Black Files Declassified (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 2 - American UFOs - full transcript
Baker:
A top-secret aviation program...
They will neither confirm nor
deny the existence of records.
...Funded by
a mysterious money trail...
There was a lot of thought
into how we're going to hide
The various pots of money.
...Could revolutionize flight...
Do you think that you'll see
manned hypersonic flight
In your lifetime?
Oh, yeah.
...And unleash a new
lethal technology.
Nacouzi: Extremely high speeds,
mach 5, 6.
That would make
these cruise missiles
Almost impossible
to defend against.
[ radio chatter ]
[ beeping ]
Every year, more than
$90 billion is allocated
To clandestine
government programs
Collectively called
the black budget.
Each individual operation
is a black file.
I'm mike baker.
As a covert cia
operations officer
For over a decade and a half,
I supervised missions
around the globe.
My security clearances
gave me access
To many classified projects.
Now I'm following
the money trail to the secrets
Hidden inside the black files.
Captions paid for by
discovery communications
Los angeles, 1991.
The skies over
southern california
Are rattled by a series
of sonic booms
So strong they trip sensors
at the u.S. Geological survey.
The booms are followed
by multiple reports
Of unusual contrails,
bizarre radio transmissions,
And an incredible sighting
of a mysterious craft.
In 1990,
a year before the sonic booms,
An aviation journalist
Studying a 1985
department of defense budget
Comes across
an unusual line item.
$455 million earmarked
For a black aircraft production
called project aurora.
Rumors and speculation
are rampant.
Is aurora connected to whatever
caused the sonic booms...
A classified aviation project,
A top-secret weapons system,
or something else?
♪
I'm headed to palmdale,
california,
Outside of los angeles.
There, sightings, sonic booms,
and mysterious craft
Are part of the culture,
in no small part
Because it's home
to lockheed martin's
Top-secret aircraft facility
known as the skunk works.
I'm meeting with guy norris,
the multi-award-winning
Senior editor for aviation week.
Known for having sources
deep within the u.S. Military,
Guy has firsthand experience
with the sonic booms
And project aurora.
- Guy.
- Mike.
Hey, listen, thank you very much
for coming out here to meet.
Yeah.
Baker: I understand
that there's a...
There's a personal experience
that happened
That furthered
the investigative effort.
Yes, absolutely.
In October of '91, this almighty
boom shook me out of bed
At just after 6:00
in the morning.
I run to the window
expecting to see a car crash
Or something on the street
right outside,
And there was nothing, and
it was literally a sky quake.
That's how it was described.
That sky quake was the first
of a series of sonic booms
To strike southern california.
Over the next 16 months,
there were six more.
They were the subject
of scientific study,
Media coverage, and speculation
linking them to aurora.
Then came an incredible
and credible eyewitness account.
There was an important sighting
That was made by a scottish
engineer, chris gibson.
He was a member
of the royal observer corps,
Which is specifically trained to
to help sort of defend the skies
And to spot aircraft.
So what he saw
was quite remarkable.
I mean, given this, he was
a trained observer,
I'll show you here.
He indicates that
we're looking at
Two f-111s,
A kc-135 tanker,
which, of course...
Refueling.
For refueling.
Irregular sight.
But mysteriously, right in line
astern behind this tanker
Was this strange, sharply
delta'd sort of
Isosceles triangle-shaped
vehicle.
Following the sighting came
a revealing scientific study.
Further analysis
by a nasa specialist in this,
Dom maglieri, really indicated
That we were looking
at something
That was passing through
the skies of southern california
Between speeds of mach 4
and 5.2
At over 90,000 feet.
My understanding is,
at that point,
You start going
into hypersonic range.
That's right. The generally
agreed definition of hypersonic
Is anything at above mach 5.
So pretty incredible speed,
particularly for that time.
Hypersonics is the new
frontier of speed...
Anything exceeding
3,836 miles per hour.
Still in its infancy,
The engineering, technology,
and challenges are complex,
But the potential to travel
tremendous distances
Significantly faster
would be life altering.
What do you think of the idea
That perhaps it is a hypersonic
aircraft that's been developed
Or was in the process
of being developed?
The problem with that is that
the technology
For such a platform,
As far as we know,
is even now not mature.
That presents quite a mystery.
We have proof that something
was flying at hypersonic speed,
But the technology, at least as
far as we know, did not exist.
Gibson and maglieri offer hard
And unchallenged data
from reliable sources.
Are they enough to conclude
that aurora
Is top-secret advanced
aviation platform?
That's one of the questions
I'm going to ask an investigator
Who spent his career
digging into black files,
Including aurora.
♪
John.
Hey, mike.
It's good to see you.
Good to see you, too.
This is very perplexing.
Yes.
I asked the air force
for everything
And they gave me
what's called a glomar response,
Which means they will neither
confirm nor deny the existence
Of records
pertaining to the aurora.
This program element I.D. Number
allows me as an investigator
To go after it under
the f.O.I.A.
And say,
"I know the program exists.
Here's the program
element I.D. Number
And here's black-and-white proof
it exists."
So what did you find out?
One particular memorandum
That was sent
through the pentagon,
In the first paragraph,
they said
That they didn't find
any records.
Number two says, "this is
a special-access program.
Access will be granted on a
strict need-to-know basis only."
What does that tell you?
The program exists
and it's highly classified.
That means item number one
can't be true.
No, they've contradicted
themselves.
That's right,
all in the same document.
In my opinion,
aurora or an aurora-like project
Absolutely was implemented,
built,
And is probably flying today.
If john is correct,
what kind of craft has emerged
From the one first associated
with aurora some 30 years ago?
We know it was capable of
speeds unheard of at the time.
What could a craft capable
of such speeds be used for?
To get some answers,
I'm meeting with an expert
on classified aircraft.
I'm hoping he'll help me
uncover clues
From prior black file
aviation projects...
How are you?
...That will help me
understand the current one.
I'm investigating
project aurora.
Well, it falls under
the black budget.
Back in 1986, portions of that
With the name aurora,
for example,
Had dollar amounts.
Because aurora, the name,
Was next to other
strategic programs,
Like strategic reconnaissance,
They assumed that this was
another strategic
Reconnaissance aircraft.
Recon, or reconnaissance craft,
Are military spy planes
whose purpose is
To gather intelligence
from the air.
Speed is key.
Is aurora a modern-day spycraft?
How does it fit in
when we talk about
Some of these
other reconnaissance aircraft?
You talk about some of the early
black projects like the u-2,
The cia created a funding
channel called project shoehorn,
And that was used to procure
goods and services
From unwitting vendors
Who weren't cleared
for the program.
So there was a lot of thought
into how we're going to hide
The various pots of money.
My old outfit was big
into spy planes
Funded through the black budget.
Their crown jewel was the a-12,
Another skunk works design.
Code named oxcart,
it topped out at mach 3,
Or 2,300 miles per hour.
I mean, is manned
reconnaissance flights...
I mean, is that sort of a
thing of the past at this point
With what we've got
from satellite technology?
The only problem
with a satellite
Is the enemy knows where it is.
It's bound by the laws
of orbital mechanics.
An aircraft, you can fly in
from any direction
At any time
and make a surprise run.
What about hypersonic aircraft?
What about the capabilities
of that
And what that may mean
to future developments?
Hypersonics would be a great way
To go for airborne
reconnaissance.
All these spy planes
we've talked about
Were developed at skunk works,
all with black budget funds.
Each appears to be another
step towards attaining
Hypersonic speed... mach 5,
five times the speed of sound.
Maybe aurora is a code name
not for just one craft,
But for funding increasingly
advanced aviation.
One person who should know
Is a former head
of aviation black budgets,
And one of the few men
who knows what it's like to fly
The most advanced reconnaissance
aircraft ever developed.
I'm on my way to see him now.
Baker: I'm pursuing a theory
Supported by several sources
That the aurora black file
Didn't encompass
a single project,
But instead several top-secret
reconnaissance craft,
All working towards breaking
the manned hypersonic barrier.
Inside
the March field air museum
In riverside, california,
are some of the most top-secret,
Record-breaking aircraft
in american history.
This is where I get
to talk spy to spy
With elite u.S. Air force
pilot colonel buz carpenter.
Now, buzz has over
60 operational missions
Flown in the legendary
sr-71 blackbird.
The blackbird is a black project
Spycraft that holds
the world record
For an air-breathing
manned plane... mach 3.3,
Or 2,200 miles per hour.
Colonel. We are welcome
to have you here.
Pleasure to meet you, sir.
Over 60 missions
in the blackbird.
That's correct.
I accrued about 777 hours
And got the privilege to fly
this airplane over 200 times.
I know something about spying,
And I know you can't talk
about a lot here,
But how important
was the blackbird
In terms of the collection
of intelligence?
Six presidents used this
during crisis situations
Because they knew
when they sent us out
We could keep our track
Within about 300 feet
of what they had designated.
We could collect multiple
forms of intelligence,
And we always came back.
Made of a lightweight
titanium alloy,
The blackbird features
specially designed surfaces
And a radar-absorbing paint
to create a minimal signature.
♪
You see here how small
the cockpit is.
The faster you went
in the airplane,
The more sensitive
the airplane became.
3.2 was
our normal top speed.
But if you felt threatened,
you were fully authorized
To accelerate to 3.3.
That's 2,500 miles per hour.
Fast, but shy of the hypersonic
threshold
Of 3,800 miles per hour.
As a black budget manager,
was buz aware of project aurora
And the push
for hypersonic flight?
Colonel,
you ran the black budget
For blackbird 117 v2.
Project aurora...
What can you tell me about that?
Project aurora
is very interesting.
We were developing the b-2,
and the b-2
Was going to be $32 billion
in investment
And another $32 billion
To build one 132 bombers.
When you have numbers that big,
to try to hide them
In the air force budget
became increasingly difficult.
So I created and was approved
By the chief of staff
of the air force, aurora.
Aurora looked like
a reconnaissance program.
But in fact, it was a lot
of the production money
That was to be used for the b-2.
And to put it in a line
and very shortly,
Aviation week
and all these others said,
"oh, look, there's a new
reconnaissance program, aurora.
It must be the replacement
to the sr-71."
Worked perfectly.
They weren't looking
at the bomber.
Do you think that there's
a black budget
Currently that oversees
the development of hypersonics?
I most certainly do,
Because I think you're starting
to see things emerge,
Which is very common
with black budgets.
They get to a point where
they get to a size and they say,
"well, we kind of got to
tell them we're working on it."
So sometimes you you take it
from being black
To what we call gray.
You protect the most secret
part that you want to protect,
But you acknowledge
its existence.
So buz created aurora
as a diversion
And believes there is a current
hypersonics black file.
What projects are being funded
by that black file,
And how close are we
to attaining
A functioning platform?
Now, I'm no rocket scientist,
So to learn more about this
black budget-funded technology,
I'm going to turn to one
of the smartest people I know,
Ben mcgee.
Ben, you know, I've been
digging into project aurora...
Yes.
...Which seems to be
The u.S. Government's
efforts
Related to manned
hypersonic aircraft.
Gotcha.
Which seems to be
Incredibly difficult to do.
Well, yeah.
And I'm wondering why.
There's a real difference
between...
It's not semantic to say
supersonic and then hypersonic.
Hypersonic is many,
many times the speed of sound.
Now, the only things
that we have to do that,
We're talking rockets.
One research aircraft that's
gotten that far that fast.
And spacecraft reach that
When you're leaving
the atmosphere
And then when you come back.
But flying through
the atmosphere
That fast is difficult
because of the physics.
So what happens when you travel
Many, many times
the speed of sound
Is you've got shock waves
interacting with the atmosphere
That are compromising
not only your ability
To keep generating lift,
But they're also compromising
the integrity of the aircraft,
And then you're hitting
the atmosphere
So hard
that it super-heats the air
Around the aircraft itself,
just the act of striking it.
We're not talking
friction anymore.
We're talking compression.
So it super heats.
It would melt most aircraft
That we actually, you know,
out of normal materials
We'd make an aircraft out of.
So you're talking materials,
you're talking heat,
You're talking stability issues.
Everything. I mean,
you've just described flight.
So, yes, everything about
getting something to fly
That fast through the air
is different and difficult.
All right, this is a very
abstract way to describe it,
So let me...
You probably judged that
From the glassy look in my eye.
Yes, I've noticed.
Yeah, you always have a way
to explain things.
Well, I've got an idea
that I can instead
Of just telling you what I mean,
I could show you.
So why don't you meet me here
and I'll show you what I mean?
Okay?
Okay.
♪
You realize that
I wanted to talk to you
about hypersonics, not trucks?
I tried to get you into nasa's
hypersonic tunnel facility
At plum brook research station,
and I couldn't.
So I brought you
to the next best thing.
A truck.
Not just any truck.
A diesel truck.
[ engine starts ]
Huh?
Eh?
Okay, just to remind you, we're
talking hypersonic aircraft.
Yes.
This is a diesel truck.
Yes.
Okay. Marry the two.
All right. Well, all right.
Let me turn this thing off.
[ engine shuts off ]
All right.
So I haven't lost my mind.
There's a specific reason I
brought you to a diesel truck.
And the reason is how fuel
Is lit inside
the combustion chamber.
Did you know that diesel engines
don't use spark plugs
To light the fuel?
No, actually, I'm embarrassed
to admit I'm of a certain age
And I did not know that.
Okay, well, I didn't either.
I did a little research.
You know what they use instead?
Don't tell me right away.
Rocket fuel?
[ laughs ]
All right, no, that's not bad.
Not they use
compression heating.
It's the very same physical
process that hypersonic aircraft
Have to face
when they're flying in the air.
So what happens
in a diesel engine is the piston
In that cylinder
crushes the air itself so hard
That the air heats up to
the ignition point of the fuel.
So it uses the physics
of squeezing the air
And it gets hot in response...
So hot that it literally
fires this engine.
Really?
Yeah.
Diesel motors.
That's how they operate?
Yeah, it's cool.
They burn at
a much higher temperature.
That's why the engines
are made of ceramic.
It's able to withstand
a much higher temperature.
And how does that connect
to hypersonics?
How does that connect
to hypersonics?
Imagine the piston
is the aircraft and the air
Is what the aircraft,
The hypersonic
aircraft is smashing into.
And it hits the air so hard,
the air heats up
In exactly the same way,
but the hypersonic problem
Is the same problem faced
by the old space shuttle.
It's not friction.
It's smashing.
It's compressing
the air so hard,
And that's why
the shuttle's heat tiles
Were also made of ceramic,
Just like a diesel engine,
because it's the same problem.
Baker: A hypersonic engine
is much more complicated.
It's called a scramjet
and has no moving parts,
Meaning no turbine
and no compressor.
Supersonic oxygen is compressed,
Mixed with hydrogen fuel,
Injected into
a combustion chamber,
And then exhausted through
a nozzle, producing thrust.
Here you are, you're talking
about old technology, right,
For a diesel engine.
Now you're talking about
How that relates
to hypersonic aircraft.
How far away are we from this?
I'd say we're about at
wright brothers level.
So we've tested devices
that are tickling the territory.
And I think, you know,
if we just keep pushing the bar
Much in the same way
That we've refined
the old diesel engine,
We can end up refining
hypersonic design and get there.
That's outstanding.
The aurora black file
funded premiere
Aviation platforms,
leading to hypersonic flight,
But the challenge
has been raised.
I wonder if manned
hypersonic flight is possible,
And if so, what are the risks?
I'm going to put those questions
to a record-breaking pilot
Who flew an experimental
spacecraft into outer space.
The aurora black file
Is connected to sophisticated
spy planes
That altered history.
Now, according to sources
like buz carpenter,
The black budget is funding
hypersonics,
Craft that can reach nearly
4,000 miles per hour.
But what are the risks
to a pilot in such a craft?
I'm going to find out
by speaking to
A record-breaking pilot who
definitely has the right stuff.
Mike melvill is
A multi-world-record-breaking
pilot.
In June 2004,
he flew burt rutan's
Experimental spaceshipone
past the edge of space,
Becoming the first
commercial astronaut.
Mike, thank you,
first of all, for the time.
It makes sense that a space
legend has his own museum.
This is a fantastic place.
Now, you ran a lot of tests,
But the first official flight
that you did was spaceshipone.
What was that like as you
were getting ready to take off?
What about the unknowns?
It was pretty scary,
frankly, you know?
I mean, I really didn't know
If I would fly the way
burt said it would, but it did.
And, you know, my first words
out of my mouth
After I dropped off and pushed
the controls and wiggled them,
I said, "flies great.
We're in good shape."
And from there on, I went
into a straight down dive,
Went to as fast
as I could go straight down.
And then I put six g's
on the airplane
To make sure the wing
would hold together.
Okay, now I know
that's what a test pilot does,
But talk to me about
the mentality of saying,
"now I'm going to put it
in this steep a dive as I can
And then come back to see
if the wings hold together."
Well, that was on the cards.
You know?
We discussed what
we're going to do in flight.
It's all typed up.
And I do each step of it,
regardless of what happens.
You know, a test pilot
sometimes doesn't make it.
Fortunately for me,
I made it every single time.
Powered by hybrid rocket motors,
Spaceshipone reached mach 3.4
Or 2,600 miles per hour...
Faster than the
Sr-71 blackbird and edging
closer to hypersonic speed.
It was mike's first time
flying that fast
And his first time
experiencing the effects
Of high-speed flight.
What your body's doing,
what it feels like.
Well, first of all, there's
a lot of thrust on your body.
You know, you're looking
at three or four g's,
Which is four times my weight.
So I weighed over 1,000 pounds.
That was a horrible
feeling for me.
You get a little tunnel vision
Because of the g-forces pulling
the blood away from your eyes.
And you can't talk.
You can't breathe.
You're really
struggling with it.
And also, you're trying
to maintain control.
And you're trying to
fly the airplane, as well.
Flying near hypersonic speed
Also places extreme stress
on the craft.
Any unexpected
or sudden movement
Can threaten both the vehicle
and the pilot.
Yeah, on the second flight
to space at very high speed,
2.65 or 2.7 mach, the airplane
suddenly did a snap roll,
Which is a very fast,
very ugly maneuver
That really shakes up your body.
But it continued to do that
for 29 rolls
Until I got
outside the atmosphere.
When I got outside
the atmosphere,
I could fix it
with the reaction control system
That's built into the plane.
What was that doing to
your body?
What was that doing
in terms of your control,
Your ability to stay conscious?
All I could do was just
Stare at the airspeed indicator
And hope that I just
didn't get seasick or something.
But I don't know.
I lucked out.
You've got to be
doing things quickly.
No, you know, back then
I was a lot younger.
[ chuckles ]
I was only 63, I think, or 64.
Oh, only 63?
Yeah.
Okay. With the technologies
that are developing now,
And based on all of
your experience,
Do you think that you'll see
Manned hypersonic flight
in your lifetime?
Oh, yeah.
No question about that.
You do?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
There's no doubt about that.
I mean...
Would you like to be
behind the stick on those?
I really would.
But at 78, 79 years old,
that's a bit too late.
[ chuckles ]
Mike's experiences are both
a profile in courage
And a cautionary tale.
Having black budget funds
to push us to
Or beyond our limits
of technology
Is a dangerous pursuit.
I'm curious to get even
a small taste
Of what those limits are.
I've reached out
to a military pilot
Who's agreed to take me beyond
the normal parameters of flight.
Earl.
Mike, how you doing?
I'm doing good.
Thanks, man.
I'm doing very well.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming out
to fly with me.
Well, you know, we had
that chance talk on the phone,
And so you know I've been
digging into black files
Related to hypersonic flight.
And right now, I've been
trying to understand the impact
On the human body
from high-speed flying.
What does that mean,
And what does it mean
for the aircraft, as well?
The real challenges with
manned hypersonic flight
Is if you introduce
any kind of maneuvering.
And today what we're gonna do
Is we'll use
this old technology of biplane.
We're at the low end
of the spectrum.
We're not very fast,
but we're very maneuverable.
That'll give us a taste
of some of the challenges,
If you talk about
maneuvering manned
Hypersonic flight.
Okay, before I climb
into this puppy,
What should I know about
that, hitting five or six g's
In terms of the impact
on the body?
Well, if I pass out,
you can fly us back.
Oh, good, sure.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
What you might feel
is a little bit of dizziness
As the blood drains
out of your head.
And worst case, maybe just
a little bit of loss of vision
As you lose
your peripheral vision,
Because that part of your eye is
very susceptible to blood loss.
Okay.
One g is the force
of earth's gravity,
Your normal weight.
Hypersonic flight imposes more
than 10 g's on the human body,
10 times your weight, forcing
blood away from the brain,
Which can be fatal.
Earl spent nearly 30 years
in the marine corps
Flying f-4s, f-5s, and f-18s.
He retired as a colonel
And has logged
thousands of flight hours.
I'm in good hands
with him at the stick.
So we're good to go.
Good to go.
All right.
[ grunts ]
All right.
Earl's promised not to take me
beyond five or six g's,
A fraction of the forces
That would be felt
in a hypersonic craft,
But a lot more than
I've ever experienced.
Well, here goes nothing.
[ laughing ] yeah!
♪
Baker:
Every one of the journalists,
Military pilots,
and other experts
I've spoken with agree
that the black file project
Aurora has evolved into a quest
for a hypersonic craft.
Now I'm taking a flight
of my own
To better understand the dangers
of high-speed flight.
Wederbrook: Okay, I think
everything's connected.
You ready to go?
Good to go.
[ radio chatter ]
Hold on.
All right, here we go.
♪
Digging into the black file
on hypersonic flight,
It seems pretty clear
that the holy grail
Is really manned
hypersonic flight.
Talk to me about why
that's so difficult to achieve.
Well, as you can see here,
we're flying along at about
110 an hour at about 1,500 feet.
You can feel the forces,
The aerodynamic forces from this
open cockpit biplane.
Now if you imagine if we were
going 4,000 miles an hour,
The aerodynamic forces
that are on the airplane,
And that translates into
the challenges for maneuvering
Manned hypersonic flight.
It's okay if you're just
going to do a straight line,
But if you want to do
any turning at all,
The amount of g's required
is pretty significant.
At that airspeed, actually,
you go so fast
That you get to the point
where the molecules
Begin to disassociate.
At hypersonic speed,
The air molecules
around the craft break apart
Or dissociated and/or pick up
an electrical charge or ionize,
Creating a barrier between
the airplane and the atmosphere.
This produces enormous stress
and friction
Requiring complex engineering
and design.
What does it mean for
the impact on the human body,
On the pilot?
As you increase the g,
Obviously you can increase
that maneuvering performance,
But after about eight g's,
You start to approach
the tolerances of human beings.
So we're just gonna do
some mild maneuvering here
Just to kind of
give you an idea.
I'm going to do a level turn.
We'll probably hit about two
and a half to three g's,
So here's a little bit
of a taste
Of what the g requirements
would be.
So here goes a hard turn left.
♪
That was about
two and a half to three.
All right, we'll do one roll
Just so you can say you did it.
Let's climb on up.
Here we go. Ready?
One, two, three.
♪
[ laughing ] yeah! Yeah!
How are you feeling up front?
Yeah, really good.
This is fantastic.
The feasibility
of manned hypersonic aircraft
Is some point in our future.
What do you think?
I think that there's a great
chance that both of us
Will be... we'll see
some sort of application
Of manned hypersonic flight
in our lifetime.
♪
♪
If earl and my other sources
are right
That a manned hypersonic craft
is in our future,
What platforms are currently
in development?
Well, there's one place
that should know...
The same place where the u-2,
a-12, and sr-71 blackbird
Were all conceived,
designed, and engineered.
I'm on my way to skunk works,
The super-secretive facility
of lockheed martin.
Within that compound,
a generation of black file
Aviation projects took wing.
They're widely believed
to be working
On the next-generation
blackbird, the sr-72.
It's reportedly able
to fly at six times
The speed of sound
or 4,000 miles an hour.
Now, I did my best to get access
to the facility, but no luck.
Fortunately, I've managed
the next best thing.
I've secured a meeting
with the skunk works
Former director
of advanced systems development.
Any chance he'll reveal
information about the black file
Dedicated to hypersonics?
I'm about to find out.
♪
The hunt for project aurora
Has led me to conclude that
while the sr-71
Is the last supersonic
manned plane
Known to have flown safely,
it's not going to be the last.
There are black budget projects
Currently working
on hypersonic craft,
And possibly other applications
of this incredible technology.
Recently, lockheed martin
announced its plan
To develop a successor
to the sr-71 blackbird,
The sr-72, Purported
to reach mach 6.
♪
I'm about to meet with
the former aerospace
Division director
of the super-secret company
Behind the sr-72,
lockheed skunk works.
I'm going to ask him about
what I and others believe
Project aurora has morphed
into... a hypersonic aircraft.
♪
Steve, you were a director
at the secretive skunk works.
Right.
What is the skunk works?
The skunk works is a division of
the lockheed martin corporation
That is tasked with,
Quite honestly,
creating breakthroughs.
What's it like to be inside
there working with those folks?
I couldn't tell my wife
what I did.
I couldn't tell anybody
what I did
Unless they were briefed
on the program.
The follow on from the sr-71...
You know, there's been
talk of the sr-72.
To what degree
has that been developed?
Is it already operational?
I mean, where are we with that?
Skunk works doesn't talk
very much about the sr-72.
Is there a black budget
That exists to help fund
that process?
I'm not gonna discuss
black budgets
Or any of
the unacknowledged stuff
That goes on
in the classified world.
Even so, given steve's
insights into aviation
And the skunk works,
I wonder if he believes a
hypersonic platform is possible.
It's a lot to ask
from an airplane.
Going hypersonic,
six times the speed of sound
Is a very,
very difficult thing to do.
I mean, the blackbird
going mach 3
Was a very tough thing to do,
and going twice that speed
Squares the challenges
that you have.
It's not double the challenges.
I never say
something's impossible,
And one of the things
that I treasured
About working at the skunk works
was that we just assumed
Something could be done.
If they were given a challenge,
You assumed it could be done and
you figured out how to go do it.
Do you think that the us
is currently leading the way
In terms of research
for hypersonic craft?
The u.S. Certainly is
starting to invest very heavy
In hypersonic.
I mean, you see russia and china
Investing very heavily
in hypersonics, as well.
So right now, it's a race.
Would skunk works be heavily
involved in that race?
Skunk works is heavily
involved in that race right now.
They are working on
a couple of the programs.
Just between you and me,
We're not going to show
this to anybody,
But can you tell me
about those programs?
No.
[ sighs ]
[ chuckles ]
Speaking with contacts
at the department of defense,
I've determined
that the race steve referenced
Is not for manned
hypersonic craft,
But for unmanned
hypersonic missiles.
The hypersonic black file
is a modern-day arms race.
I'm at the headquarters
of one of the most respected
Global think tanks in the world,
Rand corporation
in santa monica, california.
Rand was created
just after world war ii
By the douglas aircraft company
With the goal of providing
nonpartisan research
And analysis to the military.
These folks,
they possess decades
Of institutional knowledge,
Declassified information,
and cutting-edge technology,
And they're keenly following
the developments
Of hypersonic craft.
George, thank you very much,
First of all,
for taking the time.
Oh, thank you for taking time
to talk to me.
Hypersonic capability...
What are we talking about?
We're talking about two
types of missiles.
We're talking about
what's called
A hypersonic glide vehicle,
which is unpowered,
It's a gliding vehicle, and also
hypersonic cruise missiles,
Which are cruise missiles
as we know them,
But they go much, much faster.
They go what's called hypersonic
A top-secret aviation program...
They will neither confirm nor
deny the existence of records.
...Funded by
a mysterious money trail...
There was a lot of thought
into how we're going to hide
The various pots of money.
...Could revolutionize flight...
Do you think that you'll see
manned hypersonic flight
In your lifetime?
Oh, yeah.
...And unleash a new
lethal technology.
Nacouzi: Extremely high speeds,
mach 5, 6.
That would make
these cruise missiles
Almost impossible
to defend against.
[ radio chatter ]
[ beeping ]
Every year, more than
$90 billion is allocated
To clandestine
government programs
Collectively called
the black budget.
Each individual operation
is a black file.
I'm mike baker.
As a covert cia
operations officer
For over a decade and a half,
I supervised missions
around the globe.
My security clearances
gave me access
To many classified projects.
Now I'm following
the money trail to the secrets
Hidden inside the black files.
Captions paid for by
discovery communications
Los angeles, 1991.
The skies over
southern california
Are rattled by a series
of sonic booms
So strong they trip sensors
at the u.S. Geological survey.
The booms are followed
by multiple reports
Of unusual contrails,
bizarre radio transmissions,
And an incredible sighting
of a mysterious craft.
In 1990,
a year before the sonic booms,
An aviation journalist
Studying a 1985
department of defense budget
Comes across
an unusual line item.
$455 million earmarked
For a black aircraft production
called project aurora.
Rumors and speculation
are rampant.
Is aurora connected to whatever
caused the sonic booms...
A classified aviation project,
A top-secret weapons system,
or something else?
♪
I'm headed to palmdale,
california,
Outside of los angeles.
There, sightings, sonic booms,
and mysterious craft
Are part of the culture,
in no small part
Because it's home
to lockheed martin's
Top-secret aircraft facility
known as the skunk works.
I'm meeting with guy norris,
the multi-award-winning
Senior editor for aviation week.
Known for having sources
deep within the u.S. Military,
Guy has firsthand experience
with the sonic booms
And project aurora.
- Guy.
- Mike.
Hey, listen, thank you very much
for coming out here to meet.
Yeah.
Baker: I understand
that there's a...
There's a personal experience
that happened
That furthered
the investigative effort.
Yes, absolutely.
In October of '91, this almighty
boom shook me out of bed
At just after 6:00
in the morning.
I run to the window
expecting to see a car crash
Or something on the street
right outside,
And there was nothing, and
it was literally a sky quake.
That's how it was described.
That sky quake was the first
of a series of sonic booms
To strike southern california.
Over the next 16 months,
there were six more.
They were the subject
of scientific study,
Media coverage, and speculation
linking them to aurora.
Then came an incredible
and credible eyewitness account.
There was an important sighting
That was made by a scottish
engineer, chris gibson.
He was a member
of the royal observer corps,
Which is specifically trained to
to help sort of defend the skies
And to spot aircraft.
So what he saw
was quite remarkable.
I mean, given this, he was
a trained observer,
I'll show you here.
He indicates that
we're looking at
Two f-111s,
A kc-135 tanker,
which, of course...
Refueling.
For refueling.
Irregular sight.
But mysteriously, right in line
astern behind this tanker
Was this strange, sharply
delta'd sort of
Isosceles triangle-shaped
vehicle.
Following the sighting came
a revealing scientific study.
Further analysis
by a nasa specialist in this,
Dom maglieri, really indicated
That we were looking
at something
That was passing through
the skies of southern california
Between speeds of mach 4
and 5.2
At over 90,000 feet.
My understanding is,
at that point,
You start going
into hypersonic range.
That's right. The generally
agreed definition of hypersonic
Is anything at above mach 5.
So pretty incredible speed,
particularly for that time.
Hypersonics is the new
frontier of speed...
Anything exceeding
3,836 miles per hour.
Still in its infancy,
The engineering, technology,
and challenges are complex,
But the potential to travel
tremendous distances
Significantly faster
would be life altering.
What do you think of the idea
That perhaps it is a hypersonic
aircraft that's been developed
Or was in the process
of being developed?
The problem with that is that
the technology
For such a platform,
As far as we know,
is even now not mature.
That presents quite a mystery.
We have proof that something
was flying at hypersonic speed,
But the technology, at least as
far as we know, did not exist.
Gibson and maglieri offer hard
And unchallenged data
from reliable sources.
Are they enough to conclude
that aurora
Is top-secret advanced
aviation platform?
That's one of the questions
I'm going to ask an investigator
Who spent his career
digging into black files,
Including aurora.
♪
John.
Hey, mike.
It's good to see you.
Good to see you, too.
This is very perplexing.
Yes.
I asked the air force
for everything
And they gave me
what's called a glomar response,
Which means they will neither
confirm nor deny the existence
Of records
pertaining to the aurora.
This program element I.D. Number
allows me as an investigator
To go after it under
the f.O.I.A.
And say,
"I know the program exists.
Here's the program
element I.D. Number
And here's black-and-white proof
it exists."
So what did you find out?
One particular memorandum
That was sent
through the pentagon,
In the first paragraph,
they said
That they didn't find
any records.
Number two says, "this is
a special-access program.
Access will be granted on a
strict need-to-know basis only."
What does that tell you?
The program exists
and it's highly classified.
That means item number one
can't be true.
No, they've contradicted
themselves.
That's right,
all in the same document.
In my opinion,
aurora or an aurora-like project
Absolutely was implemented,
built,
And is probably flying today.
If john is correct,
what kind of craft has emerged
From the one first associated
with aurora some 30 years ago?
We know it was capable of
speeds unheard of at the time.
What could a craft capable
of such speeds be used for?
To get some answers,
I'm meeting with an expert
on classified aircraft.
I'm hoping he'll help me
uncover clues
From prior black file
aviation projects...
How are you?
...That will help me
understand the current one.
I'm investigating
project aurora.
Well, it falls under
the black budget.
Back in 1986, portions of that
With the name aurora,
for example,
Had dollar amounts.
Because aurora, the name,
Was next to other
strategic programs,
Like strategic reconnaissance,
They assumed that this was
another strategic
Reconnaissance aircraft.
Recon, or reconnaissance craft,
Are military spy planes
whose purpose is
To gather intelligence
from the air.
Speed is key.
Is aurora a modern-day spycraft?
How does it fit in
when we talk about
Some of these
other reconnaissance aircraft?
You talk about some of the early
black projects like the u-2,
The cia created a funding
channel called project shoehorn,
And that was used to procure
goods and services
From unwitting vendors
Who weren't cleared
for the program.
So there was a lot of thought
into how we're going to hide
The various pots of money.
My old outfit was big
into spy planes
Funded through the black budget.
Their crown jewel was the a-12,
Another skunk works design.
Code named oxcart,
it topped out at mach 3,
Or 2,300 miles per hour.
I mean, is manned
reconnaissance flights...
I mean, is that sort of a
thing of the past at this point
With what we've got
from satellite technology?
The only problem
with a satellite
Is the enemy knows where it is.
It's bound by the laws
of orbital mechanics.
An aircraft, you can fly in
from any direction
At any time
and make a surprise run.
What about hypersonic aircraft?
What about the capabilities
of that
And what that may mean
to future developments?
Hypersonics would be a great way
To go for airborne
reconnaissance.
All these spy planes
we've talked about
Were developed at skunk works,
all with black budget funds.
Each appears to be another
step towards attaining
Hypersonic speed... mach 5,
five times the speed of sound.
Maybe aurora is a code name
not for just one craft,
But for funding increasingly
advanced aviation.
One person who should know
Is a former head
of aviation black budgets,
And one of the few men
who knows what it's like to fly
The most advanced reconnaissance
aircraft ever developed.
I'm on my way to see him now.
Baker: I'm pursuing a theory
Supported by several sources
That the aurora black file
Didn't encompass
a single project,
But instead several top-secret
reconnaissance craft,
All working towards breaking
the manned hypersonic barrier.
Inside
the March field air museum
In riverside, california,
are some of the most top-secret,
Record-breaking aircraft
in american history.
This is where I get
to talk spy to spy
With elite u.S. Air force
pilot colonel buz carpenter.
Now, buzz has over
60 operational missions
Flown in the legendary
sr-71 blackbird.
The blackbird is a black project
Spycraft that holds
the world record
For an air-breathing
manned plane... mach 3.3,
Or 2,200 miles per hour.
Colonel. We are welcome
to have you here.
Pleasure to meet you, sir.
Over 60 missions
in the blackbird.
That's correct.
I accrued about 777 hours
And got the privilege to fly
this airplane over 200 times.
I know something about spying,
And I know you can't talk
about a lot here,
But how important
was the blackbird
In terms of the collection
of intelligence?
Six presidents used this
during crisis situations
Because they knew
when they sent us out
We could keep our track
Within about 300 feet
of what they had designated.
We could collect multiple
forms of intelligence,
And we always came back.
Made of a lightweight
titanium alloy,
The blackbird features
specially designed surfaces
And a radar-absorbing paint
to create a minimal signature.
♪
You see here how small
the cockpit is.
The faster you went
in the airplane,
The more sensitive
the airplane became.
3.2 was
our normal top speed.
But if you felt threatened,
you were fully authorized
To accelerate to 3.3.
That's 2,500 miles per hour.
Fast, but shy of the hypersonic
threshold
Of 3,800 miles per hour.
As a black budget manager,
was buz aware of project aurora
And the push
for hypersonic flight?
Colonel,
you ran the black budget
For blackbird 117 v2.
Project aurora...
What can you tell me about that?
Project aurora
is very interesting.
We were developing the b-2,
and the b-2
Was going to be $32 billion
in investment
And another $32 billion
To build one 132 bombers.
When you have numbers that big,
to try to hide them
In the air force budget
became increasingly difficult.
So I created and was approved
By the chief of staff
of the air force, aurora.
Aurora looked like
a reconnaissance program.
But in fact, it was a lot
of the production money
That was to be used for the b-2.
And to put it in a line
and very shortly,
Aviation week
and all these others said,
"oh, look, there's a new
reconnaissance program, aurora.
It must be the replacement
to the sr-71."
Worked perfectly.
They weren't looking
at the bomber.
Do you think that there's
a black budget
Currently that oversees
the development of hypersonics?
I most certainly do,
Because I think you're starting
to see things emerge,
Which is very common
with black budgets.
They get to a point where
they get to a size and they say,
"well, we kind of got to
tell them we're working on it."
So sometimes you you take it
from being black
To what we call gray.
You protect the most secret
part that you want to protect,
But you acknowledge
its existence.
So buz created aurora
as a diversion
And believes there is a current
hypersonics black file.
What projects are being funded
by that black file,
And how close are we
to attaining
A functioning platform?
Now, I'm no rocket scientist,
So to learn more about this
black budget-funded technology,
I'm going to turn to one
of the smartest people I know,
Ben mcgee.
Ben, you know, I've been
digging into project aurora...
Yes.
...Which seems to be
The u.S. Government's
efforts
Related to manned
hypersonic aircraft.
Gotcha.
Which seems to be
Incredibly difficult to do.
Well, yeah.
And I'm wondering why.
There's a real difference
between...
It's not semantic to say
supersonic and then hypersonic.
Hypersonic is many,
many times the speed of sound.
Now, the only things
that we have to do that,
We're talking rockets.
One research aircraft that's
gotten that far that fast.
And spacecraft reach that
When you're leaving
the atmosphere
And then when you come back.
But flying through
the atmosphere
That fast is difficult
because of the physics.
So what happens when you travel
Many, many times
the speed of sound
Is you've got shock waves
interacting with the atmosphere
That are compromising
not only your ability
To keep generating lift,
But they're also compromising
the integrity of the aircraft,
And then you're hitting
the atmosphere
So hard
that it super-heats the air
Around the aircraft itself,
just the act of striking it.
We're not talking
friction anymore.
We're talking compression.
So it super heats.
It would melt most aircraft
That we actually, you know,
out of normal materials
We'd make an aircraft out of.
So you're talking materials,
you're talking heat,
You're talking stability issues.
Everything. I mean,
you've just described flight.
So, yes, everything about
getting something to fly
That fast through the air
is different and difficult.
All right, this is a very
abstract way to describe it,
So let me...
You probably judged that
From the glassy look in my eye.
Yes, I've noticed.
Yeah, you always have a way
to explain things.
Well, I've got an idea
that I can instead
Of just telling you what I mean,
I could show you.
So why don't you meet me here
and I'll show you what I mean?
Okay?
Okay.
♪
You realize that
I wanted to talk to you
about hypersonics, not trucks?
I tried to get you into nasa's
hypersonic tunnel facility
At plum brook research station,
and I couldn't.
So I brought you
to the next best thing.
A truck.
Not just any truck.
A diesel truck.
[ engine starts ]
Huh?
Eh?
Okay, just to remind you, we're
talking hypersonic aircraft.
Yes.
This is a diesel truck.
Yes.
Okay. Marry the two.
All right. Well, all right.
Let me turn this thing off.
[ engine shuts off ]
All right.
So I haven't lost my mind.
There's a specific reason I
brought you to a diesel truck.
And the reason is how fuel
Is lit inside
the combustion chamber.
Did you know that diesel engines
don't use spark plugs
To light the fuel?
No, actually, I'm embarrassed
to admit I'm of a certain age
And I did not know that.
Okay, well, I didn't either.
I did a little research.
You know what they use instead?
Don't tell me right away.
Rocket fuel?
[ laughs ]
All right, no, that's not bad.
Not they use
compression heating.
It's the very same physical
process that hypersonic aircraft
Have to face
when they're flying in the air.
So what happens
in a diesel engine is the piston
In that cylinder
crushes the air itself so hard
That the air heats up to
the ignition point of the fuel.
So it uses the physics
of squeezing the air
And it gets hot in response...
So hot that it literally
fires this engine.
Really?
Yeah.
Diesel motors.
That's how they operate?
Yeah, it's cool.
They burn at
a much higher temperature.
That's why the engines
are made of ceramic.
It's able to withstand
a much higher temperature.
And how does that connect
to hypersonics?
How does that connect
to hypersonics?
Imagine the piston
is the aircraft and the air
Is what the aircraft,
The hypersonic
aircraft is smashing into.
And it hits the air so hard,
the air heats up
In exactly the same way,
but the hypersonic problem
Is the same problem faced
by the old space shuttle.
It's not friction.
It's smashing.
It's compressing
the air so hard,
And that's why
the shuttle's heat tiles
Were also made of ceramic,
Just like a diesel engine,
because it's the same problem.
Baker: A hypersonic engine
is much more complicated.
It's called a scramjet
and has no moving parts,
Meaning no turbine
and no compressor.
Supersonic oxygen is compressed,
Mixed with hydrogen fuel,
Injected into
a combustion chamber,
And then exhausted through
a nozzle, producing thrust.
Here you are, you're talking
about old technology, right,
For a diesel engine.
Now you're talking about
How that relates
to hypersonic aircraft.
How far away are we from this?
I'd say we're about at
wright brothers level.
So we've tested devices
that are tickling the territory.
And I think, you know,
if we just keep pushing the bar
Much in the same way
That we've refined
the old diesel engine,
We can end up refining
hypersonic design and get there.
That's outstanding.
The aurora black file
funded premiere
Aviation platforms,
leading to hypersonic flight,
But the challenge
has been raised.
I wonder if manned
hypersonic flight is possible,
And if so, what are the risks?
I'm going to put those questions
to a record-breaking pilot
Who flew an experimental
spacecraft into outer space.
The aurora black file
Is connected to sophisticated
spy planes
That altered history.
Now, according to sources
like buz carpenter,
The black budget is funding
hypersonics,
Craft that can reach nearly
4,000 miles per hour.
But what are the risks
to a pilot in such a craft?
I'm going to find out
by speaking to
A record-breaking pilot who
definitely has the right stuff.
Mike melvill is
A multi-world-record-breaking
pilot.
In June 2004,
he flew burt rutan's
Experimental spaceshipone
past the edge of space,
Becoming the first
commercial astronaut.
Mike, thank you,
first of all, for the time.
It makes sense that a space
legend has his own museum.
This is a fantastic place.
Now, you ran a lot of tests,
But the first official flight
that you did was spaceshipone.
What was that like as you
were getting ready to take off?
What about the unknowns?
It was pretty scary,
frankly, you know?
I mean, I really didn't know
If I would fly the way
burt said it would, but it did.
And, you know, my first words
out of my mouth
After I dropped off and pushed
the controls and wiggled them,
I said, "flies great.
We're in good shape."
And from there on, I went
into a straight down dive,
Went to as fast
as I could go straight down.
And then I put six g's
on the airplane
To make sure the wing
would hold together.
Okay, now I know
that's what a test pilot does,
But talk to me about
the mentality of saying,
"now I'm going to put it
in this steep a dive as I can
And then come back to see
if the wings hold together."
Well, that was on the cards.
You know?
We discussed what
we're going to do in flight.
It's all typed up.
And I do each step of it,
regardless of what happens.
You know, a test pilot
sometimes doesn't make it.
Fortunately for me,
I made it every single time.
Powered by hybrid rocket motors,
Spaceshipone reached mach 3.4
Or 2,600 miles per hour...
Faster than the
Sr-71 blackbird and edging
closer to hypersonic speed.
It was mike's first time
flying that fast
And his first time
experiencing the effects
Of high-speed flight.
What your body's doing,
what it feels like.
Well, first of all, there's
a lot of thrust on your body.
You know, you're looking
at three or four g's,
Which is four times my weight.
So I weighed over 1,000 pounds.
That was a horrible
feeling for me.
You get a little tunnel vision
Because of the g-forces pulling
the blood away from your eyes.
And you can't talk.
You can't breathe.
You're really
struggling with it.
And also, you're trying
to maintain control.
And you're trying to
fly the airplane, as well.
Flying near hypersonic speed
Also places extreme stress
on the craft.
Any unexpected
or sudden movement
Can threaten both the vehicle
and the pilot.
Yeah, on the second flight
to space at very high speed,
2.65 or 2.7 mach, the airplane
suddenly did a snap roll,
Which is a very fast,
very ugly maneuver
That really shakes up your body.
But it continued to do that
for 29 rolls
Until I got
outside the atmosphere.
When I got outside
the atmosphere,
I could fix it
with the reaction control system
That's built into the plane.
What was that doing to
your body?
What was that doing
in terms of your control,
Your ability to stay conscious?
All I could do was just
Stare at the airspeed indicator
And hope that I just
didn't get seasick or something.
But I don't know.
I lucked out.
You've got to be
doing things quickly.
No, you know, back then
I was a lot younger.
[ chuckles ]
I was only 63, I think, or 64.
Oh, only 63?
Yeah.
Okay. With the technologies
that are developing now,
And based on all of
your experience,
Do you think that you'll see
Manned hypersonic flight
in your lifetime?
Oh, yeah.
No question about that.
You do?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
There's no doubt about that.
I mean...
Would you like to be
behind the stick on those?
I really would.
But at 78, 79 years old,
that's a bit too late.
[ chuckles ]
Mike's experiences are both
a profile in courage
And a cautionary tale.
Having black budget funds
to push us to
Or beyond our limits
of technology
Is a dangerous pursuit.
I'm curious to get even
a small taste
Of what those limits are.
I've reached out
to a military pilot
Who's agreed to take me beyond
the normal parameters of flight.
Earl.
Mike, how you doing?
I'm doing good.
Thanks, man.
I'm doing very well.
Thank you.
Thanks for coming out
to fly with me.
Well, you know, we had
that chance talk on the phone,
And so you know I've been
digging into black files
Related to hypersonic flight.
And right now, I've been
trying to understand the impact
On the human body
from high-speed flying.
What does that mean,
And what does it mean
for the aircraft, as well?
The real challenges with
manned hypersonic flight
Is if you introduce
any kind of maneuvering.
And today what we're gonna do
Is we'll use
this old technology of biplane.
We're at the low end
of the spectrum.
We're not very fast,
but we're very maneuverable.
That'll give us a taste
of some of the challenges,
If you talk about
maneuvering manned
Hypersonic flight.
Okay, before I climb
into this puppy,
What should I know about
that, hitting five or six g's
In terms of the impact
on the body?
Well, if I pass out,
you can fly us back.
Oh, good, sure.
Yeah, yeah, okay.
What you might feel
is a little bit of dizziness
As the blood drains
out of your head.
And worst case, maybe just
a little bit of loss of vision
As you lose
your peripheral vision,
Because that part of your eye is
very susceptible to blood loss.
Okay.
One g is the force
of earth's gravity,
Your normal weight.
Hypersonic flight imposes more
than 10 g's on the human body,
10 times your weight, forcing
blood away from the brain,
Which can be fatal.
Earl spent nearly 30 years
in the marine corps
Flying f-4s, f-5s, and f-18s.
He retired as a colonel
And has logged
thousands of flight hours.
I'm in good hands
with him at the stick.
So we're good to go.
Good to go.
All right.
[ grunts ]
All right.
Earl's promised not to take me
beyond five or six g's,
A fraction of the forces
That would be felt
in a hypersonic craft,
But a lot more than
I've ever experienced.
Well, here goes nothing.
[ laughing ] yeah!
♪
Baker:
Every one of the journalists,
Military pilots,
and other experts
I've spoken with agree
that the black file project
Aurora has evolved into a quest
for a hypersonic craft.
Now I'm taking a flight
of my own
To better understand the dangers
of high-speed flight.
Wederbrook: Okay, I think
everything's connected.
You ready to go?
Good to go.
[ radio chatter ]
Hold on.
All right, here we go.
♪
Digging into the black file
on hypersonic flight,
It seems pretty clear
that the holy grail
Is really manned
hypersonic flight.
Talk to me about why
that's so difficult to achieve.
Well, as you can see here,
we're flying along at about
110 an hour at about 1,500 feet.
You can feel the forces,
The aerodynamic forces from this
open cockpit biplane.
Now if you imagine if we were
going 4,000 miles an hour,
The aerodynamic forces
that are on the airplane,
And that translates into
the challenges for maneuvering
Manned hypersonic flight.
It's okay if you're just
going to do a straight line,
But if you want to do
any turning at all,
The amount of g's required
is pretty significant.
At that airspeed, actually,
you go so fast
That you get to the point
where the molecules
Begin to disassociate.
At hypersonic speed,
The air molecules
around the craft break apart
Or dissociated and/or pick up
an electrical charge or ionize,
Creating a barrier between
the airplane and the atmosphere.
This produces enormous stress
and friction
Requiring complex engineering
and design.
What does it mean for
the impact on the human body,
On the pilot?
As you increase the g,
Obviously you can increase
that maneuvering performance,
But after about eight g's,
You start to approach
the tolerances of human beings.
So we're just gonna do
some mild maneuvering here
Just to kind of
give you an idea.
I'm going to do a level turn.
We'll probably hit about two
and a half to three g's,
So here's a little bit
of a taste
Of what the g requirements
would be.
So here goes a hard turn left.
♪
That was about
two and a half to three.
All right, we'll do one roll
Just so you can say you did it.
Let's climb on up.
Here we go. Ready?
One, two, three.
♪
[ laughing ] yeah! Yeah!
How are you feeling up front?
Yeah, really good.
This is fantastic.
The feasibility
of manned hypersonic aircraft
Is some point in our future.
What do you think?
I think that there's a great
chance that both of us
Will be... we'll see
some sort of application
Of manned hypersonic flight
in our lifetime.
♪
♪
If earl and my other sources
are right
That a manned hypersonic craft
is in our future,
What platforms are currently
in development?
Well, there's one place
that should know...
The same place where the u-2,
a-12, and sr-71 blackbird
Were all conceived,
designed, and engineered.
I'm on my way to skunk works,
The super-secretive facility
of lockheed martin.
Within that compound,
a generation of black file
Aviation projects took wing.
They're widely believed
to be working
On the next-generation
blackbird, the sr-72.
It's reportedly able
to fly at six times
The speed of sound
or 4,000 miles an hour.
Now, I did my best to get access
to the facility, but no luck.
Fortunately, I've managed
the next best thing.
I've secured a meeting
with the skunk works
Former director
of advanced systems development.
Any chance he'll reveal
information about the black file
Dedicated to hypersonics?
I'm about to find out.
♪
The hunt for project aurora
Has led me to conclude that
while the sr-71
Is the last supersonic
manned plane
Known to have flown safely,
it's not going to be the last.
There are black budget projects
Currently working
on hypersonic craft,
And possibly other applications
of this incredible technology.
Recently, lockheed martin
announced its plan
To develop a successor
to the sr-71 blackbird,
The sr-72, Purported
to reach mach 6.
♪
I'm about to meet with
the former aerospace
Division director
of the super-secret company
Behind the sr-72,
lockheed skunk works.
I'm going to ask him about
what I and others believe
Project aurora has morphed
into... a hypersonic aircraft.
♪
Steve, you were a director
at the secretive skunk works.
Right.
What is the skunk works?
The skunk works is a division of
the lockheed martin corporation
That is tasked with,
Quite honestly,
creating breakthroughs.
What's it like to be inside
there working with those folks?
I couldn't tell my wife
what I did.
I couldn't tell anybody
what I did
Unless they were briefed
on the program.
The follow on from the sr-71...
You know, there's been
talk of the sr-72.
To what degree
has that been developed?
Is it already operational?
I mean, where are we with that?
Skunk works doesn't talk
very much about the sr-72.
Is there a black budget
That exists to help fund
that process?
I'm not gonna discuss
black budgets
Or any of
the unacknowledged stuff
That goes on
in the classified world.
Even so, given steve's
insights into aviation
And the skunk works,
I wonder if he believes a
hypersonic platform is possible.
It's a lot to ask
from an airplane.
Going hypersonic,
six times the speed of sound
Is a very,
very difficult thing to do.
I mean, the blackbird
going mach 3
Was a very tough thing to do,
and going twice that speed
Squares the challenges
that you have.
It's not double the challenges.
I never say
something's impossible,
And one of the things
that I treasured
About working at the skunk works
was that we just assumed
Something could be done.
If they were given a challenge,
You assumed it could be done and
you figured out how to go do it.
Do you think that the us
is currently leading the way
In terms of research
for hypersonic craft?
The u.S. Certainly is
starting to invest very heavy
In hypersonic.
I mean, you see russia and china
Investing very heavily
in hypersonics, as well.
So right now, it's a race.
Would skunk works be heavily
involved in that race?
Skunk works is heavily
involved in that race right now.
They are working on
a couple of the programs.
Just between you and me,
We're not going to show
this to anybody,
But can you tell me
about those programs?
No.
[ sighs ]
[ chuckles ]
Speaking with contacts
at the department of defense,
I've determined
that the race steve referenced
Is not for manned
hypersonic craft,
But for unmanned
hypersonic missiles.
The hypersonic black file
is a modern-day arms race.
I'm at the headquarters
of one of the most respected
Global think tanks in the world,
Rand corporation
in santa monica, california.
Rand was created
just after world war ii
By the douglas aircraft company
With the goal of providing
nonpartisan research
And analysis to the military.
These folks,
they possess decades
Of institutional knowledge,
Declassified information,
and cutting-edge technology,
And they're keenly following
the developments
Of hypersonic craft.
George, thank you very much,
First of all,
for taking the time.
Oh, thank you for taking time
to talk to me.
Hypersonic capability...
What are we talking about?
We're talking about two
types of missiles.
We're talking about
what's called
A hypersonic glide vehicle,
which is unpowered,
It's a gliding vehicle, and also
hypersonic cruise missiles,
Which are cruise missiles
as we know them,
But they go much, much faster.
They go what's called hypersonic