Military project cancellations - dissapointments

I'am starting this thread as i would like to know from members countries, of any military projects of their respective countries of equipment projects started that were cancelled during development or near to production, that they think would of greatly enhanced their armed forces if they had not been cancelled for whatever reasons by their politicians.

From my own country the UK, the debacle resulting from the cancellation during the mid sixties of the highly advanced bomber the 'TSR2', just before production was due to get away, was a source of great unrest and dissapointment to the country.

 

I am extremely disappointed with the -22 and -35. As far as cancellations go, the shuttle project has stricken me with nausea.

 

Serves us right for having elected a socialist Prime Minister who was also a spy for the USSR.

 

I can think of 2 without even having to think about them.

The XB-35 and the YB-49. These were 2 different Northrop designed and built Flying Wing bombers. Instead of fully developing these aircraft, the program was dropped and the Air Force instead bought the short-loved B-50.

Makes you wonder what would have happened if they had continued these aircraft, and discovered their accidental stealth abilities.

And the Navy has had some also. One of the first I think of is the USS Kentucky, BB-66/BBG-66. Original construction started in 1944, and continued off and on for the next 14 years.

Originally intended to be the 6th Iowa class battleship, construction was frequently paused to allow other ships to take her place, or even canabalized for parts to repair other ships.

Then in around 1950, the Navy decided to try a new concept on the uncompleted Kentucky. It was proposed to remove the rear turret and replace it with an RIM-2 Terrier surface to air missile. This would have resulted in a modern air defense capability, and possible future upgrades for other missile systems.

However, the new BBG-66 would never be completed. While it was over 73% completed, it was decided to simply scrap the ship. And in 1958 it was sold and broken up.

Then there is the XM-29, a combat rifle replacement. This had advanced capabilities that no other weapon has, including a built-in 20mm grenade launcher with an adjustable fuze which could be set for air bursts.

And finally, the M-28. Called the Davy Crockett, this was a recoiless rifle that fired a nuclear warhead. Dangerous and not really smart, but really cool.

 

Shuttle Project? What is that?

 

There have been many military shuttle projects, all of them cancelled.

In fact, one of the original Space Shuttles was supposed to have been turned over to the Military. Most people do not know, but the Discovery was originally intended to be operated by the Air Force. A launch pad was even modified at Vandenberg Air Force Base (SLC-6), for the very purpose of launching shuttles. The Enterprise was even put in place there once to see how things would work.



That sure as hell is not Florida.

However, after the Challenger accident, this was cancelled, and the Discovery was instead ordered to Florida and turned over to NASA.

And there have been many other attempts, from the X-15 and X-20 to the X-37 and Blackstar.

 

The space shuttle nasa is using is too expensive.

 

Australia's Sentinel series of tanks during WW2. It was actually completed but it was decided to go with the American stuart instead.



Would have been interesting to see what it could have done with Japanese tanks. That gun is a 17lber.

 

USAF was looking into anti-matter weaponry at one point.

Of course you need an expensive atomic collider to make the stuff and containing
it was an even bigger problem...but in theory not a bad idea as gamma rays would be the only residual effect of converting matter to energy;
and doing so more efficiently than nuclear weapons.

To my knowledge, any sort of anti-matter designed weapon was scrapped because
it was cost prohibitive.

 

I don't think that would've been the reason. The entire world production of antimatter is a few atoms per year.

 

That's because we don't have a device specifically designed to make antimatter. If we made a device for that purpose, with today's technology we can make around a 1,000 times as much antimatter. It's still not going to make antimatter anything practical yet, but it's a start.

 

this was suposed to replace the AAV but its on the chopping block.

 

And yet another example of killing a replacement for a 40 year old vehicle.

The AAV (technical name AAV-7, most Marines call them AMPHTRACs) first saw service in 1972. And the last new ones rolled off the factory floor in 1985, 26 years ago.

So once again, we have an example of military hardware that is older then most of the troops that rely on it. I remember useing these back in the 1980's, and they killed yet another replacement.

But after all, we have to tighten the belt. Gotta give all that wastefull War money to those that really need it, on welfare.

 

These military project cancellations, makes you wonder just how much money has gone down the drain over the years......mind you it at least keeps some people in work, and the ideas might be picked up and used on future projects.

Thinking back to UK defence cancellations, i seem to also remember the fiasco of the Nimrod AEW in the early 1980's.

There was a reguirement form the MOD to build our own AEW system, so it was deicded to use the Nimrod, which was basically a modified Comet commercial airplane from the 1950's, and the electronics was to be designed by GEC.
I seem to remember the problem was that as the airframe was so narrow it was difficult to accomodate all the electronic systems inside.
Together, with the spec being changed all the time, GEC never managed to get the system working properly, and there were jokes around at the time, that the system couldnt diffentiate a tank from a Ford Escort on the ground.
Anyway.......it all went pear shaped with a loss of £1 billion (in the 80's), and we ended up buying the American AWACS.

 

None of us posting on this or any other web site knows what classified projects military contractors are working on, having said that some projects are just too expensive, there's only so much money man

 

Actually, totally classified military projects are very-very rare. I can only think of two of them (F-117 and B-2) where even the existance is classified.

 

No offense my man but there are literally thousands of classified projects you and me will never even know about

 

Can you name any of the past? As I said, I could think of 2, and thought of a third, the Manhattan Project. I can't think of another single one.

Because of modern contract and congressional oversight laws, truely "black projects" are largely a fantasy. Even the Stealth Fighter and Bomber projects were well known "public secrets", with both of them having games and models out long before they were ever seen by the general public (for those old enough to remember, the F-117 was known as the F-19 before it was made public).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-19

I have spent many years in the military myself, and even things that are highly classified like Patriot PAC-3, THAAD and more exotic systems like Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle and Network Centric Airborne Defense Element are pretty public. While specific information is classified, the programs themselves are not secret. And this is the same for everything else from SDI to Area 51.

If you are correct, then there must be a slew of projects that were developed in total secrecy, only to be revealed later on. Even what was thought to be "Top Secret" spy aircraft like the U-2 and SR-71 were never really secret.

So where are the examples of all these "secret research projects"?

 

From what I've read there's still files that are marked Top Secret about things from WW1. Why couldn't they have hid a project in something like that? Didn't have the internet back then for someone to twitter up an oops.

 

there's a few...very few. the Osprey was denied for years. the WASP (wingless aerial surveillance platform) is still denied. shortly after the SR-71 was retired, the USAF began denying the existence of a "many Mach" aircraft <--prob a scram jet from reports of it's contrails.

 

When I say projects I'm not talking "aircraft". Hard to spend billions on aircraft projects and keep it totally black.

I'm talking everything from handheld devices, software to HAARP. It's my personal belief ( of course I can't prove it) that there are literally thousands of deep black projects that we will never know about. Very few people have access to that sort of stuff.

 

Sure there are "secrets". MAGIC was not declassified until 1978, over 30 years after WWII ended.

However, how many R&D projects remained totally secret for that long? I can't think of a single one. Sure, portions and exact componants may remain classified for decades afterwards (Norden Bomb Sight). But the items themselves were never such a secret that their existance was unknown.

During WWII, the only real big "secret projects" were the Manhattan Program, and codebreaking operations like ULTRA and MAGIC. The biggest "deep secrets" were (and still are) information and how it was gathered, as well as how codes were protected. Not about projects like tanks, aircraft, and artillery.

Even "top secret" communications equipment like the STU-II, STU-III, KY-7, KY-57, SCIP, and STE systems are not really secret. The only secret is the code keys and algorithms used, not the equipment itself. You can even buy a modern military grade STE phone yourself if you want, they are only around $3,000 each. But you will have to make up your own crypto system to work with it.

This is why I ask for examples of military projects that were such deep secrets that their development has never been released. Because such programs are by their definition "Open Secrets". They may be developed in the short term as a secret program (the reason we call tanks Tanks is a good example of this). But this is generally very short-term, normally as part of a maskirovka.

It all goes back to the fact that for such a claim to be believeable, there have to be numerous examples of such projects in the past. And the examples are very few. Even some of the deepest secret projects (F-117, B-2) were well known for a decade or more before they were officially announced.

 

So we would have had non-stealth flying wings (they didn't have RAM or stealthy engines) that would crash all the time (because flying wings need fly-by-wire)?

There's a reason why it was cancelled. Check out its cost per unit and how much it weighed.

 

The planes were fairly stable, as long as certain maneuvers were not performed. Mostly those involved going into stalls and recovering from them.

 

Because, as we all know, maneuvering leading to stalls never happens in air combat...