Northrop Special Operations Low-Intensity Combat Mission Aircraft (SOLICMA?)

Re: Stealth Transport Cockpit Mockup

Gotta say, something about this doesn't quite pass the smell test.

1) Why would pictures from this undisclosed SOLIC aircraft be mixed in with cleared for release B-2 images? And if it was an inadvertant disclosure, why would they admit it? So easy to just say something like "during the Advanced Technology Bomber development effort, we explored a variety of possible concepts" and dismiss this as just a road not taken. This suggests to me that it's probably an intentional disclosure that they were preparing to release anyway. That's the only logical reason for the pictures to be stored in a place where they could be put in the wrong video.

2) Assuming it is this SOLIC aircraft, are we convinced it's a transport? The "canopy severence" item suggests ejection seats to me. But transports generally don't have ejection seats -- if the pax in back can't get out in an emergency, why should the guys up front have the option? And transports with tandem seating are also unusual. If you have enough fuselage width for pax, you have room for side-by-side seating up front.
 
Re: Stealth Transport Cockpit Mockup

Are we sure this isn't just an early B-2 cockpit concept? The physical contours limited by the aircraft's design look just like the left side of the B-2, including the canopy release. Obviously there is more glass in today's B-2, but the two main/center stacked displays seem identical, as well.
 
Re: Stealth Transport Cockpit Mockup

This is a classic case of believe nothing of what you read, and only half of what you see. If you look closely at the glare shield in the far right picture, it appears to be mirrored to the right indicating side-by-side seating. Moreover, do you really think the Northrop guys would really respond, "oooppppsssss, my bad, you caught us, this is really the cockpit of our secret transport ............... only in the dreams of the wishful thinkers.
 
Tyler clearly says:

"I reached out to Northrop Grumman about the puzzling photo and what I got back confirmed my suspicions."
Well, I guess he didn't made designation "Special Operations Low-Intensity Combat Mission Aircraft" up.

Remember the case with X-44A. Many didn't believe him then.
 
djfawcett said:
This is a classic case of believe nothing of what you read, and only half of what you see. If you look closely at the glare shield in the far right picture, it appears to be mirrored to the right indicating side-by-side seating.
Moreover, do you really think the Northrop guys would really respond, "oooppppsssss, my bad, you caught us, this is really the cockpit of our secret transport ............... only in the dreams of the wishful thinkers.
Click to expand...

They do that sometimes. Quite often recently.
 
flateric said:
Tyler clearly says:

Remember the case with X-44A. Many didn't believe him then.
Click to expand...

He's been FOS so many times it's easy to understand why.
 
The writer's motivation to contact Northrop was driven by the notion that the cockpit was single seat or tandem. I find it rather obvious that it is side-by-side, and the center post is no more than a template to set boundary conditions. Given all things being said, the writer either has a vivid imagination or the Northrop guys are just having "fun". Since I know some of the guys, I suspect they are having "fun".
 
I meant to mention this a while back, but Tony Chong covers the SO/LIC Mission-Oriented Combat Aircraft (SMOCA) project in his fantastic book, Flying Wings and Radical Things. SMOCA was, apparently, Northrop's response to DARPA's special ops/low-intensity conflict request in 1990. The book contains a notional design that apparently doesn't represent the actual configuration.

I highly recommend picking up a copy if you haven't already!

Unless I missed something, it seems that there were at least two major Special Ops transport studies going on in the late 80s/early 90s - SOFA (which produced STOVL/VTOL concepts like Senior Citizen and Lockheed's mysterious Thunder Cat), and SMOCA/SOFTA (focused on STOL concepts and innovations such as modular configurations and parachute-launched capsules}.

I'm wondering if this was Northrop's equivalent to the LTV/Scaled concepts found in this thread: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/th...ps-forces-transport-aircraft-proposals.20555/
 

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