Actually there are no "secret " projects at all.
contrary to what some schizophrenics out there want to believe, the SAS is not realy very organised. There is not some small group of jewish bankers running the place from behind the scenes, making decisions about the future of modding, the direction it should take , what projects should and should not happen ect. Or trying to maipulate the community with information and disinformation about projects and things.
We are actualy pretty laid back and everyone gets to do exactly what they please, and take as long about it as they want.
Now, in the past, there was at one stage, mainly on another forum, a trend for guys to cobble together good looking "WIP" screenshots or ifo about stuff, so they could open a WIP topic, and use that to basically stop anyone else from doing that project. Even if they had no intention ever to finish it.
Over here we said bullshit to that, and we tell modders to feel free to do any project they feel like, even if somone else is busy with it. You see, frequenlty modding is not about "delivering the final", it is about the making of the mod.
But nowerdays, most of the good modders have ben at this for a while. The ego's are gone, those members who refuse to read guides or do any troubleshooting themselves have made damn sure that the thrill of sharing something with other players is gone, and the whole rush and sence of competition is gone. You could say, the community has grown up some.
So lost of modders simply do not announce new projects anymore. At least not in the public forums. They cannot "claim" a subject anymore by doing it, and then there is the blowback that many guys find demoralising, when a project is WIP'd in public. There is firstly, always afterwards a call for updates, and "when is it ready". Now, sure it is a players right to ask, but from the point of view of someone doing this for a hobby, for free, there always comes a tipping point, where any request for updates and information no longer feels like interest, but feels like attacks. This is just human. And there is of course the "helpfull" info provided by members, and, most of it is good, but somehow there always seems to be one crazy fanatic coming out of the woodwork to say the wrong thing to you on the day you can least handle it.
So, a lot of guys these days dont announce, and feel that they can then finish the mod, or not finish it, whenever, without any pressure, real or imagined.
That is their choice. I personally never post WIP topics. But that is not because I have any problem with members, but because even untill now, and even with stuff like the modacts, I mod realy for myself. I make modacts for myself,and buttons, to make my game better and my life easier. I love these planes, I love the history. If I had no forum, and no friends, I'd still be doing this. So I find I make a mod, finish it and then go "hey, I should post this, someone else might like it too".
Then there are guys like ...... who retire from modding to get away from any pressure, and who now make mods purely as technical excersises, to "push " the game engine. And the results of what these guys like him do often are of great value.
So, there is not realy any secret projects, that is being kept secret by conspiracy. But there are a number of projects I know of that are simply not public yet, and some of them may never get finished, and never be. There are no secret packs and stuff we are working on to blow everyone away or to corner the"market" (lol) or any such stuff. Pretty much, when something gets done, it gets released, and damn the torpedos.
So, dont worry or loose sleep about what modders may or may not be doing. I have long ago given up on doing it. Hell, mostly I am not even realy sure what I am doing myself. Know that if ever stuff gets finsihed, you will see it.