I took some photos of the RD-214 rocket engine on my trip and I'm uploading them. Total number of photos: 110. If you had a rocket engine, you would want to take pictures of it from many different angles, right?
The RD-214 engine is a rocket engine developed for ballistic missiles, which require rapid-fire, rapid-reaction propulsion with nitric acid and kerosene propellants that can be stored at room temperature.
It was installed on the R-12 ballistic missile provided to Cuba during the Cuban crisis. The designer was Valentin Grushko, and although the fuel was different, the configuration was very similar to that of the Soyuz rocket RD-107/108.
In fact, this RD-214 seems to be partly a replica (a dummy) of the RD-107/108. Certainly, there are some weld marks on the combustion chamber. As for the turbo pump, the actual pump is extremely heavy, so if you place a scuffed combustion chamber underneath and put a heavy object on top, the center of gravity will be unstable.
The author believes that the dummy part was made deliberately for display purposes, but there was no economic rationale for such a laborious process, and it was for training purposes such as inspection, maintenance, and firing.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
余談だが、これに関連して、日本国内でも、イカロス出版から「プロジェクトオブスカンクワークス：ロッキードマーチンADPの75年」という、素晴らしい日本語訳版が出版されている。（The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programsの翻訳）
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works celebrated its 75th anniversary. The 75th anniversary celebration was held, but is the mysterious silhouette on the commemorative coin (challenge coin) that was handed out to those who were involved in the ceremony a top secret aircraft?
1．75th anniversary of Skunk Works
Skunk works is the common name for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs, a division of Lockheed Martin Corporation, an American aircraft manufacturing company.
The Skunk Works is an elite small group of select individuals within Lockheed Martin and is famous for having developed the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 Blackbird supersonic reconnaissance aircraft, the F-117, the world's first full-scale stealth fighter, and the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets.
This skunkworks was founded in 1943 during World War II and celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2018. In conjunction with this, Lockheed Martin appears to have released a 75th anniversary video and held a 75th anniversary speech and ceremony.
As an aside, The Projects of Skunk Works: 75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs is a great book and I recommend it.
Skunk Works 75th Anniversary Video, Memorial Lecture Video
2．What are Challenge Coins?
There is a culture in the United States called the "challenge coin". Mainly in the U.S. military, they are medals (coins) about four centimeters in diameter that are given to members in order to improve their sense of belonging and morale. It is engraved with the name of the unit, logo, and the name of the operation in which the member participated.
When the F-117 stealth fighter was decommissioned in 2008
An example of a challenge coin created by the U.S. Air Force
Reference : What is the Challenge Coin? Awarding Culture from America
In short, they are commemorative coins and medals that originated in the U.S. military. Coins are commemorative items that can be given only to unit personnel and made into souvenirs, or made for commemorative events, etc. The culture of making such commemorative coins is somewhat widespread throughout the United States. In fact, such commemorative coins are often sold at tourist attractions in the United States.
3．Skunk Works 75th Anniversary Challenge Coin
Naturally, in such American soil, a 75th Anniversary Challenge Coin was created as a souvenir to be distributed to those involved in the Skunk Works 75th Anniversary. That is shown in the photo below.
Skunk Works 75th Anniversary Challenge Coin
A seemingly innocuous coin, but don't you notice that it's there? That's the silhouette of the aircraft on the reverse side of the coin. On the reverse side of the challenge coin, there are seven airplanes.
The silhouettes of these aircraft show the military aircraft that Skunk Works has developed. The silhouettes, starting from the leftmost side of the silhouette, and listing the specific models, are
SR-71 Blackbird
RQ-170 Sentinel drone
U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
F-35 Lightning II Fighter
F-22 Raptor fighter
？ Unknown
F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter
The silhouette of the "mystery aircraft" is shown sixth from the left.
Among them, the RQ-170 (presumed to be unarmed), which was a top-secret aircraft until its capture by the Iranian military in 2011, is the one that has been released to the public, albeit reluctantly, with the exception of this sixth aircraft from the left, all six of the seven types of aircraft have been released to the public. Moreover, all six are actual mass-produced and commercialized aircraft, and none of the experimental aircraft are listed.
The silhouettes and the length of the white lines are also worth noting. The three models to the left of the middle (SR-71, RQ-170, and U-2) are all reconnaissance aircraft. The three models (F-35, F-22, and F-117) on the right side of the middle are fighter, fighter-bomber, and tactical fighter level aircraft.
Next, focusing on the length of the white line,
the reconnaissance aircraft side is SR-71<U-2<RQ-170.
The tactical fighter is the F-117<F-22<F-35.
The white line seems to indicate the number of years in service. As for the reconnaissance aircraft, the SR-71 was the first to be decommissioned, with the shortest line. The RQ-170 and the U-2 are still in operation today, but the U-2 is likely to be retired before the SR-71 because of its age.
On the tactical fighter side, the F-117, which was retired in 2008, has the shortest line; one might ask which has a longer life span, the F-22 or the F-35. But the F-22 was developed first, and if things go in order, the F-22 will be retired first and the F-35 will be retired later.
In other words, if we summarize the reverse side of this challenge coin, we can see that the aircraft are drawn by the following rules.
All were developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
All of these aircraft were commercialized and operated by the U.S. military and CIA.
All aircraft from the center to the left are shown as reconnaissance aircraft that have been put to practical use.
All aircraft from the center to the right are shown as fighter, fighter-bomber, and tactical fighter level aircraft.
The length of the white line indicates the length of years in service when divided into reconnaissance and tactical fighters, respectively.
4．Is that a top-secret military aircraft developed by Skunkworks on the coin?
Summary of aircraft types and regularities listed on the challenge coin
What is this mysterious silhouette of a plane? As far as I know, I've never seen a Lockheed Martin aircraft with such a silhouette.
It would be easy to claim that this is the silhouette of a future concept aircraft from Skunk Works, but it would be a stopgap. Because all of the other aircraft are "existing aircraft". In other words, if the design on the reverse side of this coin is drawn with the regularity I mentioned earlier, then it could be real, just like the other six aircraft, as follows.
It is developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
It is already in practical use and in operation by the U.S. military and the CIA.
It is a tactical fighter level aircraft, and is located to the right of the center.
It may be a multi-role fighter or fighter-bomber.
Based on the length of the white line, it is the most recent aircraft and is newer than the F-35. The first flight of the X-35 proof-of-concept aircraft was in 2000, so the aircraft was developed between 2000 and 2018?
There is a possibility that this aircraft was developed in secret and is already in existence or in operation.
This aircraft is so assertive in design that it protrudes from the circumference of the coin. However, if this silhouette is a concept plane, RQ-170 side is not a concept plane.
Even if the silhouette of this mysterious aircraft is omitted, it is still a good enough design challenge coin, and for the 75th anniversary commemorative item, I would like to draw a concept design that is close to my imagination, when I am drawing a masterpiece of commercial aircraft that I have developed, commercialized, and succeeded. Will you forgive me? It would be better not to write such a thing.
Since it's a limited internal distribution, a souvenir given only to those involved with Lockheed and Skunk Works, to the extent that the full story is not likely to be known, it's possible that he silhouetted a top-secret aircraft already developed by Skunk Works on a challenge coin with only a silhouette, silently claiming pride in its development.
5．How the RQ-170 and F-117 were developed by Skunk Works and released to the public
Developed by Skunk Works, the famous F-117, the world's first stealth fighter jet, was developed in a top-secret system comparable to the Manhattan Project; it reached the initial operational stage in 1983, but this information was not made public until November 1988.
In January 1988, Armed Forces Journal, an American military monthly magazine, published a scoop on the secret deployment of the F-117 stealth aircraft, and judging that it would be difficult to keep it secret forever, the existence of the F-117 was publicly announced for the first time on November 10, 1988. There is. Naturally, the armament and mission of the unit were considered a top secret. Even at the time of disclosure, there was only one photograph.
Next, the RQ-170, which is also depicted on the tip of this challenge coin, was almost unknown until rough photographs were taken at Kandahar Airport in 2007, and until the Iranian capture in 2011.
The RQ-170 was captured by Iran in 2011
Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan, in 2007.
RQ-170, where the rough photos were taken
Diagram of RQ-170
It remains a mystery to this day, and no information has been made public about its performance, development history, or when it was deployed in the field. The number 170 used in the code is a far cry from the sequential numbering of the RQ-1 Predator to the RQ-21 Blackjack (12 and 13 are missing), and this unconventional naming convention is a direct reference to the world's first stealth aircraft, the F-117 Knight It has been done at Hawk.
Thus, there have been and may be more skunkworks military aircraft in the past that have not been released to the public and have been put into operation in secret.
5．Is the mystery aircraft a top-secret aircraft that has not been made public?
謎の機体の拡大図
Below is a summary of what the author noticed from this silhouette.
The lack of an edge makes it look more like an aircraft designed to prioritize aerodynamic shape rather than a stealth aircraft.
Delta wing, or double delta wing like the space shuttle.
The wings do not connect smoothly to the rear of the fuselage, perhaps because of the two-dimensional nozzle-shaped engine. The possibility of an aircraft optimized for high speed ranges.
Note that one of the projects currently under development by Skunk Works is the SR-72 reconnaissance aircraft, the successor to the SR-71. However, when cross-checked with the imaginary drawing of the SR-72, which is currently available in 2019, it is not consistent silhouette-wise.
If it is a reconnaissance aircraft, it should be depicted on the left side to begin with, but if the model-specific conventions apply as they do, this aircraft depicted on the right side would be considered to be something in the nature of a fighter or attack aircraft, and since it is not a reconnaissance aircraft, it may be less likely to be an SR-72. (However, rumors exist that the SR-72 is being considered to be given bombing capabilities.
Artist's rendition of the SR-72
Sixth Generation Fighter Concept by Skunk Works
When compared to the shape of the 6th generation fighter concept by Skunk Works, the imaginary fuselage feature is a sharper and less similar shape with sharper edges to ensure stealth performance. That's not to say that the manufacturing tolerances of the coin can't make it sharper, as the F-22 and F-117 are drawn with sharper shapes.
The only similarity I know of is the D-21, a ramjet-powered supersonic reconnaissance drone launched from the M-21 (a modified version of the A-12 Blackbird) in the early days of its service. It was designed to operate in the high speed range of about Mach 3. The shape of this model is similar, but the details are different.
The D-21 on the M-21
D-21 reconnaissance drone
Could it be possible that Skunk Works has successfully developed a hypersonic unmanned bomber, a hypersonic unmanned tactical attack aircraft similar to the D-21, in secret and is being operated by the US military and others? If this one is also unmanned, it would mean that it, along with the RQ-170 unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, will literally cross the line of technology (on a coin).
From a single commemorative coin, we've dug in, but if such a top-secret aircraft is being developed, when will we see it?
Ace Combat 7 was recently released and I played it, and I had a ruthlessly difficult time fighting the unmanned fighters. Perhaps it's possible that reality already predates fiction.
