Blackburn–Warmkessel drag reduction patent
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 22 August 1998 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| People | Ron Blackburn, John B. Alexander, Robert Bigelow |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 135 |
| Year | 1998 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1998 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 7 |
On 25 August 1998 the U.S. Patent Office granted Patent 5,797,563, "System for increasing the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic efficiency of a vehicle in motion", to Ronald F. Blackburn, Barry M. Warmkessel and Sonja M. Kawamoto. It describes using microwave energy to heat the air or water ahead of a moving vehicle in order to reduce drag and soften shock waves, including sonic booms.[1]
The patent
The application was filed on 1 April 1996, continuing an application from July 1995, and listed the inventors as individuals rather than a company. It proposes mounting microwave generators such as gyrotrons in a vehicle's engines and beaming tuned energy — around 60 gigahertz, the absorption peak of oxygen, for aircraft — through radomes on the nose, wing leading edges and tail. The energy would heat and partly ionise the air, creating a lower-density "bubble" that the inventors argued would weaken the build-up of pressure waves. Magnets in the wings would push the heated ions away from the surfaces to reduce heat transfer and viscous drag, and collector plates might recover electrical current. The patent also proposes heating water to form a low-density channel for ships, submarines and torpedoes. It reports no test results.[1]
Blackburn
Blackburn was a Lockheed engineer who, according to Jacques Vallée's journals and other accounts, took part in Col. John Alexander's Advanced Theoretical Physics working group in 1985, and was among the people Robert Bigelow considered recruiting for his National Institute for Discovery Science in 1996.[2][3]
Context
UFO researchers cite patents like this one as hints of exotic propulsion research by people connected to UFO study. The idea is related to earlier work on altering airflow with electric fields and plasmas, such as Northrop's 1968 electroaerodynamics experiments. The patent expired in 2015, and there is no public evidence it was turned into working technology.[1][4]
People and topics
- Lockheed Martin — The aerospace company whose Skunk Works built the U-2, SR-71 and F-117.
- Ron Blackburn — Former Air Force officer and Lockheed engineer linked to the ATP group and NIDS.
- U.S. Air Force — The U.S. military service that ran the official UFO projects from 1947 to 1969.
- John B. Alexander — Retired Army colonel who organized the 1985 Advanced Theoretical Physics group and wrote UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies and Realities.
- Advanced Theoretical Physics group — Advanced Theoretical Physics group
- Robert Bigelow — Businessman who founded NIDS and Bigelow Aerospace and ran the AAWSAP contract.
- NIDS — Robert Bigelow's research institute (1995–2004) that studied UFOs and other anomalies.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- CSETI on unacknowledged special access programs (22 August 1998) — CSETI says a covert group using unacknowledged programs manages the UAP issue.
- Area 2 encounters at Nellis (October 1998) — A security airman at a Nevada nuclear depot describes a UAP encounter.
See every 1998 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- US Patent 5,797,563, Google Patents · patents.google.com · archived copy
- "ATP aka Secret Onion", Anomaly Archives · anomalyarchives.org · archived copy
- "Jacques Vallée on the National Institute for Discovery Science", UFOs Scientific Research (May 2019) · ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "Aerodynamics: charged aircraft", Time (2 Feb 1968) · time.com · archived copy
- Blackburn patent document — UFO Scans · ufoscans.com · archived copy
- patentimages.storage.googleapis.com · patentimages.storage.googleapis.com · archived copy
- jerrypippin.com · jerrypippin.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Skunk Works — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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