Black project
A black project is a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by a government.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref>
United States and black projects
.jpg){kind=link}
In the United States, the formal term for a black project is an unacknowledged special access program (SAP). Black projects receive their funding from the black budget.Template:Citation needed
Black projects in the United States are authorized by the CIA Act, allowing the CIA to appropriate money without congressional justification.<ref name=":0" />
Black projects can include weapons, reconnaissance systems, and satellite operations.<ref name=":0" />
The US depends on private defense contractors to develop and build military equipment. The two most notable examples are Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. The R&D department of Lockheed Martin is commonly referred to as Skunk Works; it is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified R&D programs, and exotic aircraft platforms.Template:Citation needed
Two well known sites for testing of black projects are the Nevada Test site and Area 51.Template:Citation needed
In 2007 the US was estimated to spend about $30 billion in 2007 dollars annually on black projects.<ref name=":0" /> In 2011 it was about $56 billion.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> However, black project funding is deliberately obscured, and some is hidden through the budgets of other agencies.
Previously unacknowledged
Below are examples of previously unacknowledged black projects categorized per country.
China
- Nuclear weapons program
- Xian H-20 subsonic stealth bomber aircraft
France
North Korea
Russia
- Kh-47M2 Kinzhal air-launched "Iskander" ballistic missile
South Africa (apartheid-era)
- Project Coast chemical and biological weapons program
- Atlas Carver multirole fighter aircraft
Soviet Union
- Nuclear weapons program
- Sputnik 1 artificial Earth satellite
- Typhoon submarine
- Vostok programme human spaceflight project
Sweden
- Nuclear weapons program (was never completed)
Switzerland
United Kingdom
- Ultra WW2 Decryption Programme
- Tube Alloys WW2 Nuclear Weapons Programme
- High Explosive Research Post-war Nuclear Weapons programme
- Zircon Signals Intelligence Satellite
United States
- Boeing Bird of Prey stealth technology demonstrator
- Hughes Mining Barge CIA project authorized 1974 to raise sunken Soviet submarine K-129
- KH-11 Kennen reconnaissance satellite
- Lockheed CL-400 Suntan high-altitude, high-speed reconnaissance prototype
- Lockheed Have Blue stealth technology demonstrator
- Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground-attack aircraft
- Lockheed Martin Polecat unmanned aerial vehicle
- Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel
- Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird Mach 3.3 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
- Lockheed Martin SR-72
- Lockheed U-2 very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft
- Manhattan Project Nuclear weapons program
- Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
- Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber
- Northrop Grumman RQ-180 stealth unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) surveillance aircraft
- Northrop Tacit Blue
- RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance UAV
- Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter
- Lockheed Sea Shadow (IX-529) experimental stealth US Navy ship
See also
- Black operation
- Compartmentalization (information security)
- Open secret
- List of established military terms
- List of government and military acronyms
- Glossary of military abbreviations
- List of U.S. security clearance terms