The SR-91 “Aurora”: The Plane that Doesn’t Exist…

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Not sure if it's true or not, but when Kelly Johnson (SR-71 designer) died in 1990, people said he told them we would be blown away by the stuff we were working on, back in 1990.

So, the one piece of evidence that I consider most telling is the KC-135Q tanker aircraft. They were dedicated to carrying JP-7 fuel for the SR-71. When they retired the SR-71, they did not retire the KC-135Q tankers. So, there was still something flying at that time which used JP-7. We don't know what it was, but that fuel is so hard to ignite and contains so much energy when it does ignite, that there's really only one use for it -- high supersonic or ultrasonic flight by aircraft like the SR-71. That's all I've got.

You failed to mention: the SR71 was officially announced to exist at the same time as it's retirement being announced. The whole program stayed secret for almost 30 years.

I knew a retired SR71 pilot in the 1990's (now deceased) and he would not give up any information about the Blackbird except what was already known. He did mention that the U.S. government was working on a replacement for decades while the Blackbird was still flying and they are always researching the "next aircraft" to replace the newest ones. eg: when the F22 first went into production, they were already drawing up it's replacement. They think of future generations of aircraft while they are still developing current ones. The 1 thing he did tell me was that ramjet and scramjet technologies are no secret and have been in development for a very long time as well as pulse detonation to conserve fuel once you reach the momentum of hypersonic flight at altitude. I assume he probably meant well over 100,000 feet where the atmosphere is much thinner. You are correct that a spy plane will always be in the U.S. inventory because they can be used in a pinch and being at a lower altitude than a satellite, their photos are a much higher resolution.

The fact that the SR-71 flew for years in secret makes me believe this SR-91 exists in some shape or form

I’m sure it exists, I grew up near Edward’s Airforce Base and lived in neighborhoods with all kinds of people who worked at Skunkworks and it was kind of an open secret. We would hear the sonic booms all the time and joke “there goes the plane that doesn’t exist. Did you hear anything? I didn’t hear anything.”

In the 90s, I was working as a sparky in New Malden for BAE systems. On the 9th floor, it was divided into sections, Project Aurora Flight systems etc etc. Didn't really pay any attention until one day I was sitting in the Tearoom eating a bacon sarnie and reading the paper. When I came across an article saying 'BAE systems deny all knowledge of project Aurora'

I was an en route air traffic controller in the southwestern US from 1980 on. I worked the F-117 aircraft in early testing and later training missions for deployment in the Middle East. I worked SR-71s weekly. U-2 aircraft as well. Our radar equipment and associated automated beacon interpreters were capable of accurately determining the speed of beacon tracked aircraft under positive control. I can say the top speed of of SR-71 aircraft I worked was greater than any published speed today. On one shift I noticed an strange untracked primary radar signal (actual radar skin reflection vs. beacon interrogator system typically used by all aircraft including the military. It caught my eye on the radar scope as it had quickly transited the airspace I was controlling, at roughly 2-4x the speed of the SR-71. I thought it was probably an equipment anomaly but noted the course of the target would place it over northern Arizona just south of the Mojave military aircraft testing area the F-117s operated out of with the track projected to continue east near Albuquerque and on to Amarillo, Texas. On break shortly afterwards I was outside the facility when I noticed a strange west-east contrail that had puffy blobs at regular intervals. This was the expected “soap on a rope” contrail of a scramjet engine. I have no doubt what I saw on radar and later, the associated contrail, was a hypersonic test aircraft using scramjet propulsion. Either the aircraft was only a test bed and never fully developed for deployment, or it has been highly successful and remains classified. Probably the former. So many stories about working he F117 before it was declassified and the problems it created for air traffic control due to very unusually performance characteristics as well. And yes, in the USA, all aircraft operating above 18,000msl are under civilian air traffic control.

In the late 1980s I was a USAF officer assisting the Saudi Air Force with the development and fielding of a state-of-the-art air defense system for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It was called PEACE SHIELD. The lead contractor was Boeing, and Hughes was a primary subcontractor. The program was so massive and technologically advanced that we had quite a few contractors (beltway bandits) acting as advisors to support us. Most of them were former or retired Air Force radar operators and air combat controllers. As was the custom on our many trips to Seattle to visit the Boeing facility in Kent, I was sitting in a hotel bar one evening with five of these former scope dopes I had gotten to know rather well. As the drinks flowed, each one tried to top the last one's story of Soviet bomber intercepts, remote deployments, and so forth. Eventually the topic of Aurora came up. Each man had his opinion regarding whether or not it was real, but one guy in particular told a strange and convincing story. He was manning his air defense console and tracking the usual air traffic. Each aircraft was represented on his screen as short smear lines. The longer the line, the greater the relative speed of the plane. Suddenly a track appeared out of nowhere and it was far longer than any he had ever seen, including the vaunted SR-71. He immediately reported it and waited for confirmation and further instructions. When the reply came back, it was an order to ignore the track. He was told nothing more and never learned anything beyond what he said to us, but he believed it might have been the mysterious Aurora.

The fact that Lockheed was so excited about the SR-72 becoming technically feasible in the early 2000’s makes me think the SR-91 was either a technology demonstrator or something similar.

I'm a recently retired A.E./C.E. with a large American defense contractor. I was hired in '83 at a Georgia Tech job fair. I worked on a number of black programs during my time with the company, including at sites like Orlando, Burbank, Groom Lake, Sunnyvale and Ft. Worth. I still remember the day when, I believe it was Revell, came out with the SR-91 Aurora model airplane in the late 80's/early 90's...we were all very impressed with the design...it gave us a good chuckle. That is all.

State route 93 runs along the eastern edge of the Nevada Test Site. It is also the shortest route between Area 51 and Nellis AFB. A few years ago I was driving north on 93 when a southbound sheriff's car used a loudspeaker to tell the northbound cars to pull off and stop on the shoulder. A second sheriff's car followed shortly commanding us to stay parked on the shoulder. The next vehicle was a huge surprise! It was a large flatbed truck coming down the middle of the road with heavily tarped delta shaped object loaded on the trailer. Even with the tarp, the shape was unmistakable with a point at the front and vertical stabilizers at the rear. Oddly there was the outline of two large nozzles at the rear. I can only speculate where the "convoy" originated and where the destination was. If you live in this area long enough, you hear and see interesting things.

I like to think that Aurora really existed (perhaps still exists, hidden away in an underground facility somewhere in the deserts of California or Nevada), and that Clarence "Kelly" Johnson played a part in its early stages of development. If there was anyone who could have made Aurora happen, it was Kelly Johnson, who led the teams that developed the P-80, U-2, F-104, and SR-71. It would have been the perfect final chapter in an illustrious career.

For the Aurora to NOT exist, it means that aeronatical engineers must have sat on their hands for the past 50+ years...

In 1992, at a White House briefing by a Lockheed engineer, he referred to “an engine that’s been flight tested in an aircraft that doesn’t exist”. He wouldn’t answer anything I asked about Aurora, though.

According to a senior Air Force officer, AURORA is not a plane. Aurora is a PROGRAM and a series of craft. In the early 2000's on Sunday mornings I would see contrails looking like a knotted rope, presumably originating from Edwards or Vandenberg AFB

“I don’t believe anything is true until the government denies it“ ~ Jim Marrs

Like every thing the British do, they are real experts at air craft spotting. I absolutely have complete faith in his abilities. Thank you.

Wow glad I found this vid. I've seen this aircraft, sort of. I'll explain. In the early 90s we were in croyd bay in Devon on holiday. We were on the beach taking pics of the sunset when my wife spotted a weird con trail. The con trail was donuts on a rope, it's the only way to describe it. The trail came from the horizon behind us and headed west over the horizon in literally 30 or 40 seconds. What made this stand out more though was that it was really high, so high we couldn't see the aircraft just the trail it left. Donuts on a rope. We both saw it.