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Super High Tech Replacement for the Legendary SR-71 Blackbird plane ...
Daily Mail ^

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 ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aerospace; aviation; blackbird; mach6; sr71; sr72
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1 posted on 11/02/2013 7:18:20 PM PDT by nuconvert
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To: nuconvert
'Taint a'gonna work.

Hypersonic research has been almost as productive as commercial wind power. Almost.

2 posted on 11/02/2013 7:24:33 PM PDT by diogenes ghost
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Comment #3 Removed by Moderator

To: F15Eagle; diogenes ghost; nuconvert
And supposedly Lockheed was testing Mach 5 aircraft in
the 1980’s though there’s definitely a significant leap from 5 to 6.
"Aurora"...

4 posted on 11/02/2013 7:37:35 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (who'll take tomorrow,$pend it all today;who can take your income & tax it all away..0'Blowfly can :-)
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To: nuconvert
WOW!!

What a plane!!

5 posted on 11/02/2013 7:39:48 PM PDT by cloudmountain
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To: diogenes ghost

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.


6 posted on 11/02/2013 7:43:40 PM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: nuconvert

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?


7 posted on 11/02/2013 7:44:19 PM PDT by Venturer (Keep Obama and you aint seen nothing yet.)
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To: F15Eagle; diogenes ghost; nuconvert
Here's an info/video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17-lC6ki8RA


8 posted on 11/02/2013 7:44:57 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (who'll take tomorrow,$pend it all today;who can take your income & tax it all away..0'Blowfly can :-)
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To: Venturer

Yeah, I can’t see the need, and we are well past broke already.


9 posted on 11/02/2013 7:45:24 PM PDT by ltc8k6
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To: nuconvert

It’s not my field of expertise; but thought this already existed?

https://www.google.com/#q=project+aurora


10 posted on 11/02/2013 7:50:15 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Under the Democrats; the Lincoln Memorial is closed; but the southern border is open)
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To: fella

“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.


11 posted on 11/02/2013 7:51:17 PM PDT by max americana (fired liberals in our company last election, and I laughed while they cried (true story))
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To: fella; KeyLargo; EveningStar; SunkenCiv
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.
very plausible..very likely 3 generations ahead...
..the info given / released to future foes & allies..USAF still has teeth, (for now)

12 posted on 11/02/2013 7:51:30 PM PDT by skinkinthegrass (who'll take tomorrow,$pend it all today;who can take your income & tax it all away..0'Blowfly can :-)
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To: nuconvert

The SR-71 was decades ahead of its time.


13 posted on 11/02/2013 8:06:10 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Who knew that one day professional wrestling would be less fake than professional journalism?)
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To: nuconvert

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!!!


14 posted on 11/02/2013 8:09:58 PM PDT by tallyhoe
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To: nuconvert
I wonder what attitude it will be flying at?

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.

15 posted on 11/02/2013 8:12:43 PM PDT by ReformedBeckite (1 of 3 I'm only allowing my self each day)
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To: Venturer
I thought they retied the blackbird because they didn’t need it any longer.

My understanding is that former SR-71 pilots believe that the program was killed out of spite/vindictiveness by the USAF Chief of Staff at the time (Gen. Welch, I think). Apparently the General had, earlier in his career, applied for the SR-71 program but wasn't accepted. And bore a very nasty grudge. Not something unheard of in the higher ranks of the military.
16 posted on 11/02/2013 8:17:11 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: fella

“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.


17 posted on 11/02/2013 8:20:31 PM PDT by FAA
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To: fella
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 wouldn't count on that. Look at how LockMart's current big-ticket programs are doing.

This looks like nothing more than a conceptual sales pitch (one that, interestingly, provides a list of a bunch of previous similar tries that failed) that they slapped with the "SR-72" moniker to appear "official", make it sound infinitely cool and leverage the well-know "Blackbird" brand.


18 posted on 11/02/2013 8:23:13 PM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Venturer

“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.


19 posted on 11/02/2013 8:35:34 PM PDT by FAA
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To: nuconvert

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.)


20 posted on 11/02/2013 8:44:55 PM PDT by Dr. Zzyzx
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