Black project

A black project is a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors. Examples of United States military aircraft developed as black projects include the Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, both of which were highly classified and publicly denied until they were ready to be announced to the public. In the United States, the formal term for a black project is special access program (SAP). The money that funds these projects is called the black budget.

Examples[]

United States[]

Previously classified[]

Manhattan Project
B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter
Boeing Bird of Prey stealth technology demonstrator
F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground-attack aircraft
KH-11 Kennen reconnaissance satellite
SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3.3 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
Lockheed CL-400 Suntan high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance prototype
Lockheed U-2 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel
Lockheed Martin Polecat unmanned aerial vehicle
Northrop Tacit Blue
Operation Cyclone^[1]
RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance UAV
Lockheed Sea Shadow (IX-529) experimental stealth US Navy ship
Hughes Mining Barge CIA project authorized 1974 to raise sunken Soviet submarine K-129
SR-72 stealth reconnaissance UAV, confirmed by Lockheed Martin in October 2013.^[2]^[3]

Speculated or classified

Stealth Blimp Reconnaissance platform ^[4]^[5]^[6]
Aurora
TR-3

People's Republic of China[]

Xian H-20 subsonic stealth bomber aircraft

South Africa[]

Project Coast
Atlas Carver multirole fighter aircraft

References[]

^ Greenwald, Glenn. "Dangerous Travels". Dangeroustravel.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
^ "An SR-72 in the works?". Airforcetimes.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
^ "Meet the SR-72". Lockheed Martin Corporation. Archived from the original on 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2015-06-17.
^ "Investigation Casts Light on the Mysterious Flying Black Triangle". space.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
^ "Mystery - Blimp". Fas.org. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
^ "The stealth blimp dot com". Thestealthblimp.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

[1] Greenwald, Glenn. "Dangerous Travels". Dangeroustravel.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

[2] "An SR-72 in the works?". Airforcetimes.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

[3] "Meet the SR-72". Lockheed Martin Corporation. Archived from the original on 2018-02-07. Retrieved 2015-06-17.

[4] "Investigation Casts Light on the Mysterious Flying Black Triangle". space.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

[5] "Mystery - Blimp". Fas.org. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

[6] "The stealth blimp dot com". Thestealthblimp.com. Archived from the original on 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2013-09-09.

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