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The Pentagon's Supersonic, Shape-Shifting Assassin

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the this-switchblade-illegal-to-carry-also dept.

grammar fascist writes "CNN reports that Northrop Grumman is under contract to build a new supersonic, shape-shifting bomber by 2020. The main innovation is in its single, rotating wing. From the article: '[It] will cruise with its 200-foot-long wing perpendicular to its engines like a normal airplane. But just before the craft breaks the sound barrier, its single wing will swivel around 60 degrees (hence the name) so that one end points forward and the other back. This oblique configuration redistributes the shock waves that pile up in front of a plane at Mach speeds and cause drag. When the Switchblade returns to subsonic speeds, the wing will rotate back to perpendicular.'"

1 of 489 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Budget Priortites by gb506 · · Score: 1, Troll
    so what were the motivations of your fine leaders when they supported hussein? when he dropped gas on his own people were you not supplying him (among countless other foul dictators) with weaponry?

    Could have had something to do with the geopolitical climate of the time, don't you think, AC? Oh, wait, you were probably cheering for the Red side back then, weren't ya! Sorry the worker's paradise thing didn't quite pan out for you...

    no weapons of mass destruction...whoops
    no link with 911...ok so that was a lie

    Jury is still out on WMD, but they sure seem to be finding a lot of undeclared pre-gulf war chemical munitions, aren't they! And nobody in the administration even feels the need to promote that. Oh, yeah, makes me wonder, too, about why all of those Russian scientists were running around Iraq before the war... And all of that truck traffic into Syria...

    Nobody ever said Saddam was in on 9/11. Nobody. What they said was that Saddam's govt met and discussed operational ties. Stop re-writing history.

    but hey this has nothing to do with oil and is all about human rights, forget that we've supported and continue to support regimes that trample over civil liberties.

    And you want to take the civil liberties Afghani and Iraqi people have gained away from them, post haste, don't you? Yes, yes you do, because your rabid hatred of Bush and American interests in general trumps all those women who can now vote, go to school, and show their ankles in public without being stoned to death. Such a warm and fuzzy person you are.

    never mind the fact that America is actively engaging in torture by shipping prisoners to places for that very purpose.

    Well, with pansies like you around, what other choice do we have? I mean, we're trying to avert terrorist attacks, AC, and you want to play dominoes with 'em!