Official Confirmation of Aurora?

A little while back, I was sent an email with a couple of images attached. They show an article from "Popular Science" magazine - showing an article on Lockheed Martin's plans for a Box Wing air-to-air refuelling tanker aircraft. What's unusual about the picture is it shows a black, triangular aircraft...

Blow up of the 'Black Triangle'

Very interesting...! Well, a couple of possibilities arise.

1. Its a genuine image, produced by Lockheed Martin and released either accidentally or deliberately.
Seems highly unlikely, given how well they've maintained secrecy around their other black projects.

2. Its a fake.
While this is the most obvious explanation, it's hard to form an opinion without seeing a better quality image. The cloud pattern seems to have been extended outwards, which would be quite difficult to accomplish, especially with the graduated blue underneath the clouds. However, it is possible, but would be difficult - not impossible

On the Lockheed Martin site, you can find an image which is very close to the one in the article.

(C) 2000 Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company.
While it's obviously different, in terms of the placing of the aircraft, the cloud background is the same, but it appears to be cropped down from a larger image. So, is it a genuine image from Lockheed Martin? I don't know - the source of the image would need to be established first.

Make up your own mind - in my opinion, it's a clever fake, but I have been wrong before...

(If you know which magazine the image is from, please contact me.
If you're the publisher, apologies for using it without asking permission first. If you are the person who put the image together, definitely get in touch!
And if you work for Lockheed Martin, and know more about this, I'd really like to talk to you!)

Update:
I was recently contacted by someone with more information on the black aircraft shown above.
"After reading thru an issue of "Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Horizons" magazine, I saw a computer generated picture of a familiar-looking, triangular aircraft with no tail. In the article, the plane was described as "LSRA," or long-range strike aircraft."

You can find this image and the associated article at:
http://www.afrlhorizons.com/Briefs/Sept02/VA0210.html.

Compare the image of the aircraft in the AFRL Horizons article, and the one in the blow-up from the magazine picture, and you'll see that they are one and the same. My guess is that the picture on your site was created by someone either at AFRL or Lockheed Martin to use in a presentation, and it was later leaked.
Is it Aurora? Almost certainly not. But it does give some insight into the inner workings of the USAF and Lockheed Martin, and rules out the 'Fake' option.

Contact: aemann@blueyonder.co.uk