Old heads and other aviation buffs remember Lockheed's SR-71 with great fondness. That aircraft was unequaled where pure, absolute speed was concerned and she was beautiful, on top of that. So I read today that Lockheed-Martin's Skunk Works is working on a follow-on aircraft, the SR-72.
Speaking of the SR-71... there are number of them on static display in aerospace museums all over the country, but none are displayed more artfully than the SR-71 at the (former) SAC Museum, just outside of Omaha. I was there in May of 2000 and took the following first-generation digital pics.
It should be obvious the SR-71 is the centerpiece of the large atrium at the museum... and the display is simply breathtaking.
Lockheed Martin Discloses Work on SR-72 Mach 6 AircraftI'm thinkin' Kelly Johnson would be proud.
Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works is developing an unmanned hypersonic strike aircraft called the SR-72 that's designed to travel at six times the speed of sound—twice the speed of the company's famed SR-71 Blackbird surveillance airplane, announced the company. The SR-72 could be operational by 2030, states the company's Nov. 1 release. "Hypersonic aircraft, coupled with hypersonic missiles, could penetrate denied airspace and strike at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour," said Brad Leland, Lockheed Martin's hypersonics program manager. "Speed is the next aviation advancement to counter emerging threats in the next several decades. The technology would be a game-changer in theater, similar to how stealth is changing the battlespace today," he said. For the past several years, Skunk Works and Aerojet Rocketdyne have been developing a method to integrate an off-the-shelf turbine engine with a supersonic combustion ramjet to power the SR-72 from standstill to Mach 6, states the release. The SR-72 design leverages the company's work on DARPA's Falcon program, which flight tested the rocket-launched Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, states the release.
Speaking of the SR-71... there are number of them on static display in aerospace museums all over the country, but none are displayed more artfully than the SR-71 at the (former) SAC Museum, just outside of Omaha. I was there in May of 2000 and took the following first-generation digital pics.
It should be obvious the SR-71 is the centerpiece of the large atrium at the museum... and the display is simply breathtaking.
Given that Lockheed always quotes 1/256 of the true price, I send your "meh" back. I propose a compromise (unlike Obama) and say, yes, you can have your SR-72, if you give up the 2000 nukes on alert in North Dakota, and say retire six nuke subs. Thus, we reduce the nuclear threat of our WMD, while still having say 100 hydrogen bombs for the fleet of SR-72's. After all, Mach 6 is not that much slower than an ICBM (sea or ground launched), and you can recall it, if half way to the target the Krauts and Japs surrender. As you know, France always starts the wars, and Americans love a good war.
ReplyDeleteOh, my. Did we get up on the wrong side of the bed today, Christiane? :-)
DeleteI think so, but I'm all better now. sip, sip.
DeleteExcellent pics of a beautiful flying machine.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dan.
DeleteOne of the GREAT bureaucratic tragedies of all time. There are STILL some intel profiles that we cannot fly in the absence of there SR-71. The SR-71 went away SIMPLY because the AF was trying to make budgetary room for the F-35 as the SR-71 came out of the AF budget while the less capable time-sensitive U-2 and satellite imagery came out of the CIA budget and the simpleton bean-counters convinced the Big Kids that the satellites and U-2-s could make up the difference--which they HAVE NOT!
ReplyDeleteI'll take you at your word, Virgil. You know more about these things than I ever did.
DeleteBuck, do you know the source of the words about "freedom is never really free"? I've tried to find out but with no success.
ReplyDeleteI spent about a half-hour this morning with Mr. Google and all I could find were more references to the plaque at the SAC Museum.
DeleteI hope you spent some time at the Udvar Hazy. That is an awesome aviation museum. I also really enjoyed the Evergreen Aviation Museum in Oregon. We spent the day there and it was good. It is the home of one of the last 3 flying SR-71s and it is set up with the canopies raised so you can look down into the cockpit.
ReplyDeleteIn re: Udvar Hazy. See my 9/03 & 9/04 posts... the SR-71 is the lead pic in the 9/04 post. I haven't been to the Evergreen museum... another item for the to-do list!
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