#lockmart

[rainthetrain]

Me abandoning all of my principles as soon as I get the call from lockmart

[kramlabs]

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/compact-fusion.html

[kramlabs]

Via https://twitter.com/aviation_intel/status/1054549502126780416?s=21

“A non-realized Skunk Works concept from mid-2000s for a variable geometry-winged bomber. The idea was that it could dash into the target

[kramlabs]

I will not be in favor of stopping a country from spending 110 billion dollars which is an all time record and letting Russia have that money and letting China have that money because all they have to do is say that’s okay we don’t have to buy it from Boeing. We don’t have to buy it from Lockheed. We don’t have to buy it from Raytheon and all these companies. We’ll buy it from Russia. We’ll buy it from China. So what good does that do us? There are all these other things we can do. Khashoggi is not a US citizen, is that right? He's a permanent resident, okay. We don’t like it. We don’t like it even a little bit, but as to whether we should stop 110 billion from being spent in this country, knowing they have four or five alternatives, two very good alternatives, that would not be acceptable to me.

Trump

see this

and this

[kramlabs]

Lockheed Martin proposes a mega-lunar lander: 62 tons and an elevator

"What we chose to do is jump to the end game."

[kramlabs]

https://twitter.com/cencio4/status/1036844401421692928?s=21

David Cenciotti on Twitter

“Enjoy the view from the cockpit of a Blackbird at 83,000 ft over the Atlantic in 1974. The SR-71 set the record for flying time between N

[kramlabs]

F-35 at White House

www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/07/24/f-35-parks-on-white-house-lawn

about Alan Norman, Test Pilot above:

interview podcast:

http://www.planecrazydownunder.com/2016/03/11/f-35-from-the-cockpit-with-f-35-program-chief-test-pilot-alan-norman/

Hat Trick podcast:

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/skunk-works/inside-skunk-works/e/54200092

more background: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3586220/A-day-life-F-35-test-pilot-Rebooting-failing-computers-fixing-false-warning-lights-repairing-broken-weapons-systems-bit-flying.html

[kramlabs]

““Overnight, however, he apparently had second thoughts, or did some textbook reading on his own, and at the next meeting he turned to me as the first order of business. “On the black paint,” he said, “you were right about the advantages and I was wrong.” He handed me a quarter. It was a rare win. So Kelly approved my idea of painting the airplane black, and by the time our first prototype rolled out the airplane became known as the Blackbird. Our supplier, Titanium Metals Corporation, had only limited reserves of the precious alloy, so the CIA conducted a worldwide search and, using third parties and dummy companies, managed to unobtrusively purchase the base metal from one of the world’s leading exporters—the Soviet Union. The Russians never had an inkling of how they were actually contributing to the creation of the airplane being rushed into construction to spy on their homeland.” ― Ben R. Rich, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed

“We became the most successful advanced projects company in the world by hiring talented people, paying them top dollar, and motivating them into believing that they could produce a Mach 3 airplane like the Blackbird a generation or two ahead of anybody else. Our design engineers had the keen experience to conceive the whole airplane in their mind’s-eye, doing the trade-offs in their heads between aerodynamic needs and weapons requirements. We created a practical and open work environment for engineers and shop workers, forcing the guys behind the drawing boards onto the shop floor to see how their ideas were being translated into actual parts and to make any necessary changes on the spot. We made every shop worker who designed or handled a part responsible for quality control. Any worker—not just a supervisor or a manager—could send back a part that didn’t meet his or her standards. That way we reduced rework and scrap waste. We encouraged our people to work imaginatively, to improvise and try unconventional approaches to problem solving, and then got out of their way. By applying the most commonsense methods to develop new technologies, we saved tremendous amounts of time and money, while operating in an atmosphere of trust and cooperation both with our government customers and between our white-collar and blue-collar employees. In the end, Lockheed’s Skunk Works demonstrated the awesome capabilities of American inventiveness when free to operate under near ideal working conditions. That may be our most enduring legacy as well as our source of lasting pride.” ― Ben R. Rich, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed