SR-72

a reply to: stormcell

Or even to service a secret space program run out of the military instead of NASA

Sigh I still miss my boy...
Im thinking anything that has been flying since Sr71 days are just small test platforms with basic simple systems that sorta became operational but never went into big time production like the Blackbirds..SABRE and ADVENT are still reasonably recent in regards to tech maturity but I can see that the J58 matured into something interesting for an interim powerplant.

a reply to: Blackfinger

I asked this question before. We know where the SR-71 and A-12 airframes are.

Where'd the engines go?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Probably the same place the tankers that can refuel with jp-7 are.

Any way to find that out?

a reply to: grey580

Publicly? No chance in hell if they're still in use.

a reply to: Zaphod58

no?

www.habu.org...

at the bottom of the page are the birds that can do jp-7.

Maybe someone has a keen eye and has seen one of those somewhere.

a reply to: grey580

You can find the tankers. They're pretty easy. I was talking about the engines.

a reply to: Zaphod58

well if you found the tanker that would help narrow the search.

Though maybe not.

The tanker might be in an area the bird is flying through.

who knows.

Speaking of birds. there was a rumor of the iranian embassy in syria blowing up.

maybe a certain green lady might be making a trip to go see?

a reply to: grey580

Finding the tankers doesn't do you any good. They're used for normal missions, carrying JP8 all the time.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

Who knows what the future holds. I hope it doesn't go public as I refuse to be apart of those err... people. I would like to know one day but just be able to talk about it and the other classified projects with a select few. I`m kind of like you not wanting to give secrets away to prying eyes but still itching to know about it. Sometimes I get a solid feeling nefarious eyes see these posts in this forum and like I have been told more than once. "It just none of your GD business."

I still cling to the thought one day they might need me to clean out the hangar and bathrooms under a strict NDA but allow me close to something secret. That's probably the best way for me to keep my mouth shut unless they just whack me and bury me in the desert. But then I just come back as a ghost having unfulfilled work to be done, if that's how the afterlife works. So really they are better off giving me a job.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I would hope a few made their way into something else and not just crated up and stored in a warehouse somewhere. 4 of those stuffed in a modified Valkyrie airframe would make for a nice aircraft I`ll wager. Maybe even a design like the... oh I want to ask but I cannot.

a reply to: StratosFear

If one review the conservative take then Satellites replaced the function of the SR-71 so why. replace it with another aircraft if that was the case?

Any thoughts?

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: StratosFear

If one review the conservative take then Satellites replaced the function of the SR-71 so why. replace it with another aircraft is that was the case?

Any thoughts?

Satellites are great for what they're good for. But there's not always one where you'd like, and the resolution isn't as nice as you might want for optical images. Lacrosse can get better images than optical sats, but it's not an optical image, so it's a bit tougher to interpret. And it isn't real time, exactly, either. So if you want higher resolution optical images of something right then and not on a schedule, a plane's your best bet.

a reply to: Bedlam

Suggesting that there is no way the Fed/USA would have waited this long to replace the SR-71.

a reply to: Kashai

Why do you think there's a "one plane fits all"? It's like golf clubs. You don't use a pitching wedge to drive.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Blackfinger

I asked this question before. We know where the SR-71 and A-12 airframes are.

Where'd the engines go?

the engine is so advanced that after 50 years they can't be replaced?

a reply to: drwire

This is just a guess but I think it might have been a case of "if it aint broke, don't fix it". They had a good power plant that worked, they needed to save money on R&D so used on "off the self" engine for a different airframe that had some advantages over the -71.
Weather or not that airframe is still in use today, I can't say but that JP-7 is going somewhere.

a reply to: StratosFear

Yeah I could see you and me in janitor outfits doing the midnight shift sweeping the hangars out at area 51. Speculating about the birds under the tarps that were not allowed to peek under.

Bassplyr: "I heard the one in the corner does mach 10!!!"
StratosFear: "Oh yeah? I heard the one they moved yesterday to hangar 3 can go into space!"
Bassplyr: "I think it's strange that the other janitor who got moved to hanger 5 hasn't been seen in a few weeks, it's sus...susp..susps....uhhhh..."
StratosFear: "Suspicious?"
Bassplyr: "MAN! WHY YOU ALWAYS TRYING TO BE SMARTER THAN ME!!!"
StratosFear: "Dude, chill I'm not, your sensitive homie!"

Overcomm: "Janitor 74386 please report to the waste burning pits in sector 2, there's a mess we need you to clean up.

Bassplyr sighs "Again!?!" I hate sector 2" sulks off to the waste burning pits.

I think they may have some aircraft that replaced the mission of the SR-71. However, that doesn't mean they have an aircraft with the characteristics of this SR-72.

What I mean is that I don't think they have yet put into practice a plane that has spanned the "Mach 3 Chasm" -- i.e., a plane that can go from zero to Mach 6 on its own; a plane that can take off from a runway under turbine power, and then use that turbine engine reach a speed fast enough for the ramjet/scramjet to take over.

Right now, turbines can get them up to about mach 2.5. A ramjet/scramjet needs a velocity of about mach 3 to mach 3.5 before they kick in. The "Mach 3 Chasm" is the apparent gap between current turbine engine technology and the speeds required for a scramjet to become operational.

It wouldn't surprise me if they have a spy plane in use today that is using the ramjet/scramjet technology to reach mach 6, but perhaps it needs an assist to get up to that speed, and does not do it on its own.

However, it seems the point of this new SR-72 program is to develop a turbine engine that can get them from zero to mach 3.5 or higher on its own, to then allow the ramjet and scramjet to kick in. So the SR-71 may have a working successor, but maybe not with the complete single-plane-takeoff-to-landing that they want from the SR-72.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

You have some very interesting points that I agree with you on.

Reminds me of the confusion/speculation over things like sr-72 (old maybe) , HTV-3x (got cool engines) , blackswift (new maybe) .

I believe there is a working successor to the sr-71 and that she has some interesting tricks.

a reply to: BASSPLYR

I know, just for giggles then, how about we christen it the " Lockheed HTV-3x Blackswift ". Oh wait.......!!!!!!!!