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In the United States and United Kingdom, a black project is a classified military/defense project, unacknowledged publicly by the government, military personnel, and defense contractors. Familiar examples of U.S. military aircraft developed as black projects are the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter and B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which were highly classified and denied to exist until ready to be announced to the public.

Examples

Previously classified

• B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
• Boeing Bird of Prey technology demonstrator
• F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter
• KH-11
• SR-71 Blackbird
• Lockheed U-2
• Lockheed Martin Polecat
• Northrop Tacit Blue
• Operation Cyclone^[1]
• RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance UAV
• Lockheed CL-400 Suntan high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance prototype

Currently classified, but speculated

• KH-13 spy satellite
• X-41 Common Aero Vehicle military spaceplane
• SR-72 stealth reconnaissance UAV^[2]
• SR-91 Aurora hypersonic spy aircraft (unconfirmed)
• Area 51^[3][4]
• Stealth Blimp Reconnaissance platform ^{[5] [6] [7]}

See also

• Military flying saucers
• Open secret

References