A black project is a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

, military personnel, or contractors. Examples of

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

military aircraft developed as black projects include the

Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational aircr ...

stealth attack aircraft and the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, both of which were highly classified and publicly denied until they were ready to be announced to the public. In the United States, the formal term for a black project is '' special access program'' (''SAP''). The money that funds these projects is called the ''

black budget A black budget or covert appropriation is a government budget that is allocated for classified or other secret operations of a nation. The black budget is an account expenses and spending related to military research and covert operations. The ...

''.

Examples

United States

Previously classified

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

stealth bomber *

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System ( ...

stealth helicopter *

Boeing Bird of Prey The Boeing Bird of Prey was a black project aircraft, intended to demonstrate stealth technology. It was developed by McDonnell Douglas and Boeing in the 1990s.

stealth technology demonstrator * F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground-attack aircraft *

KH-11 Kennen The KH-11 KENNEN (later renamed CRYSTAL,p.199-200 then Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL System, and codenamed 1010 and Key Hole) is a type of reconnaissance satellite first launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in December 1 ...

reconnaissance satellite * SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3.3 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft *

Lockheed CL-400 Suntan Suntan was the code-name of a prototype reconnaissance aircraft program, with the goal of creating a much faster and higher-altitude successor to the U-2, enabled by the use of liquid hydrogen (LH2) as aircraft fuel. The program was cancelled ...

high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance prototype *

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft *

Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the USAF has released few details ...

Lockheed Martin Polecat The Lockheed Martin Polecat (company designation P-175) was an unmanned aerial vehicle by Lockheed Martin. It was developed by the company's Advanced Development Programs division in Palmdale, California. Design and development Designated P-17 ...

unmanned aerial vehicle * Northrop Tacit Blue *

Operation Cyclone Operation Cyclone was the code name for the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) program to arm and finance the Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1992, prior to and during the military intervention by the USSR in suppor ...

* RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance UAV * Lockheed Sea Shadow (IX-529) experimental stealth US Navy ship * Hughes Mining Barge CIA project authorized 1974 to raise sunken Soviet submarine K-129 * SR-72 stealth reconnaissance UAV, confirmed by Lockheed Martin in October 2013. Speculated or classified * Stealth Blimp Reconnaissance platform *

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

* TR-3

People's Republic of China

Xian H-20 The Xian H-20 (; alternatively Xian H-X) is a projected subsonic stealth bomber design of the People's Liberation Army Air Force. It is referred to as a strategic project by the People's Liberation Army. The H-20 will be the first dedicated stra ...

subsonic stealth bomber aircraft

South Africa

Project Coast Project Coast was a 1980s top-secret chemical and biological weapons (CBW) program instituted by the apartheid-era government of South Africa. Project Coast was the successor to a limited postwar CBW program, which mainly produced the lethal age ...

Atlas Carver An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographi ...

multirole fighter aircraft

References