DarkStar

Exclusive: Skunk Works Reveals SR-71 Successor Plan







Ever since Lockheed’s unsurpassed SR-71 Blackbird was retired from U.S. Air Force service almost two decades ago, the perennial question has been: Will it ever be succeeded by a new-generation, higher-speed aircraft and, if so, when?



That is, until now. After years of silence on the subject, Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works has revealed exclusively to AW&ST details of long-running plans for what it describes as an affordable hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike platform that could enter development in demonstrator form as soon as 2018. Dubbed the SR-72, the twin-engine aircraft is designed for a Mach 6 cruise, around twice the speed of its forebear, and will have the optional capability to strike targets.



Guided by the U.S. Air Force’s long-term hypersonic road map, the SR-72 is designed to fill what are perceived by defense planners as growing gaps in coverage of fast-reaction intelligence by the plethora of satellites, subsonic manned and unmanned platforms meant to replace the SR-71. Potentially dangerous and increasingly mobile threats are emerging in areas of denied or contested airspace, in countries with sophisticated air defenses and detailed knowledge of satellite movements.



A vehicle penetrating at high altitude and Mach 6, a speed viewed by Lockheed Martin as the “sweet spot” for practical air-breathing hypersonics, is expected to survive where even stealthy, advanced subsonic or supersonic aircraft and unmanned vehicles might not. Moreover, an armed ISR platform would also have the ability to strike targets before they could hide.



Although there has been evidence to suggest that work on various classified successors to the SR-71, or some of its roles, has been attempted, none of the tantalizing signs have materialized into anything substantial. Outside of the black world, this has always been relatively easy to explain. Though few question the compelling military imperative for high speed ISR capability, the astronomical development costs have made the notion a virtual nonstarter.



But now Lockheed Martin believes it has the answer. “The Skunk Works has been working with Aerojet Rocketdyne for the past seven years to develop a method to integrate an off-the-shelf turbine with a scramjet to power the aircraft from standstill to Mach 6 plus,” says Brad Leland, portfolio manager for air-breathing hypersonic technologies. “Our approach builds on HTV-3X, but this extends a lot beyond that and addresses the one key technical issue that remained on that program: the high-speed turbine engine,” he adds, referring to the U.S. Air Force/Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) reusable hypersonic demonstrator canceled in 2008...............



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http://www.aviationweek.com/Article...._p0-632731.xml



:biggrin:

Elantra0wner

Wow.

Stocker

This article is a pretty blatant attempt by the company to drop hints the Air Force and DARPA need to come up with a pile of cash in the next couple of years. Also it is comforting to know that (as this is optionally-manned) SKYNET's killer strike plane will have no warning period at all before they start tossing missles at the monkeys.



Which is going to be an interesting challenge. It'd be kinda hard to open a missle bay at mach 6 and not have some serious flight control issues. Maybe form the missiles to be part of the outside of the plane instead of stowing them inside?

i8acobra

I doubt missiles will be launchable at Supercruise. Seems like the Aurora is real.

Tibbi

This sounds cool and all, but is it worth ruining our countries credit?

Projects of this magnitude should be in hold until we at minimum can agree on a budget. Spending is out of control, it's not really necessary at this point in time and a 6 month hold will not harm the defensive capabilities of this country. We need to focus efforts on weaponry we can sell (ex: the F35) to make profits while ensuring defense. It's just logical.

i8acobra

You're talking about Lockheed like it's a government agency. They're not. No tax dollars have been spent on this. Lockheed is undoubtedly hoping to score a contract, but until the government buys this, no tax dollars are being spent.

Tibbi

Government revenue is government revenue. Regardless of how it's appropriated it needs to allocated properly.

Is it cool? Yes. Is it necessary? Debatable. Can it wait a little longer and that same funds be put to better use? Undoubtedly. Lockheed also produces the F35, which is why I bring up the point. That's an aircraft which is used by other countries and has orders for even more. Lets place the billions in that investment and wait for a better turn around. It's just good business.

i8acobra

Again, you're talking about them like they're a government agency. WE don't get anything from the sale of F35's to other countries, Lockheed does. They're a privately owned company.

187sks

I saw this through binoculars in the sky on 9/12/2001. The "plans" part make me LOL. It's been in service for over a decade. I noticed a plane doing some impossible speeds for the altitude and the plane wasn't visible aside from the contrail so I grabbed binoculars to see what it was.

Stocker

No, you are obviously wrong! Aviation Leak has posted a fund-fishing story announcing it is new!



I'd believe the zero to mach 6 engine looking do-able is new, it seems like they've had mach 3.5 ish on a similar platform for a while, but TFA indicates crossing over to the superduperDUPER fast engine from the superduperfast one was a significant challenge.