The Official F-19 Stealth Fighter Handbook

by Richard Sheffield

Other New Stealth Aircraft

Besides the highly publicized B-2 Stealth Bomber, there are currently several other ongoing stealth-related projects. There's one school of thought that insists the RF-19 still exists as something very different from the F-117A. It would closely resemble the F-19 design seen in this game and elsewhere.

Lockheed is also said to be working on another stealth aircraft, the Aurora, a hypersonic reconnaissance plane designed to replace the aging fleet of SR-71s. This aircraft, also built at the Lockheed Skunk Works facility in Burbank, would be capable of almost Mach 6, operate on liquid methane, and have an effective range of almost 6,000 miles. There are reports of sighting this aircraft at the Nellis-Groom Lake facility also. Reports of this aircraft's existence are aided by the fact that the Air Force has been reducing the number of SR-71s over the past several years. Surely they're being replaced with something. Chance are, it's already operational. With the old SR-71, the Soviets knew we were there; they just couldn't do much about it. With the new Aurora operating stealthily at 150,000 feet and Mach 6, they might never know we're there at all.

Other stealth programs about which little is known are the Northrop Tactical Stealth Aircraft project, and the General Dynamics Model 100.

Table of Contents
Previous Section: F-117A vs. F-19
Next Section: Chapter 3. Flying the F-19