Background on the B-21 On February 26, 2016, the United States Air Force announced the “next generation” bomber, the B-21. Although not much is known, they did issue a press release: Air Force reveals B-21 Long Range Strike Bomber WASHINGTON (AFNS) — Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James revealed the first rendering of the Long Range Strike Bomber, designated the B-21, at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium Feb. 26 in Orlando, Fla., and announced the Air Force will be taking suggestions from Airmen to help decide the name of the bomber. “This aircraft represents the future for our…
Author: John Greenewald
Background This sampling of newly released saucer-type aircraft documents contain detailed technical data and drawings related to the work undertaken by AVRO Aircraft Limited for the Air Force under Project 1794. Project 1794 was interested in designing and testing a proposed supersonic vertical take-off and landing saucer type aircraft in 1957-58. The Air Force Declassification Office declassified these documents in June 2001 and the National Declassification Center, National Archives, just recently approved them for public release. Below are direct links to four documents. Declassified Documents Project Planning Report Project 1794, February 1957 [124 Pages, 22.6MB ] Project Planning Report Project…
Background The Apollo program was a human spaceflight program undertaken by NASA during the years 1961-1975 with the goal of conducting manned moon landing missions. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced a goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. It was accomplished on July 20, 1969 by the landing of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, with Michael Collins orbiting above during the Apollo 11 mission. Five other Apollo missions also landed astronauts on the Moon, the last one in 1972. Document Archive Apollo Experience Report – Protection Against Radiation, March 1973 [19…
The Background This fictitious plan was created by junior military officers undergoing training related to the Department of Defense’s Joint Operational Planning and Execution System (JOPES), the formalized process by which the Department conducts all contingency planning and execution. In an effort to learn the JOPES process, and to do so in a more interesting way, the students were assigned this completely fictitious scenario and directed to use JOPES to develop a written contingency plan. Using this fictitious scenario avoided concerns over the use of classified information, it resolved sensitivity to using real-world nations or scenarios, and it better engaged…
Background This document was discovered as a reference in another government records. I then filed a FOIA request for the report, and it took more than 5 years to track down the office that had it. It has now been reviewed and released to The Black Vault. You can download it below. Excerpt The objective of this analysis is to define and assess the vulnerabilities that might exist in prospective Soviet Charged Particle Beam Weapon (CPBW) systems. This analysts will then establish the technological base required before countermeasure efforts can be pursued to negate such new weapon systems. Of primary concern in this effort is…