Blake Hall
Most “concepts” or “prototypes” that look this bone white, like this peculiar looking aircraft being stored at the United States Air Force’s Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group’s junkyard in Arizona are hardly finished and merely works in progress — rough drafts that are realistically years from being flyable, usable options for the U.S. military, if at all.
But according to the expert eyes at Foxtrot Alpha, this paper plane-looking Frankenstein-ish aircraft is way more ready-to-go and finished than anyone had previously thought (it’s halfway there). The front portion of the jet — which differs from the original Hornet’s “barrel and cone” nose — is complete and clearly designed for a stealthy purpose.
No one’s sure why it’s relegated to sitting unused (and incomplete) in the desert.
As you can see, it’s not alone, as others sit idly just as it does. But those other disowned jets have the luxury of looking like regular, run-of-the-miill aerial creations. Ones that have seen their day and have been replaced by versions that are superior.
This wacky Hornet though? A different case altogether. Maybe it still has a future? Or maybe it did have a future and it was snuffed out by some Texas congressman who got his way and put this bleached hunk of metallic origami to bed.