Veteran Aerospace Reporter’s Old File Cabinet Is Full Of 2000s Military Treasure

Updated Feb 7, 2018 1:46 PM EST

A few weeks ago our good friend Stephen Trimble , the big cheese over at Flightglobal’s Americas Bureau and possibly the world’s most well-traveled human, cleaned out an old file cabinet in his office. As he dug through old papers of all types, he began to notice that the cabinet was a time capsule of sorts full of military program briefs from the last decade. It almost served as a “greatest hits” of abortive defense concepts from that period, some of which sucked up billions of dollars before meeting the budgetary axe, others just couldn’t find a market, but all were fascinating to look back upon.

Stephen started to post some snap shots of his unexpected walk down memory lane on Twitter, when I quickly approached him to see if we could do a story on the best of his finds, and of course he was totally in.

Stephen described the special filing cabinet to The War Zone as such:

“That big gray file cabinet sat beside my desk, but I hadn’t opened it in at least 10 years. Technically, it wasn’t mine. It belonged to my predecessor, and he was a bit of a pack-rat. When he left the company, he also left the journalism profession, so he bequeathed his copious and neatly organized files on his somewhat dazed and ill-informed successor. I started at Flightglobal 15 years ago, and that file cabinet was my secret weapon my first few years on the job. This was in the era just before the great digitization of all important documents. Paper still was king. Those hanging, green file dividers contained all manner of necessary materials: Specifications, high-resolution photos and printed out copies of those impressively informative press conferences of yesteryear, before the industry’s corporate lawyers decided basic information about their products was intellectual property, guarded with more jealousy than the gold at Fort Knox. After a few years, of course, the relevance and currency of the information stored in that file cabinet had run its course. I had filled up an adjoining file cabinet with fresh material on a new generation of programs, like KC-X, and JSF, and JCM and, well, KC-X again. But I never threw out any of my predecessor’s stuff. A decade or so went by and eventually our company bought another company. Somebody noticed we now owned two offices in the metropolitan DC area, so one had to close down and consolidate with the other, and that was our office. So, for the first time in more than a decade, I opened my predecessor’s file cabinet. It was no longer my secret weapon. It was instead a time capsule of the aerospace industry circa the late 1990s and 2000s. File names that once bore so much importance—Comanche, MC2A, BRJ-X, LOCAAS—now seemed like lost relics of a different era, preserved on an irrelevant medium like paper. It probably took me three or four times the minimum required to go through all that period, but I didn’t mind it at all.”

“That big gray file cabinet sat beside my desk, but I hadn’t opened it in at least 10 years. Technically, it wasn’t mine. It belonged to my predecessor, and he was a bit of a pack-rat.

When he left the company, he also left the journalism profession, so he bequeathed his copious and neatly organized files on his somewhat dazed and ill-informed successor. I started at Flightglobal 15 years ago, and that file cabinet was my secret weapon my first few years on the job. This was in the era just before the great digitization of all important documents. Paper still was king.

Those hanging, green file dividers contained all manner of necessary materials: Specifications, high-resolution photos and printed out copies of those impressively informative press conferences of yesteryear, before the industry’s corporate lawyers decided basic information about their products was intellectual property, guarded with more jealousy than the gold at Fort Knox.

After a few years, of course, the relevance and currency of the information stored in that file cabinet had run its course. I had filled up an adjoining file cabinet with fresh material on a new generation of programs, like KC-X, and JSF, and JCM and, well, KC-X again. But I never threw out any of my predecessor’s stuff.

A decade or so went by and eventually our company bought another company. Somebody noticed we now owned two offices in the metropolitan DC area, so one had to close down and consolidate with the other, and that was our office. So, for the first time in more than a decade, I opened my predecessor’s file cabinet. It was no longer my secret weapon. It was instead a time capsule of the aerospace industry circa the late 1990s and 2000s.

File names that once bore so much importance—Comanche, MC2A, BRJ-X, LOCAAS—now seemed like lost relics of a different era, preserved on an irrelevant medium like paper. It probably took me three or four times the minimum required to go through all that period, but I didn’t mind it at all.”

Below is a taste of some of the briefs Stephen came across while on his cleaning mission. Taken together, these four programs sort of encapsulate the aerospace-defense industry’s failed hopes and dreams of a decade. But just because these programs never came to fruition, the concepts behind them, and some of the technologies developed for them, have benefited other programs that proved to be far more successful.

For instance, technology and some of the concepts behind Comanche ended up in the latest AH-64 Apache variants. Its stealth technology certainly influenced Sikorsky’s now legendary “Stealth Hawk” low-observable H-60 Black Hawk derivative that helped make the Bin Laden raid a success.

Low Cost Autonomous Attack System, better known as LOCAAS, was a progenitor of the swarming unmanned concepts and autonomous standoff munitions technology we see today.

Boeing’s stealthy Silent Eagle F-15 concept helped pave the way to less ambitious but still very important upgrades to existing F-15s . It also influenced the configuration and capabilities mix of the next generation F-15, the F-15 Advanced, and its derivatives that are now flying with the Saudi Air Force and will be delivered in an even more potent form to Qatar, and possibly Israel , in the coming years.

Maybe the most frustrating loss of all was the F136 alternative engine for the F-35. But GE has leveraged its development for other programs, and it will likely influence the next leap in fighter aircraft powerplants, such as those being developed for the Adaptive Engine Transition Program ran by the Air Force Research lab.

Anyway, here are those briefs, enjoy the memories!

Courtesy of Stephen Trimble

Huge thanks to Stephen Trimble for sharing his “artifacts” with us! Make sure to check out Flightglobal.com, it is one of the finest resources for aerospace information on the net.

Contact the author: Tyler@thedrive.com

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更新于美国东部时间2018年2月7日下午1:46

几周前，我们的好朋友斯蒂芬·特林布尔（Stephen Trimble）——Flightglobal美洲分部的负责人，或许也是世界上旅行经验最丰富的人——清理了办公室里的一个旧文件柜。当他翻阅各种旧文件时，他开始注意到，这个文件柜就像一个时间胶囊，里面装满了过去十年来的军事项目简报。它几乎成了那个时期失败国防概念的“精选集”，其中一些项目耗费了数十亿美元后被预算削减，另一些则根本找不到市场，但所有这些项目都令人着迷，值得回顾。

斯蒂芬开始在推特上发布一些他意外重温旧时光的照片，我很快联系了他，问我们是否可以报道他发现的最好的东西，他当然欣然同意了。

斯蒂芬向《战区》栏目这样描述这个特殊的档案柜：

“那个灰色的大文件柜就放在我办公桌旁边，但我至少十年没打开过了。严格来说，它不是我的。它属于我的前任，他有点儿囤积癖。他离开公司的时候，也离开了新闻行业，所以就把那些数量庞大、整理得井井有条的文件留给了他那个有点儿迷茫、信息匮乏的继任者。我十五年前加入Flightglobal，那个文件柜是我最初几年工作的秘密武器。那时，所有重要文件还没被数字化，纸质文件依然是王道。那些悬挂的绿色文件隔板里装着各种各样的必要资料：规格说明、高清照片，还有以前那些信息量惊人的新闻发布会的打印稿——那时候，行业律师还没把产品的基本信息划为知识产权，保护起来比诺克斯堡的黄金还严。当然，几年之后，文件柜里存储的信息的相关性和时效性就下降了。”一切都已尘埃落定。我把隔壁的文件柜装满了关于新一代项目的资料，比如KC-X、JSF、JCM，当然还有KC-X。但我从未丢弃过前任留下的任何资料。大约十年过去了，我们公司最终收购了另一家公司。有人注意到我们在华盛顿特区都市区拥有两处办公地点，于是其中一处不得不关闭并合并到另一处，而合并后的办公室就是我们自己的办公室。因此，十多年来，我第一次打开了前任的文件柜。它不再是我的秘密武器，而变成了一个记录着上世纪90年代末到本世纪初航空航天业的时光胶囊。那些曾经意义非凡的文件名——科曼奇、MC2A、BRJ-X、LOCAAS——如今却像是另一个时代的遗物，被保存在纸张这种无关紧要的介质上。我可能花了比最短时间三四倍的时间才看完所有这些资料，但我并不介意。完全没有。

“那个灰色的大文件柜放在我的办公桌旁边，但我至少有十年没打开过了。严格来说，它不是我的。它是我的前任的，他有点囤积癖。”

他离开公司时，也离开了新闻行业，于是把数量庞大、整理得井井有条的文件留给了当时还有些茫然、信息匮乏的继任者。我15年前加入Flightglobal，那几个文件柜是我最初几年工作的秘密武器。那时，所有重要文件尚未全面数字化，纸质文件仍然占据主导地位。

那些悬挂着的绿色文件分隔页里装着各种必要的材料：规格说明、高分辨率照片以及过去那些令人印象深刻的信息丰富的记者招待会的打印件。那时，该行业的公司律师还没有认定有关其产品的基本信息是知识产权，受到的保护比诺克斯堡的黄金还要严密。

当然，几年之后，那个文件柜里存放的信息的相关性和时效性就过时了。我用隔壁的文件柜装满了关于新一代程序的资料，比如KC-X、JSF、JCM，还有，嗯，KC-X。但我从未扔掉过前任留下的任何资料。

大约十年过去了，我们公司最终收购了另一家公司。有人注意到我们在华盛顿特区都市区现在拥有两处办公地点，于是其中一处不得不关闭并合并到另一处，而合并后的办公室就是我们自己的办公室。就这样，十多年来，我第一次打开了前任的档案柜。它不再是我的秘密武器，而变成了一个记录上世纪九十年代末到本世纪初航空航天业的时光胶囊。

那些曾经意义非凡的文件名——Comanche、MC2A、BRJ-X、LOCAAS——如今却像是另一个时代的遗物，被保存在无关紧要的纸张上。我可能花了比最低要求多三四倍的时间才看完那段时期的所有文件，但我一点也不觉得麻烦。

以下是斯蒂芬在清理工作中发现的一些简报。这四个项目加起来，某种程度上概括了航空航天国防工业过去十年来的种种失败的希望和梦想。但即便这些项目最终未能实现，它们背后的理念以及为此开发的一些技术，却惠及其他后来更为成功的项目。

例如，科曼奇直升机的技术和一些设计理念最终被应用到了最新的AH-64阿帕奇直升机上。它的隐形技术无疑影响了西科斯基公司如今传奇的“隐形鹰”H-60黑鹰直升机，这款低可探测性的直升机为击毙本·拉登的行动的成功做出了贡献。

低成本自主攻击系统（LOCAAS）是如今我们看到的集群无人概念和自主防区外弹药技术的鼻祖。

波音公司的隐形“静默鹰”F-15概念机为现有F-15战机的升级铺平了道路，尽管这些升级的目标可能没那么宏大，但仍然非常重要。它也影响了下一代F-15战机——F-15先进型及其衍生机型的配置和性能组合。这些战机目前正在沙特空军服役，未来几年还将以更强大的形式交付给卡塔尔，甚至可能交付给以色列。

或许最令人沮丧的损失是F-35的替代发动机F136。但通用电气已将其研发成果应用于其他项目，并且很可能会影响战斗机动力装置的下一次飞跃，例如空军研究实验室正在运行的自适应发动机过渡计划所开发的动力装置。

总之，以下是简报，请尽情回忆吧！

承蒙 Stephen Trimble 惠允

非常感谢 Stephen Trimble 与我们分享他的“珍贵资料”！请务必访问 Flightglobal.com，它是网络上最好的航空航天信息资源之一。

联系作者：Tyler@thedrive.com

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