Cold War Phantom: Drone Prototype SPECTER-1X

Project Specter-1X is an autonomous hypersonic drone platform developed under the Leviathan Directive, part of a larger alternate-history and book concept I'm exploring. The setting imagines a world where WWII never fully ended and Cold War-era tech advanced down a stranger, more analog path. This aircraft was designed for high-speed recon and limited strike missions, powered by twin-cycle ramjets with oxidizer injection and capable of reaching speeds beyond Mach 4.2. Navigation was handled through a vacuum tube-based guidance suite, with ROM stack logic and mission data stored on core rope memory - technologies reimagined at the bleeding edge of 1960s defense thinking. The visual design was first blocked out in Blender, then refined in Photoshop using photobashing, custom brushwork, and decal assets sourced from ArtStation. This piece is part of an ongoing series exploring a darker, tech-stalled aerospace age where machines were fast and guidance was analog.