Aurora (aircraft)

[[File:Aurora x-plane 3.jpg|thumb|Just a weather balloon, nothing to see here]]
{{ufology}}
'''Aurora''', also known as the '''SR-91 Aurora''', is the popular name given to a [[urban legend|possibly fictional]] American secret hypersonic reconnaissance [[aircraft]]. There is no substantial evidence that such a plane was ever built or flown, though experimental planes similar to its alleged design have been shown to have at least been considered if not exactly in active development.<ref>Noah Shachtman, [https://archive.ph/RuJXV “SR-72″: Secret, or Sci-Fi?] Archived from ''Wired'', 18 June 2007.</ref><ref>Vago Muradian, [https://minemen.org/dashpot/DP2007-4.pdf An SR-72 In The Works?] ''Air Force Times'' via ''The Dashpot'', 18 June 2007.</ref>

== Origin ==
Rumors about the Aurora "black project" started in 1990 after ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'' magazine broke the news that the word "Aurora" had been inadvertently included in the 1985 US budget, as an allocation of $455 million for "black aircraft production".<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20060823115819/http://www.aemann.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/aircraft/black/aurora/aurora5.htm Aurora Timeline]</ref>

According to ''Aviation Week'', the Aurora project most likely referred to a group of exotic aircraft, and not to one particular airframe. The original report was [[REDACTED|blacked out]] and only the word "Aurora" was left visible, but its uncensored content allegedly [[wishful thinking|matched "expectations"]] of such a spy plane. Other sources indicate that the Aurora program from the report was a different program, and the plane may have used a different codename. However, "Aurora" has been the name that has entered popular culture in connection with this plane.

== Description ==
The Aurora aircraft was supposedly developed in the final years of the [[Cold War]] to replace the {{wpl|Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird|SR-71 Blackbird}} (retired in 1998/1999); it is claimed to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 6, and to be the source of an unexplained series of sonic booms recorded in [[California]] and [[Nevada]] beginning in mid-to-late 1991. It may (or may not) be based at the Groom Lake/[[Area 51]] secret aircraft base in Nevada, as well as {{wpl|Edwards Air Force Base|Edwards AFB|,}} California, and {{wpl|RAF Machrihanish||,}} [[Scotland]]<ref>[https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2002/04/27889.html LATEST U.S. STEALTH TECHNOLOGY MOVES TO WESTERN SCOTLAND]</ref> (closed in 2012).

It is typically believed to be a [[black triangle|black triangular craft]], with an unconventional [[methane]]-powered pulse system. Some "reports" include a pulsing sound on takeoff and [[contrails]] which looked like "doughnuts on a rope".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20010208174829/http://aurorapage.tripod.com/index2.html The Aurora Aircraft Page]</ref> This description would be consistent with that of a {{wpl|pulse detonation engine||.}}

==Fact or fiction?==
There is no hard evidence that the Aurora ever existed.<ref>http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/recon/aurora/</ref> US government officials have consistently denied such an aircraft was ever built (as they do), and former {{wpl|Skunk Works}} director Ben Rich confirmed that "Aurora" was simply the budgetary code name for the stealth bomber fly-off that resulted in the {{wpl|B-2 Spirit||.}} However, some (non-[[crank]]) industry experts still contend that Aurora, or a similar program did exist. The US military did/does actually have "black" aerospace projects, like the {{wpl|Lockheed Have Blue|Have Blue program}} of the 1970s, which resulted in the {{wpl|Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk|F-117}} stealth attack plane. Similarly, some industry experts believe that [[NASA]]'s current {{wpl|Boeing X-37|X-37}} unmanned space plane project actually operates as an Air Force black project for spying on, and potentially destroying, [[Chinese]] and [[Russian]] satellites.<ref>https://medium.com/war-is-boring/wondering-what-the-u-s-air-forces-secretive-spaceplane-can-do-history-offers-clues-9b5a30ea7084#.fj2saqn2o</ref><ref>https://medium.com/war-is-boring/did-america-start-a-robot-space-war-ade275a9ef85#.au78wnuuo</ref>

The {{wpl|Lockheed Martin SR-72|SR-72|,}} an unmanned hypersonic spy plane, ''has been'' proposed by Lockheed Martin as a successor to the retired SR-71 Blackbird, but ''only since 2007'' (more than 20 years after the "Aurora project" was "leaked"), and as of 2022 it's still just a project.

Finally, most Aurora "sightings" took place during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the USAF was developing top secret 
flying Doritos
 triangle-shaped stealth military planes such as the B-2 Spirit and the canceled {{wpl|McDonnell Douglas A-12 Avenger II|A-12 Avenger II|.}}

== See also ==
* [[Area 51]]
* [[Black helicopters]]
* [[Black triangle]]
* [[Nazi UFOs]]
* ''[[The X-Files]]'' - the Aurora project is referenced in the season 1 episode "Deep Throat"

== External links ==
* {{wpa|Aurora (aircraft)}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Aircraft]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Ufology]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]

Categories: Aircraft, Conspiracy theories, Ufology, Urban legends