SR-72

[subb]

The SR-71 was developed using 20th century technology. It was envisioned with slide rules and paper. It wasn’t managed by millions of lines of software code. And it wasn’t powered by computer chips. All that changes with the SR-72.

Oh oh.

[callesgg]

When I read that I was not so sure what the person who wrote that actually wanted to say.

Cause it sounds a bit like:

The SR-71 was built with solid engineering and hard work, this on the other hand is a pice of shit.

[prisonblues]

Oh dear. Thought you were spoofing them, until I clicked through.

[dredmorbius]

Aye.

Complexity isn't your friend.

[tdicola]

What's the deal with all the SR-71 posts in the past few days? They're a cool relic of the cold war age but what has happened recently with them that's warranted all the attention?

Also if you're really enamored with them you should definitely check out the national airforce museum in Dayton, OH: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/ You can see one up close, along with all kinds of other planes, jets, and missiles. Admission is free, and expect to spend at least a full day walking around the place.

[rawicki]

It's just the snowball effect. Every post about SR-71 encourages more people to learn something about it and that sometimes results in another post to HN.

[Blahah]

I'm amazed there are so many people interested in military equipment. Is this a USA thing? Would love someone to explain the appeal.

[RK]

I'm not that familiar with military aircraft development timelines, but this stuck out as my favorite part:

A hypersonic plane does not have to be an expensive, distant possibility. In fact, an SR-72 could be operational by 2030.

[andrewfong]

By comparison, the SR-71 was first proposed around 1960 and operational by 1966. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SR-71_Blackbird

[jameskilton]

So given Lockheed's track record on the F-35, we'll see this finally cancelled around 2040 (the first $1 trillion aircraft program) when everyone else has built similar planes better, faster, and more reliably.

[melling]

How many other planes have they built? Saying other companies have built equivalent planes is incorrect.

Trying to build one plane for everyone was probably not the wisest thing to do.

[wil421]

People easily remember the bad projects but the f-22 program didn't have the same problems.

[Iftheshoefits]

How else are we going to keep those efficient, upstanding private contractors in business?

[andrewfong]

Part of what made the SR-71 incredible was Kelly Johnson's ability to keep the team small, fast, and focused in designing it. Not sure if that's the case here.

[thearn4]

SR-71 was built for one mission only: Fly-over the Soviet Union and take pictures. At the speeds that it operates, you can't really do much else. And recon satellites do this much more effectively now, and are extremely hard to take down.

Proponents of hypersonic aircraft research have been fighting an uphill battle for this very reason.

[robotresearcher]

The other thing you can do at that speed is intercept enemy planes. The SR-71 was developed from an interceptor project:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12

[lifeisstillgood]

>>> The SR-71 was developed using 20th century technology. It was envisioned with slide rules and paper. It wasn’t managed by millions of lines of software code. And it wasn’t powered by computer chips. All that changes with the SR-72.

Errr, replacing slide rules with millions of lines of software is not always progress. HN is probably the most fertile ground for finding counter examples around

[rbanffy]

What would be the key advantage of a Mach 6 drone? At that speed, it's hardly stealth (it'll be very hot) and its payload is not exactly remarkable. At best, it's a reusable missile booster stage.

I get there are political problems on putting conventional precision warheads on top of ICBMs (a conventional attack would look exactly like a nuclear one) but I can't see what this drone brings to the table compared to a missile launch. An adversary would still have little to no time to react before being hit. The only difference is that with an ICBM, if you know about the launch, you know about the arrival time and, with this plane, you'll have to see its IR signature (shouldn't be hard if you can already detect an ICBM launch) and guess it's about to attack (which isn't hard either because I doubt the SR-72 can maintain Mach 6 for long periods).

It would, perhaps, be smarter to use B-52's to launch sub-orbital missiles with precision conventional warheads. They should be far less conspicuous than a drone doing Mach 6.

[paulannesley]

“At this speed, the aircraft would be so fast, an adversary would have no time to react or hide.”

“Hypersonic aircraft, coupled with hypersonic missiles, could penetrate denied airspace and strike at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour”

… sounds lovely.

[jswanson]

They expect delivery 'by 2030'.

I wonder if satellites and newer weapons wouldn't be able to intercept its flight path by then.

You probably wouldn't have to match its speed to bring it down, just throw up a cloud of junk in its way.

[javajosh]

I mean hey if we're going to be throwing away huge sums of money on useless military gear, it may as well look cool. OTOH maybe we'd be better served by underwriting all college tuition?

[cinquemb]

Or both? I mean, that's what government boondoggles are for, right? Maybe if we send the under/unemployed grads with all the expensive military gear to war, we'd solve more problems?

[afhsfsfdsss88]

I am genuinely curious. Didn't satellites and drones make this obsolete as a concept?

[amiramir]

It is a drone: "Envisioned as an unmanned aircraft, the SR-72 would fly at speeds up to Mach 6 ..."

[ceejayoz]

No reason this couldn't be a drone, and no reason it'd necessarily be a recon craft - being able to hit a target anywhere with weapons with only a couple of hours notice would make acting on intel easier.

[danielweber]

Could this be used for space launch?

[ChuckMcM]

See Pegasus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(rocket)

Unlikely though. Pegasus benefits from the exceptional payload capacity of the B-52 and L-1011 airframe and power plant.

[callesgg]

No more than any other air breathing engine driven plane.

[ChristianMarks]

Destabilizing.

[Hoozt]

'MURICA! Let's make a metal projectile move realy fucking fast through the air!! So fucking amazing angineering shit stuff thing! Fuck yeah!!

[nraynaud]

"We're committed to bombing more weddings, quicker, farther away"