the 1980’s though there’s definitely a significant leap from 5 to 6.
Posted on 11/02/2013 7:18:19 PM PDT by nuconvert
-excerpt-
Lockheed Martin has unveiled plans for a hypersonic spy plane that could fly at Mach 6, twice as fast as its famed SR-71 Blackbird, and said a missile demonstrating the new technology could fly as early as 2018.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Hypersonic research has been almost as productive as commercial wind power. Almost.
What a plane!!
If Lockheed is announcing this it means that they’ve already built it and it’s operational and they’re moving on to the next one.
I thought they retied the blackbird because they didn’t need it any longer.
What with drones and sattelites, why invest in something this expensive?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17-lC6ki8RA
Yeah, I can’t see the need, and we are well past broke already.
It’s not my field of expertise; but thought this already existed?
https://www.google.com/#q=project+aurora
“If Lockheed is announcing this it means that they’ve already built it and it’s operational and they’re moving on to the next one.”
Yup. Next gen has probably been built also. They must have the mach 6 plane in operation for the past 10 years.
The SR-71 was decades ahead of its time.
I was stationed at Mountain Home AFB in 1967 and one of those SR71 landed. It was pretty cool and never seen one before.The pilot did a real fast fly over at about 50ft and went straight up!!! WOW!!!
If I remember right I know the SR-71 had to fly around 80,000 or so, any higher and it would of been lost in space and unable to fly from lack of oxygen, and if it flew any lower the atmosphere would of tore it apart, it was a pretty narrow attitude they had to fly it at when reaching their top speed what ever that was.
“If Lockheed is announcing this it means that they’ve already built it and it’s operational and they’re moving on to the next one.”
I would not take that so.
I would suspect that instead they have conducted a series of test programs with concept vehicles, flying testbeds, and, technology demonstrators over many years that have given them a very good idea of just exactly how their proposed hypersonic airplane should appear. Think Have Blue, Tacit Blue, Bird of Prey, etc.
Lockheed, and the government, display a pretty clear pattern here. Once an airframe has been developed, built, deployed, and, has rendered good deal of operational info....then it’s revealed. Think U-2, SR-71, and, F-117. All of which were well into production (if not already out of) and had been operational for some time before their release to the public.
No, the airplane illustrated does not exist yet. If it did, was flying regularly, and, considered “mature” technology then we would have pictures of it. Real pics released by LockMart, the DOD, the U.S. Air Force, etc., proving it existed. We don’t have that. We also don’t have pics of the tech demonstrators they’ve used to amass the data necessary to conceive of the design. They are still classified probably because they could reveal too much of the testing, teething, and, progress that got them to the proposed design.
“What with drones and sattelites, why invest in something this expensive?”
What they’re proposing here does seem to be a drone or unmanned aircraft. No drone, that we’re aware of, today flies at the speed of this proposed design. While satellites have become more maneuverable as tech has allowed they still have a degree of predictability to them that the “enemy” can learn. A stealth hypersonic aircraft, that you cannot predict or track or target, has a place in the world of spy-craft.
You wouldn’t need, and probably couldn’t afford, a lot of them but a few would be very handy. Ten or twelve such fully operational aircraft could be a reconnaissance coup. Take it another step and 30-40 such operational aircraft with offensive capabilities could be an “enemies” absolute worst nightmare. Almost SSBN like.
Why is it that a British newspaper is one of the few places a guy can hear REAL news about America? (That’s a rhetorical question— I think I already know the answer.)
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