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Summary

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Lockheed / Boeing / Loral ‘Q’ QUARTZ

At the beginning of 1985 selected by the consortium NRO, USAF and CIA Boeing and Lockheed for the next development stage and provide them the means to elaborate on their studies. Both take advantage of the program Teal Cameo DARPA as a kind of a test site for new technologies, use the program Aars. Developmental and operational scheme was taking the same as in the case of plant U-2 and SR-71: An aircraft should be developed from the common currency used for secret missions by the CIA and Air Force operated. Winner of the competition was won by Lockheed with their machines, also known as Quartz or abbreviated “Q”. The whole process really helped the experience gained by the development of the Lockheed F-bomber 117th She is a clever use sofv�r that with sufficient precision radar reflectivity calculates various configurations of the body.

Intention to achieve the impossible in virtually all intermediate objectives leading to a huge increase in development costs, which were increasingly difficult to conceal, especially before the U.S. Congress. The end of 1987 issued a request for a unified and centralized management of all official programs of unmanned aircraft and the same fate soon affected and those funded by the ‘black’ budget. For this purpose, be created within the new office called the NRA ARSP (Airborne Reconnaissance Support Program), the managing intelligence programs and JPO (Joint Program Office), who took charge of unclassified programs, funded from the official budget. At that time, the program Aars very strong support from all sides, but most probably from the U.S. Air Force, for which the machine was QUARTZ key element to complement the B-2 bombers to destroy Soviet mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles. If you would have got into a row Services, USAF could in good conscience exclude machines SR-71 (taken in 1974 by NRA) of operation, since the cost of their use and maintenance of the aircraft with increasing age inexorably Increase magnification. The money saved could then be moved elsewhere, the development costs for the machine Aars the Air Force has suffered only one-third. Mentioned support program Aars also served as a major argument for continuing the development prohibitively expensive bomber Northrop B-2, since the machine QUARTZ substantially expand the possibilities for its use. B-2 bomber was in fact necessary to first induce the operational area with potential targets and this role nezvl�dali such as satellites, all the machines to previous review.

For reasons not too clear ARSP office managed to run until sometime in May 1989, at which time the new administration under President George W. Bush. While assisting in the development of various technologies for manned spy planes such as U-2, its main activities has become a management program Aars. In January 1990 the Commission issued a formal U.S. Air Force requirement for unmanned aircraft with extremely long battery life and range, in a position opposed strongly hostile environment to perform monitoring, survey and marking targets. Were considered three alternatives: a means other than the Boeing Condor QUARTZ and Leading Systems Amber, although from the outset it was clear which machine is suited for the job the most. This Act created a formal way to start work on a detailed breakdown of the machine QUARTZ and optimization for mass production. However, the situation began to turn for the worse. The main problem was from the outset that the aircraft has three major sponsors, each platform has significantly different requirements. When they were listed and began with the implementation of the proposal emerged from the aircraft should be able to put even lightly pomas�rova\u0165 feet in real time about how to communicate with the world. Also, as a contribution, NRO, DARPA and the USAF, or for one of the three, it was the key priority element that would adequately defended. Similarly, project management is too often moved from one office or agency to another. From a structural point of view one aircraft suffered substantial lack of time and it was operational. Its subsonic speed and intercontinental scope were in fact cause significant long overflight times to the target area. QUARTZ is a means of doing so had to get there before the B-2 bombers that managed to explore the territory and identify suitable targets for the coming offensive forces. Because of this lack of the Air Force until the end of the eighties left in the reserve and its high-speed piloted the project alternatives. As it turned out, Fragmentation forces and continuously considering various alternatives led to delays in development, so that the program reached out to the critical early nineties, primarily characterized by drastic cuts in military spending.

In its final form should have a means QUARTZ 60 m wing span, ability to persevere in the target area after arrival to 40 hours and the unit price climbed to an incredible one billion dollars in the price level of year 1990. It was thus only slightly cheaper than the B-2 bomber, but even so it had become the second most expensive plane in history. To operational service while it is getting only 10 specimens. One of the political decision-making authority Aars was initially join rival Lockheed and Boeing into one team. This will be offset by Boeing stop work on a Condor agent. Lockheed engineers were responsible for the fuselage, along with the company Loral sensor equipment and overall system integration. Boeing in the wing and started to give controllers. Although the original configuration agent was directly derived from studies in the Lockheed ATB bomber (flying wing with straight leading edge and one “tooth” of the drain), the resulting design in detail much more influenced by Boeing. Since it had produced only 10 units, all built machines to be introduced directly into operational service without the use of prototypes, like the bombers Northrop B-2. QUARTZ means, however, was much more advanced and used a disproportionately large number of exotic technologies, so a similar approach represents an unacceptable risk. Therefore, for testing purposes was made half wings and central portion of the fuselage.

The vision so expensive and crowded latest technology aircraft, which glides air driven fully autonomous as a kind of computer did not make many aviation officials sleep and therefore pushed the possibility of using modular space for payloads to install a provisional two-seater cockpit crew. Aircraft to be used mainly in the initial phase of flight tests and piloted in the configuration. As shown later aircraft accident RQ-3 Dark Star P-175 or Polecam, this approach is justified, but on the other hand, it should be noted that in modern machines is due to man sophisticated fly-by-wire much less control over the situation than in the past. It may happen that the pilot and the autopilot will begin to fight among themselves over command of the situation and the overall situation worse. Pilot-induced interference in the management of such accident was caused by the machine YF-22 in 1992. If at that moment he hands off the controls, automatic flight control system would get the machine itself from dangerous oscillations and returned it back to a safe flight level. The last major problem is a practical usability of the weapon system. It is in itself so much secret technology that his only shot down or crash over their territory were virtually unthinkable. According to one senior official from the Ministry of Defence, if the plane crashed, they would bomb the territory to the condition of the stone age in order to ensure that the most secret and most valuable technologies fall into the wrong hands.

When the program began Aars, the NRA should have more money than was able to spend. The situation but at the end of “Cold War” and the Soviet Union has changed considerably. Generous funding suddenly disappeared and the new managers had to face adverse reality of budget cuts, which fell victim to just megalomaniacal and extremely technically demanding projects. For the partial reduction of costs, it was decided to use some technologies and materials developed for naval stealth aircraft A-12 Avenger II program also Aars, but it was not nearly enough. The private sector in this case smelled opportunity and immediately began to explore a variety of manned and less ambitious alternatives to the means of Quartz. One of them was the location for the advanced system known targets for B-2 bomber, which was a specialized variant of RB-2. Although it proved very effective search target area, but he had to be the first to navigate it, so it could take for himself one of the key functions means Aars. Another interesting concept was piloted by a minimalist design with labeled TR-3. Although the Internet is the designation used for a fictitious secret flying triangular body, called the Black Manta , in fact most likely it was a derivative of German aircraft Grob Egrett all composites for use on manned and unmanned treatment. While the U.S. has been tested under the Senior Gurardian, in Germany it was known in the program LAPAS (Luftgestutztes Abstandsfahiges Primar Aufklarungssystem).

Neither of these proposals, however, found themselves in difficult political and financial situation and support the application. But the end of “Cold War” does not mean an immediate end to the program Aars. Although in June 1992 was dissolved Strategic Air Command, which lost a potential operator of the main machines have managed to keep alive the other, more controversial projects such as satellites or Milstar bomber B-2. Along with Aars is to form the trio of mutually reinforcing means able to find, identify and destroy mobile targets. However, a damaging blow came in the second half of 1991. Then the situation zamie\u0161alo U.S. State Department issued a statement that the agent receives authorization QUARTZ operate over hostile territory until such time as the most anti-aircraft threats eliminated. This paradoxical situation was created when the agent removed a key element of operational schemes for which they have ever created. Shortly after, the USAF withdrew funding from other development work. While DARPA and NRO offset the shortfall from its own resources, the program was finally canceled Aars in mid December 1992 to discuss future budget allocated for the construction of prototype and flight training series.

Almost up comic, but especially for a company Lockheed Martin rather peculiar situation occurred a full sixteen years later in the summer of 2008. Consortium Boeing / Lockheed Martin then presented under the auspices of the initiative NGB (Next Generation Bomber) its preferred proposal for the U.S. strategic bomber built for subsonic speeds and widespread use of stealth technology. For this would have been nothing special. What matters is what was behind it: It was in fact a completely recycled means QUARTZ! Bizarre situation went even further. For the Air Force Association meeting was presented tabletop model of the proposed bomber, who was actually twenty years old model means QUARTZ. All it took was a little tape to show the cockpit - in short, quickly and efficiently. And indeed it was only a piece of adhesive tape. Yellow lines, as if to suggest cutting the cockpit glazing are in fact reflections of neon lights on the ceiling of the room.

http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/R.20011201.FutureWarXX/R.20011201.FutureWarXX.pdf

...What is needed is a stealthy version of the Global Hawk. Fortunately, most of the R&D required to field this type of system was conducted in the 1980s under the Advanced Airborne Reconnaissance System (AARS) program. (For an excellent overview of this program, see Ehrhard, \u201cA Comparative Study of Weapon System Innovation: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the United States Armed Services,\u201d pp. 136-158). Originally intended to find and track mobile launchers for Soviet intermediate- and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles, the AARS platform, code-named \u201cQuartz,\u201d was envisioned as an extremely stealthy UAV equipped with an array of high-resolution sensors and high-capacity satellite communications capabilities.60 With a wingspan of some 250 feet, it would have been able to fly at an altitude of about 80,000 feet for several days at a time. In outward appearance, it was more or less a substantially scaled-up version of the Darkstar UAV that was cancelled in 1999. A stealthy HALE UAV program based upon the AARS and Tier-III designs should be restarted soon

International Air Power Review Volume 15 AIRtime Publishing, 2005 "Focus Aircraft: HALE/MALE Unmanned Air Vehicles Part 1: History of the Endurance UAV" by Bill Sweetman p63-69

The requirement for a 24-hour endurance and low-observability tested the limits of aerospace technology of the day. In 1983 Lockheed and Boeing were selected to develop concepts for the Quartz program. Lockheed’s initial design was a giant aircraft with a 267-foot wingspan propelled by two turboshaft engines driving massive 47-foot propellers. The engines were actually dual-cycle turboshaft/turbojet engines, with the engines operating as jets and the two-bladed props locked in horizontal for takeoff and landing. Once at cruise altitude, the engines shifted into turboshaft mode to drive the large props.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread328636/pg1

Quartz was never completed, but a fuselage and one wing were built for testing, Air Force officials said. It was designed with alternative payload pods. One was a pilot’s capsule so the aircraft could be flown by a crew, probably for long-range ferry flights and testing. The other was a reconnaissance pod for more dangerous unmanned reconnaissance missions.

Sources

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