SR-71 Used as a Weapon?

SR-71 used as a weapon...

More specifically has anyone heard of it being used or tested as a weapon by the means of LOW altitude flight and HIGH speed? Heck, any aircraft, not just the SR-71?

I was thinking what would a pass over a building in such a manner? Would it cause any damage? or would the occupants just wonder what the heck was that, an earthquake?

Sorry if I missed a thread on this already or if I posted in the wrong area, please move of delete if necessary.

reply to post by Oolon


I'm not sure the effectiveness of that as a weapon unless you mean the psychological aspects of it. It wouldn't hurt anyone in the buildings but it definitely would scare them.

I know ZILCH about planes but I would think its much more dangerous for a pilot to fly lower to the ground because in the case of a problem he would have no time to react and right himself.

I think its too expensive of a risk, just to scare a few people.

BOTTOM LINE - NOPE

Peace

reply to post by Oolon


SR-71 Blackbird #17968, page 1
Holy Moly! sr-71 top speed is Mach 14 (leaked document), page 1

^ In discussion - diff topic question tho

Some images and information:

wikipedia
sr-71.org
dfrc.nasa.gov



Source[/url ]



[url=http://www.airforceworld.com/others/eng/sr71_1.htm]Source

Plenty more info on google, some of my links seem to be broken but the codes ok?.

[edit on 16/2/2009 by phushion]

I think the denser atmosphere at low altitudes would rip the plane to shreds. I could be wrong about that though.

As for the ability to use the plane as a weapon, I think that could work. It would be an impractically expensive and risky weapon though. However, a sonic boom is just a shock wave - same as the shock wave from a bomb.

Originally posted by mattifikation
I think the denser atmosphere at low altitudes would rip the plane to shreds. I could be wrong about that though.

Pretty sure this is your answer, hypersonic aircraft fly at extreme altitude because the air is thinner, hence you get a more favorable ratio of airspeed vs groundspeed. SR-71 couldn't fly anywhere near its max groundspeed at low altitudes.

High performance aircraft like the SR71 probably could cause some damage with their sonic booms, but to the best of my understanding there are other factors besides speed that determine how severe the boom is felt, depending on pressure waves(which is also a consideration in nuclear warhead design and testing), so certain aircraft shapes/airflows or slower speeds may cause more severe damage.

[edit on 16-2-2009 by Ridill]

If you flew it into something I'm sure it would make a nice big crater.

Remotely guided it would be pretty much unstoppable.

I personally find it a bit humorous that that question was even put forth. Um, do you think that the government meant to make an ultra top secret aircraft just for fun?

reply to post by spookjr


I think a lot of the more crazy cold bastards do. Just kids in the playground with fancier toys.

Peace

Exceeding the speed of sound at low altitude can break windows and damage hearing, but it's not going to kill anyone, or do anything of real value.

It was not really designed as a weapon best I can tell. Minimal payload so no bombs...so fast I'd be concerned that it would fly into it's own bullets with a sudden acceleration (I don't know if that is actually possible, who knows?). Now I'm not saying it is impossible, I am saying their are far better designed alternatives.

Honestly...if ya wanna mess some peoples on the ground up use an A-10 Warthog, best plane for the job.

I heard about an incident during the war in iraq (when it actually was a war).

Australian soldiers were attempting to remove iraq soldiers from airport building's, including the control tower. They needed the buildings intact so that the airport could be used. They could have gone in the heavily fortified buildings but they had a better idea.

The called up the US airforce and had them do a low level supersonic pass in jet fighters. Broke all the windows and made one hell of a sound.

Guess what? The Iraqi's surrendered without a shot being fired - how's that for a weapon!

Originally posted by SonOfChaos
Honestly...if ya wanna mess some peoples on the ground up use an A-10 Warthog, best plane for the job.

So true! that is one of my favorite animals!

I realize using a plane in the manor I suggested, especially that plane would be rather crazy ($$$). It was just a thought.

Thanks all for the input!

the sr-71 started out as the a-12 a supersonic nuclear armed interceptor, it was designed to carry the genie nuclear anti aircraft missle.

Mach 14 is bs

When I was in Desert Storm we would call in F-16's and 15's for air strikes. They would fly so low to the desert that the sonic booms would kick the sand up behind them. This never caused us or the enemy any harm. I couldn't imagine how fast an aircraft would have to travel to make the sonic blast a weapon. I'd think that it wouldn't be a very economical weapon...Just my opinion.

Originally posted by punkinworks09
the sr-71 started out as the a-12 a supersonic nuclear armed interceptor, it was designed to carry the genie nuclear anti aircraft missle.

Mach 14 is bs

No, it started as a recon aircraft, to be less vulnerable than the U-2. A-12 was operated by CIA, and well CIA did not have fighter interceptors.

If I remember correctly from the discovery channel some time ago it was designed for recon...

Unfortunately it only has one evasive maneuver when dealing with hostiles...accelerate...of course I think that was all it ever really needed.

The SR-71 was designed with the posisbility of carrying a 1-megaton bomb as a second-strike weapon - see www.aerospaceweb.org...

The Germans did test using Tornado aircraft at supersonic speed to create a boom that would do damage in the 70's. The effects are disputed, but at any rate this does not seem to have been adopted as a tactic. The SR-71 would not be a particularly good platform for this sort of thing - not optimised for low levels!



[edit on 17-2-2009 by Wembley]

I'll say from personal experience that the sonic blast makes a pretty good psychological impact. Not to mention watching the sand fly up as the jets passed over was pretty cool

Originally posted by Oolon
SR-71 used as a weapon...

More specifically has anyone heard of it being used or tested as a weapon by the means of LOW altitude flight and HIGH speed? Heck, any aircraft, not just the SR-71?

I was thinking what would a pass over a building in such a manner? Would it cause any damage? or would the occupants just wonder what the heck was that, an earthquake?

Sorry if I missed a thread on this already or if I posted in the wrong area, please move of delete if necessary.

IF armed with sticky-bombs that time released so the plane could get far enough away before detonation would be somthing to look into. Imaging a plane flying in at mach 2 or faster like 50-200 feet over the enemy releasing bombs covered in a napalm like substance that don't go off right away but say maybe 4 seconds later would be a crazy weapon.