AT 2230BST/2130GMT ON BBC TWO IN THE UK AND LIVE ON THE NEWSNIGHT WEBSITE.

It is entirely possible that the UK knows things that the US has tried to keep secret.  The two countries do actually spy on each other often enough.

As for whether the aircraft really exists, I haven’t a clue.

Sometimes they even share information with one another:

The US gives us details of their 3000mph superplane, we give them our dossier on Saddam’s secret development of WMDs.

Fair’s fair.

David B. - 14 June 2006 12:36 PM

Sometimes they even share information with one another:

The US gives us details of their 3000mph superplane, we give them our dossier on Saddam’s secret development of WMDs.

Fair’s fair.

I’ll share the brooklyn bridge with you for the paltry sum of 1MM dollars

mmarvi - 14 June 2006 02:56 PM

I’ll share the brooklyn bridge with you for the paltry sum of 1MM dollars

Deal, I think I’ve got a million dollar bill around her somewhere. But I want Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, okay?

Worst is if they don’t give information, then it just fuels the conspiracies.
I remember in the 90’s there were several sightings above Belgium of an unidentified craft(s). It had a traingular shape and interfered with military radar.
It was deemed to be an f117 nighthawke, but considering the data, was probably a type of recon-plane that was/is classified.

(here’s some information if you like:
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/1997/nov/m06-006.shtml
and this one
http://www.temporaldoorway.com/ufo/analysis/belgianradar/index.htm

Lots of people surmise that UFO ‘sightings’ are actually of planes or aircraft of this nature, and that the UFO crowd actually makes the Department of Defense’s job of keeping these things secret a lot easier.

Or, that in itself is the cover story.  Who knows?

But gee, international espionage being a given, I really doubt that anything we are developing in the way of break-through aircraft is really a secret to any party that really wants to know.  (Even the Atomic Bomb project in WWII was infiltrated.)

The projects are just too big, and too many people and subcontractors are involved to possibly truly contain the information.

Dan, who, by virtue of his secret life as an undercover roofing contractor, knows a lot about spies and espionage and top-secret projects and stuff

Oh, often enough other governments know that something is going on, and may even have a fairly good idea of what it is.  But if you can keep a few of the specifics secret, it can still give you an edge.

Accipiter - 15 June 2006 07:31 AM

Oh, often enough other governments know that something is going on, and may even have a fairly good idea of what it is.  But if you can keep a few of the specifics secret, it can still give you an edge.

You (as usual) are absolutely right.

Yep, we need them 3,000 mph bombers to help keep them barefoot terrorists in their place!

(I still remember laying in a rice-paddy in VietNam a million years ago, watching F-4 Phantom jets bomb and strafe a bunch of NVA regulars (this was during Tet 1968), then we captured a few of their wounded, they were wearing those kind of sandals that have used truck-tire rubber for soles, and gym shorts (typical Vietnamese wear).  And I told myself, gee, a 40 M $ jet to beat this?)

By the way, on another note from that day, there is nothing quite so impressive as watching a warplane zoom overhead at 700 mph, 40 feet off the ground, dropping bombs.  Quite spectacular.  Better than a Stones Concert!  At least for those of us who weren’t getting bombed!

Dan the Air-Show lover

Dan Jr. - 15 June 2006 02:04 PM

I still remember laying in a rice-paddy in VietNam a million years ago, watching F-4 Phantom jets bomb and strafe a bunch of NVA regulars (this was during Tet 1968), then we captured a few of their wounded, they were wearing those kind of sandals that have used truck-tire rubber for soles, and gym shorts (typical Vietnamese wear).  And I told myself, gee, a 40 M $ jet to beat this?

What’s worse is, it didn’t!

Yep, you are right, they won!

(I sometimes reflect, ‘How come the war that I helped fight is the only one we lost?’)

Don’t worry Dan, i’m sure it wasn’t ENTIRELY your fault!