The SR-71 and US Spyplanes

Hi guys, I am lifelong Blackbird fan and was just wondering about it and US recon programmes.

Am I right in thinking that there are still 1 or 2 in service with NASA?

Anyway, when they were decommissioned the reason was because they were too expensive when 'Satellites ' had taken over most of its work. But then a few years later didn;t the US government issue a document of somesort stating that they had rebudgeted for the re-inclusion of some SR-71s?

What is the current state of US reconissance?

Do Satellites and U-2's manage to do the job by themselves?
Does the Aurora or something else do the job as well?
Are SR-71s either covertly or officially still in active service to this end?
What do teh US officially use?

Thanks

Am I right in thinking that there are still 1 or 2 in service with NASA?

There are no longer any SR-71 (RS-71)s in service, the ones being used by NASA were retired in 2001.

Do Satellites and U-2's manage to do the job by themselves?

I would imagine that, that and a mixture of other spy planes (possibly Aurora) probably do.

Does the Aurora or something else do the job as well?

Well since the Aurora is just speculation there is no definitive answer, however personally I think so.

Are SR-71s either covertly or officially still in active service to this end?

Officially, no.
Covertly, possibly.

What do the US officially use?

Satelites, U2's and ground survaillance.

You pretty much nailed that all on the head there Iori. I have to agree with pretty much all u said im wondering though about if the 71's are being used convertly at all this point or in the past 2 years with the conflicts going on or has in fact all of there duties been handed off to another plane or just satellites.

Thanks guys.

Canada, thats what I want to know as well. I guess its just me praying that such an incredible bird hasn;t been left to rot

thats the thing though shoot that lots of really kool and beauts of a planes are left to root. the numbers of those types of planes are crazy though not many of them is as crazy as the 71's capablities. in all honestly it would of been so kool to see one of them flying. oh well i guess we can always hope that one day the black projects now will fly for us on public display.

I was fortunate enough to see a Habu fly on more than 1 occasion (and have the camcorder footage to remember it by), thus began my love of Mildenhall airbase. The amount of times that baby got in trouble for flypast violations lol, I wouldn;t be surprised if a few windows were broken in its time

Still doesn;t make me any happier though

Thanks all

A little research I did for another thread....

"The SR-71 costs about $200,000 for every mission, and this may have been one of the factors in the decision to retire the aircraft. Of course maintenance of a 30 year old airframe, with a very limited number of parts, and major parts not producible due to the absence of tooling (thanks again Mr. McNamara) all adds up to a complex maintenace problem"

"The SR-71 costs $38,000 per flight hour to operate; in comparison, the U-2 costs $6,000 per flight hour."
The $38,000 is for the SR-71 alone, not counting the KC-135s and other planes that were required to deploy a bird.

As far as the U-2 operating costs, it's 6,000 per hour to fly, but there isn't much information beyond that out there to find. Anyone else that can find it good luck. heh. Total fuel capacity is about 3530 pounds of JP-8, not sure what the cost of JP-8 currently goes for, but it was about $1 a gallon three years ago, and it's 6.8 pounds to the gallon. So, about $520 for fuel per mission leg, plus cost of the KC-135 to carry support crew ahead of them, which is about $2.0 million a year/aircraft, so for 1 U-2/KC-135 pair you're probably looking at about $5-8 million/year to operate.

This is a rough guesstimate based on things I found on the net, and my really bad math skills, and is in no way official. If anyone can find something official, then feel free to post it.

I'm not posting this to bash the SR or any other plane, I'm a HUGE fan of the Blackbird, just thought it would be interesting reading for people that wanted to know.

yeah that is all true |(as far as we know) but you know the saying (and not that I dislike the Dragon Lady)

'YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!'

The US does have several Spy Planes that it currently uses that are known:

RC-12

RC-135 Rivit Joint

U-2

ES-3A Shadow

The above list are the ones that are publicly confirmable. In addition to the above list, there are several Black Projects that are spyplanes such as: TR-3A Blackmanta and Aurora. So, as you can see, the US is still in the Spy Plane Buisness.

[edit on 29-6-2005 by ghost]

'tis surely good to hear.

Is it commonly thought that Black Manta(TR3A) and Aurora are seperate entities? nice to think they can pick and choose what to spy on us with lol better hide my *****

Originally posted by Shootfighter2001
Is it commonly thought that Black Manta(TR3A) and Aurora are seperate entities?

Yes! the TR-3 Black Manta is Thought to be mainly an ELINT aircraft, simular to the RC-135 Rivet Joint, while the Aurora is thought to be a replacement for the SR-71 Blackbird. Two different planes, for two different missions. Hope that fills in the blank!

A little off topic but I thought the TR-3 Black Manta was either the cover or a misstaken indentification for the Tier III Dark Star UAV. Just something I heard.

Well at least we know that a couple SR-71's still fly even if it's not in the dead of night over Kim Jong Ill's pad during a high-level N. Korean pajama party or over the Iranian's "peaceful" nuclear sites. Here ia a Google satallite pic of the 2 NASA birds at Edwards.

It would be foolish not to believe the U.S has at least 1 type of top secret spy plane in service. Could be stealth, could be hypersonic, who knows...

The ES-3A was retired some time ago.

Current US Spy planes:

RC-135
RC-12
RC-7B ARL
U-2S

You could also include the E-3D, J-STARS, E-2C and EA-6B as they gather intelligence as part of their normal role. F-16s and F-18s are also equipped with recce pods.

Info from www.spyflight.co.uk

HyperSoar

The Black Manta(According to my research) was believed to have been used in cognito with the F-117 Stealth Fighter. The job was this:

Black Manta spots the target, F-117 blows it up. Black Manta also played the role of the Rivet Joint for the F-117. If the Black Manta ever existed, I don't think they use it anymore.

The SR-71's are either in Museums or in Boneyards. I believe they are now officially Retired and are no longer operational, however if the US ever feels it necessary to deem the BlackBird needed, it will take the bird out of retirement and put it back in the skies. That can happen at any time, aircraft never truely die, nor do any other war vessel or vehicle, a large number of the retired models are either scrapped for other vehicles, or put in boneyards, where they will sit in wait if they have parts that are needed or if they are to be refurbished and put back into service.

Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by ShatteredSkies
The Black Manta(According to my research) was believed to have been used in cognito with the F-117 Stealth Fighter. The job was this:

Black Manta spots the target, F-117 blows it up. Black Manta also played the role of the Rivet Joint for the F-117. If the Black Manta ever existed, I don't think they use it anymore.
Shattered OUT...

I have to disagree with you on this. According to my Research, the Black Manta is a SIGINT Platform. SIGINT is considered strategic intelligence. Strategic Intelligence is Never sent directly to feild units, it is passed directly to commanders and strategic planners. All SIGINT is controlled by the National Security Agency, through the Central Security Services.

NSA Mission Statement

The above link will prove my point.

Also, I think the Gulf war might have been the combat debut of the Black Manta, not the end of its service. The Black Manta is very much operational. in fact there have been Black Manta sighting in the '90's , after the Gulf War was over.

I live near Palmdale Ca, and I seen a SR-71 in the sky just east of Palmdale on 3/6/09 so they are still being flown, I suspect N.A.S.A. is the one doing the flying but I can not confirm who is operating this aircraft at this time.

Originally posted by cpt.jack
I live near Palmdale Ca, and I seen a SR-71 in the sky just east of Palmdale on 3/6/09 so they are still being flown, I suspect N.A.S.A. is the one doing the flying but I can not confirm who is operating this aircraft at this time.

All the A-12, YF-12 and SR-71 airframes are accounted for, none are flying or in any condition to fly.

NASA retired their aircraft in October 1999, and none have flown since then.

I will repeat that all, yes *all*, SR-71 airframes are publicly accounted for.

originally posted by: Shootfighter2001
'tis surely good to hear.

Is it commonly thought that Black Manta(TR3A) and Aurora are seperate entities? nice to think they can pick and choose what to spy on us with lol better hide my *****

The TR-3 Black Manta was said to have been derived from Tactical High Altitude Penetrator design study commissioned by the USAF, and it is possible that whoever coined the fictitious designation TR-3 for the supposed Black Manta tactical reconnaissance spyplane mistakenly regarded the NASA designation ER-2 (allocated to two U-2s given to NASA for scientific research) as being in the same designation sequence as the TR-1 (allocated to the tactical reconnaissance version of the U-2) unaware that the letter ER in ER-2 stands for "Earth Resources", not "Electronic Reconnaissance". Although the USAF was mum on allegations regarding the Black Manta in contrast to the Aurora, the development and deployment of the RQ-170 Sentinel makes clear that the Black Manta never existed, and that the RQ-170 has taken over the niches once occupied by the TR-1.