[mylife]

Huh? what? nukes firing missiles? the article defies science.

we had the sr71 in the 60s mach 4, I think we know something about high speed missiles.

[wafflehouse]

i dont recall the SR-71 shooting any missiles

[FreedomPoster]

FWLIW, studying hypersonic shock waves (like, say, at an engine inlet) at a basic level was a part of a senior-level Fluid Mechanics course in a serious engineering college 40 years ago.

Hopefully that hasn’t all gone by the wayside in favor of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity) training.

[ReformedBeckite]

One of the earlier versions of the SR-71 could fire missiles it was the YF-12, it could fire the AIM-47 Falcon air to air missiles. I don't know if it had to slow down any from full speed to fire them, my guess is it probably did being they would have had to open the missile doors to fire it and I don't think they could of done that at Mach 3.2 or what ever with out destroying the aircraft. I don't know if the YF-12 program was a front to get congress to fund it when in reality they might of been using the money for the A-12 and/or SR-71 reconnaissance version of the YF-12 being they might not of wanted congress to know they were making a reconnaissance version. There is about a dozen versions of basically the black bird.

As far as the SR-71 flying at around Mach 4, I think that was often repeated and unfounded rumor. About as fast as the SR-71 could fly is around 3.2 or 3.3 or something like that. It flew pretty smooth at that speed, but starting getting very shaky at faster speeds then that. I think they allowed it to fly 3.4 in case of emergency of being shot at, and that was only allowed for a very very brief time period. The reason for the very very brief time period was they had a compressor or some part that would of heated up and melted or failed, it was a serious concern among the pilots and those in charge of the program. They didn't want maverick pilots in the program that would of attempted to fly it faster then 3.2 or what ever. This was not an aircraft you you wanted to test for it's limits outside of lab, etc., but the fastest they flew it was probably around Mach 3.5 or so because of that compressor.

[2CAVTrooper]

“we had the sr71 in the 60s mach 4, I think we know something about high speed missiles.”

Mach 3.2+

[EQAndyBuzz]

“we had the sr71 in the 60s mach 4, I think we know something about high speed missiles.”

Now picture the same SR71 flying at Mach 4 firing off a missile.

[blam]

"We had the sr71 in the 60s mach 4, I think we know something about high speed missiles."

The SR-71 was an airplane....still the fastest airplane ever.

[dljordan]

“I think we know something about high speed missiles.”

I’ve seen contrails climbing out of Utah over Colorado and over the horizon in under a minute.