Posted on 09/23/2025 9:39:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works has revealed its new next-generation stealth drone, developed to provide the U.S. and its allies with a formidable edge in achieving air dominance.
On Sunday, the company unveiled Vectis, which the aerospace company says represents a new class of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) that combines elements of survivability with lethality and overall cost-effectiveness by assembling Skunk Works’ many decades of fighter development and stealth design with modern autonomous systems.
With its official release, the Vectis drone is now positioned as an affordable framework for U.S. air power that can be integrated easily with crewed aircraft like the F-35.
OJ Sanchez, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ vice president and general manager, called the autonomous aircraft “the culmination of our expertise in complex systems integration, advanced fighter development, and autonomy.”
The announcement of the new Vectis stealth drone, which is currently entering development, arrives amid ongoing speculation about Lockheed Martin’s development of the SR-72, a proposed successor to the legendary SR-71 Blackbird, which the company originally announced more than a decade ago.
Vectis Integration and Capabilities
As the developer behind Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, Skunk Works has conducted research and development behind some of the U.S.’s most advanced, highly classified, and exotic aircraft for more than half a century.
Over the weekend, the company said Vectis was engineered with compatibility in mind and for operating as part of a “Family of Systems” comprising the U.S.’s efforts to ensure next-generation air dominance.
At the heart of the ethos behind its development, Vectis was designed to be compatible with control systems that include Lockheed Martin’s own MDCX, which allows it to be integrated smoothly across a wide range of command-and-control networks. This allows the aircraft to be optimally suited for precision strikes, as well as reconnaissance, surveillance, electronic warfare, and intelligence missions.
Adding to its formidability is Vectis’s support capability for multi-domain connectivity, whether deployed independently or teamed with piloted fighters.
Range, Survivability, and Architecture
In addition to its wide range of aerial mission capabilities, Vectis was developed with range and endurance in mind, which are expected to make the drone an optimal choice for efforts in areas such as the Indo-Pacific and European theaters.
Fitted with Skunk Works’ state-of-the-art stealth technologies, the drone’s stealth capabilities also make it uniquely survivable in hostile environments. However, a main selling point Lockheed stressed with the rollout of its new drone over the weekend was the manufacturing cost in proportion to performance, which the company says will align well with U.S. defense priorities to expand CCA fleets at scale.
Rumors of “The Son of Blackbird” Persist
For years now, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works division has fueled speculation about the SR-72, a proposed hypersonic successor to the legendary SR-71 Blackbird.
First announced in 2013, the SR-72 was originally envisioned as an unmanned aircraft capable of speeds six times the speed of sound, with advanced reconnaissance and strike capabilities—features which do bear some similarity to the new Vectis stealth drone.
Last August, The Debrief reported that some indications suggested that the secretive aircraft—or perhaps something conceptually similar—could potentially be nearing production, based on budget overruns tied to a classified Lockheed program that may hint at pre-contract investments in such a project. Lockheed Martin provided no details in response to queries made by The Debrief at that time.
With hardly any updates since the initial announcement involving the SR-72 more than a decade ago, analysts had speculated that initial test flights could be expected sometime in 2025, with operational readiness projected for the early 2030s.
Still, questions have lingered over the cost of the project and whether its affordability could become a complicating factor amid competing defense projects, leaving the fate of the so-called “son of Blackbird” uncertain. As the company rolled out its new design on Sunday, Lockheed Martin’s emphasis on the affordability of the Vectis stealth drone seemingly underscores such concerns that focus primarily on production costs.
A Timeline for Takeoff
The Vectis drone is currently entering development, with initial systems for the next-generation drone currently entering testing. The timeline for delivery is an ambitious one: Lockheed Martin aims to have design, construction, and test flights all completed within the next two years.
Overall, by placing its bets on agility and affordability with its multi-role stealth drone, Vectis could very well put the company on a path toward redefining the balance between crewed and uncrewed aircraft, delivering a blend of operational flexibility and survivability that may set new precedents in the aerial battlespace.
“We’re not simply building a new platform,” Sanchez said in Sunday’s statement. “[W]e’re creating a new paradigm for air power based on a highly capable, customizable and affordable agile drone framework.”
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Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
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AVIATION PING!....................
AVIATION PING!....................
Imagine what the Ukes can do with a lot of these targeting refineries and weapons manufacturing way inside Russia and over all the Russian supply lines to their invasion force!
Which means our adversaries know about it, and that we have something even better almost ready.
I am quite hopeful that some of the major accomplishments of President Trump will not be known for many years, as regards ‘black’ programs.
My retirement check should be safe then.
I’ve always been hopeful that we have “stuff” that nobody knows about that we are keeping secret until we are forced to fight a “real” military that has modern naval and air capability, not just a bunch of Middle Eastern goat humpers with IED’s and AK’s, or sitting duck 1970’s MIGs/F-14’s.
My retirement check should be safe then.
Whew……lol
No reason, except for aerodynamic mods and power upgrades, that it couldn’t be a hypersonic suicide stealth drone.
If only they could hide a wave front of hypersonic air turbulence
Why are
Unless something is transparent, it is typically going to be different looking than what is normally seen from above.
‘Vulture’ flight style drone spotters might be able stay up in the sky for long time periods.
If there are dense clouds that can visually hide drones, potential targets can take to hiding out or hardening down.
The line between science fiction and reality is fading quicker than I imagined...
“weapons manufacturing”
‘Cottages’ can be built in conifer forests.
A drone would if lucky take out a machine, a ‘cottage’ and a few parts.
It might just take out a Potemkin Village ‘cottage’ shell.
“refineries”
Russian cities probably have good public transport.
The harvest is probably mainly complete. Winter is coming soon.
“targeting refineries”
The Russians are surely going to making all the necessary spare parts. They could be put on railcars in hours that could travel over 1,000 miles in a day.
Critical parts of refineries could be protected by vertical steel I-beam fences.
Rail bridges are more vulnerable.
Lockheed D-21 Stealth Drone
Number built: 38
Max speed: >Mach 3.3, 2,200 mph
Operational altitude: 90,000 feet
Begin Development: October 1962
Introduced: 1969
First flight: 22 December 1964
Retired: 1971
Designed to carry a single high-resolution photographic camera over a preprogrammed path, then release the camera module into the air for retrieval, after which the drone would self-destruct.
Several successful test flights were made, followed by at least four unsuccessful operational D-21 flights over China.
Famed Skunkworks designer Kelly Johnson developed the concept of a long-range drone and specified speeds of Mach 3.3–3.5, an operational altitude of 87,000–95,000 feet, and a range of 3,000 nautical miles. It was intended to make a one-way trip, eject its camera payload at the end of the mission for recovery, then self-destruct.
Imagine doing the pre-programmed path pre-digital computers! And, without data telemetry, you had to recover the camera then destroy the aircraft.
Compare to 2025...
My son and I saw the D-21 at the fantastic "Blackbird Airpark" at an annex of the Air Force Flight Test (AFFT) Museum at Edwards AFB. All aviation buffs should visit this place!
“PATUXENT RIVER, Md., Nov. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) collaborated with the U.S. Navy and General Atomics (GA) in a first-ever live control flight demonstration of an uncrewed system by the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control Station (UMCS).
“Powered by the Skunk Works® MDCX™ autonomy platform, the UMCS controlled a GA MQ-20 Avenger uncrewed air system (UAS) as it completed a live fly mission. This demonstration is a pathfinder that helps to advance the complex technology necessary to enable crewed and uncrewed teaming as envisioned for programs such as CCA and others.”
This will have the anti-gravity propulsion system, right? Otherwise, their captured UFOs are just going to waste.
Zoooooom ->Pinngggg
In 1964, we didn’t have the computers necessary for a fly-by-wire system necessary to control an aircraft without a v-stab.
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