Aviation Week outs successor to SR 71 "BlackBird" . This one can do Mach 6 and is armed...!

Gizmondo ^

[Jack Hydrazine]

I had a teacher who was a retired air traffic controller. He got the heads up at the beginning of his shift that the SR-71 would be coming through their airspace. When it does the speed is always shown as ‘SC’ - speed classified. All he did was put a couple of tick marks indicating a specific distance on his radar screen and timed it. He said it was doing right at 3500 kts ground speed. That’s about Mach 5. Of course it’s official top speed is Mach 3.

Here’s an interesting part of a wiki entry about the SR-71.

“Around Mach 3, the increased heating from the shock cone compression, plus the heating from the compressor fans, was enough to get the core air to high temperatures, and little fuel could be added in the combustion chamber without melting the turbine blades. This meant the whole compressor-combustor-turbine set-up in the core of the engine provided less power, and the Blackbird flew predominantly on air bypassed straight to the afterburners, forming a large ramjet effect.[25][45][46] The maximum speed was limited by the specific maximum temperature for the compressor inlet of 800 °F (427 °C). 1990s studies of inlets of this type indicated that newer technology could allow for inlet speeds with a lower limit of Mach 6.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_SR-71_Blackbird

I’m sure this new bird can go a minimum of Mach 6.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Considering that it has been 50+ years since their inception it might be possible that it could go into LEO.

[Tallguy]

The top speed of the SR-71 was limited by the ability of certain components to handle the heat at MACH 3+ speeds. The engines were capable of more. It’s all about material science.

[DoughtyOne]

It would be hard to argue against your point, but I will say this. I firmly believe something replaced the SR-71 Blackbird. They were testing in over the Western United States in the 90s. It’s tell-tail engine exhaust dynamics were a dead give-away.

That is what needs to be replaced now IMO. If this is true, and it may not be..., but if it is they did keep it quiet even in these unsettling times.

[DoughtyOne]

I will agree with that. I am not canceling the idea that air breathing can’t transition to something else at some point in the flight plan though. Ideally, that’s were we need to head if we are truly going to have a space plane. I’m not in the field, so take that with a grain of salt. I think you already knew that though. Hope things are going good for you.

[Wordkraft]

I remember seeing SR-71 fly-bys at the Reno Air Races. Truly awesome!

[DoughtyOne]

IMO, we never knew what the true capabilities of the SR-71 blackbird were. Even that last flight from Los Angeles to Washington was hedging bets. We played that one pretty close to the vest, as well we should.

[Tallguy]

I think that the little unmanned space orbiter is your ‘replacement’ for the SR-71. It’s stealthy. It can change orbits so it can be re-tasked. And it doesn’t require special air tanking support missions. Oh and you don’t have to fight the aerodynamics of higher MACH numbers in the vacuum of space.

Just not as sexy as the SR-71 — the 60’s muscle car of aircraft.

[Into the Vortex]

I would think that satellite and drone capabilities would render this platform moot. Of course my thinking has been proven moot more than once.

[DoughtyOne]

Could be. I still think they like the idea of men in the mix.

It’s all conjecture, to be sure.

[bmwcyle]

Most likely has been flying for years.

[DoughtyOne]

Thought some of you might enjoy seeing a vapor-trail I photographed last Christmas day (2012).

I walked outside my parents home in La Crescenta, California, and I looked up to see this.

right click view to see full size.

Here are two other photos:

LINK
LINK

[miliantnutcase]

I wonder how many passes over the Soviet Union they made. Of course it would never have been acknowledged.

[no-s]

The SR-71’s top speed is still classified.

You can find some similar parts on X-15s that melted at mach 6. You have to use the sort of materials intended for RVs at that point. There was a project to test tips and fins made of hafnium diboride or something like similar for RV terminal guidance (SHARP?), that's the sort of materials needed.

[DesScorp]

I’ll believe it’ll fly when I see it. Lockheed has had a lot of problems with cutting edge designs the past couple of decades. The F-22 still has bugs being worked out, the F-35 is a SNAFU, and most of all, let us not forget the abject failure of another “next level” Lockheed project: VentureStar.

[stormer]

Probably 15 years ago I was sitting in my local pub talking to one of my cronies who had been a Lockheed guy and was now working for Boeing. I knew he worked in the military division, so I said, “What do you know about Aurora?” He literally choked on his drink and ran out saying. “I don’t know you!” Never saw him again. I think he thought I was a Boeing security type that was fishing for security issues. Anyway, his response told me everything I needed to know.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks njslim, nice extra to APoD and X-Planets.

Contrary to the frequent denials (even around here), LBJ ordered the tooling and dies for the SR-71 destroyed, pursuant to Soviet complaints and fears that the info would wind up being used against us — the same thinking that prevented US use of the Browning in WWI. An idea had been pitched to develop follow-ons to the SR-71, including a Mach 3 fighter and Mach 3 strategic bomber. Some of the SR-71s were “culled” as parts sources, and the remaining planes were fanatically maintained.

At least one idiot commander tried to get them mothballed because, just before takeoff, they leak fuel (there are tiny slots in the corrugated alloy skin of the thing, to prevent deformation of the surfaces as they reach operational temperature, which happens in a matter of minutes; the slots close from the heat; and in case I’d not mentioned it, Clarence was a blankin’ genius.), and it was messing up his pretty runway. He probably arranges flowers for the Obama White House now.

Ben Rich succeeded Kelly Johnson at the helm of Lockheed’s Skunk Works, but the R&D for the SR-71 successor was started long ago. The SR-71 itself was designed without a contract, as the foresaw the gap between the U2 (also from the Skunk Works) and satellites. Rich pulled some leftover cold-war supersonic surveillance drones (the others had been tested in east to west overflights of China), going back to that successful engine design for a test bed.

Due to the general interest in Area 51 (ever wonder why the UFO community had its attention directed toward that base, and by whom? The crashed UFO debris storage facilities are nowhere near there), Joe-average journalism photographers managed to watch the skies pretty well, and from time to time spotted some of the prototypes. When Rich was asked about one of the photos, he blandly answered, you’d have to be using cryofuels to get a contrail like that. Heh.

From time to time over the years, these “Tokyo Express” type vehicles have appeared in speculative cover stories in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, etc, while the “real” research coverage wound up being done on NASA hypersonic X-vehicles (failures, mostly) of various kinds. Also, the British Skylon has been written about here and there, here’s a couple recent from PopSci and FR:

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-08/runway-orbit-and-back

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-11/hypersonic-spaceplane-engine-grabs-another-esa-endorsement-moving-swiftly-toward-prototype

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2964097/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2724559/posts

[TomasUSMC]

it’s about time....we had mach 3 strategic bombers back in the 1960s......

[B4Ranch]

Common sights above Nevada.

[tanknetter]

I remember seeing an interview of an SR-71 pilot who was flying over Libya on a reconnaissance flight.

He said his warning lights went on showing that missiles had been fired at him. He opened it up and he said the plane just kept going faster and faster. The way he explained it made you think the plane was a living thing and just wanted to go fast and was only happy when it was.

This is the story you're thinking of

There are a lot of other cool SR-71 stories as well. Like the "booming" missions across Nicaragua to freak out the Sandinistas and let them know we could own them anytime we wanted. Or the one about the flight over the Western US where the RSO ends a radio p*ssing contest over speed by having LA ATC point out to a sh*t hot F/A-18 pilot that there was another aircraft out there going nearly four times as fast as he was.

THIS, tho, is my favorite. It's too good not to share here ...

So it was with great surprise, when at the end of one of my presentations, someone asked, “What was the slowest you ever flew in the Blackbird?” This was a first. After giving it some thought, I was reminded of a story that I had never shared before, and relayed the following.

I was flying the SR-71 out of RAF Mildenhall, England, with my back-seater, Walt Watson; we were returning from a mission over Europe and the Iron Curtain when we received a radio transmission from home base. As we scooted across Denmark in three minutes, we learned that a small RAF base in the English countryside had requested an SR-71 flypast. The air cadet commander there was a former Blackbird pilot, and thought it would be a motivating moment for the young lads to see the mighty SR-71 perform a low approach. No problem, we were happy to do it. After a quick aerial refueling over the North Sea, we proceeded to find the small airfield.

Walter had a myriad of sophisticated navigation equipment in the back seat, and began to vector me toward the field. Descending to subsonic speeds, we found ourselves over a densely wooded area in a slight haze. Like most former WWII British airfields, the one we were looking for had a small tower and little surrounding infrastructure. Walter told me we were close and that I should be able to see the field, but I saw nothing. Nothing but trees as far as I could see in the haze. We got a little lower, and I pulled the throttles back from the 325 knots we were at. With the gear up, anything under 275 was just uncomfortable. Walt said we were practically over the field—yet, there was nothing in my windscreen. I banked the jet and started a gentle circling maneuver in hopes of picking up anything that looked like a field.

Meanwhile, below, the cadet commander had taken the cadets up on the catwalk of the tower in order to get a prime view of the flypast. It was a quiet, still day with no wind and partial gray overcast. Walter continued to give me indications that the field should be below us, but in the overcast and haze, I couldn’t see it. The longer we continued to peer out the window and circle, the slower we got. With our power back, the awaiting cadets heard nothing. I must have had good instructors in my flying career, as something told me I better cross-check the gauges. As I noticed the airspeed indicator slide below 160 knots, my heart stopped and my adrenalin-filled left hand pushed two throttles full forward. At this point, we weren’t really flying, but were falling in a slight bank. Just at the moment that both afterburners lit with a thunderous roar of flame (and what a joyous feeling that was), the aircraft fell into full view of the shocked observers on the tower. Shattering the still quiet of that morning, they now had 107 feet of fire-breathing titanium in their face as the plane leveled and accelerated, in full burner, on the tower side of the infield, closer than expected, maintaining what could only be described as some sort of ultimate knife-edge pass.

Quickly reaching the field boundary, we proceeded back to Mildenhall without incident. We didn’t say a word for those next 14 minutes. After landing, our commander greeted us, and we were both certain he was reaching for our wings. Instead, he heartily shook our hands and said the commander had told him it was the greatest SR-71 flypast he had ever seen, especially how we had surprised them with such a precise maneuver that could only be described as breathtaking. He said that some of the cadet’s hats were blown off and the sight of the planform of the plane in full afterburner dropping right in front of them was unbelievable. Walt and I both understood the concept of “breathtaking” very well that morning, and sheepishly replied that they were just excited to see our low approach.

As we retired to the equipment room to change from space suits to flight suits, we just sat there—we hadn’t spoken a word since “the pass.” Finally, Walter looked at me and said, “One hundred fifty-six knots. What did you see?” Trying to find my voice, I stammered, “One hundred fifty-two.” We sat in silence for a moment. Then Walt said, “Don’t ever do that to me again!” And I never did.