“The point had been proven [and] it was clear the Blackbird could no longer fly wherever it pleased without being challenged.”
I can see the writer never played football. A receiver doesn’t run to a spot and wait for the ball. The quarterback throws to a spot the receiver is supposed to go to.
I was stationed at Beale AFB from 1976 to 1984. Blackbird was there and I had a chance to rub elbows with crew chiefs, pilots, camera folks, and unit personnel. I occasionally played racquet ball and squash with some of the people assigned to the 9th SRW. Part of the work I did was at the alert pad for them and the U2’s/TR’s.
Probably the main reason the SR’s and U2s were and are being fazed out is they are being replace by other means. Satellites have been launched and supported by drone activities so aircraft are almost no longer needed. The disappearance of the alert facilities around the world are another example of the cutback. We still have radar capacity like pave paws for world wide eye in the sky to support the machines. So it wasn’t just replacement as much as just outdated.
As for being the fastest, you might want to look up information on the A-12 Oxcart. Higher and faster than the SR. And the speeds they are talking about is for level flight. Neither flew level very much.
But here’s some info a lot people don’t know about the SR71: they were true gas guzzlers and burned JP-7, a much hotter fuel. After takeoff they required refueling and were serviced by a special refueling aircraft, the KC135Q/T that burned JP-4 but dispensed JP-7. Without refueling, a blackbird had a maximum operational range of about 3000 miles after take off and refuel. It was fast, but it was expensive and had a limited use because of the speed.
wy69
There’s also head fakes where we want to trick potential enemies into thinking that something can be done that usually can’t so they’ll at least waste some resources trying to copy the “victory.”