In the United States a black project is a classified military/defense project, unacknowledged by the government, military personnel, and defense contractors. Familiar examples of U.S. military aircraft developed as black projects are the F-117 stealth fighter and B-2 stealth bomber, which were highly classified and denied to exist until ready to be announced to the public.
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Legal Issues
Black programs have been criticized[attribution needed] for violating the Receipts and Expenditures clause of the United States Constitution. Article I, Section 9, clause 7 of the United States Constitution requires the government to publish a "regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money".
Money issues
Because black programs are not disclosed as part of the United States official budget, critics contend that this violates the United States Constitution. Partially to dissuade critics, the United States Department of Defense sets aside a large portion of their annual budget as "the black budget". This money is said to be divided in undisclosed portions among all black projects so that a record of how much public money is expended in undisclosed ways will still be publicly available.
Previously classified black projects
- B-2 Spirit stealth bomber
- Boeing Bird of Prey technology demonstrator
- F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter
- KH-11
- SR-71 Blackbird
- Lockheed U-2
- Lockheed Martin Polecat
- Northrop Tacit Blue
- QT-2 Prize Crew; silent, slow, low flying night reconnaissance aircraft
- YF-23A ATF Program
Currently classified black projects
- SR-91 Aurora hypersonic spy aircraft
- KH-13 spy satellite
- RQ-3 Dark Star high altitude reconnaissance aircraft
