This is the amazing Lockheed Martin SR-72—the space Blackbird

reply to post by Zaphod58


I concur we don't hear about these things until long after they have been invented and tested. It would be stupid to just release this info to the public. Usually they are working on the next big thing by the time we ever hear about things like this. Makes you wonder what they got in the works.

The SR-72 engine nacelles look familiar to the fictional F-302's:



SR-72:



Kind of cool! The fictional F-302 has:

the X-302 was powered by a pair of jet engines with modified aerospikes for use at high altitude, plus a rocket booster for use in outer space.

Link

Apparently Rocketdyne has already been working on aerospike engines. They like to call them "aerojet" engines instead:

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.

penton.com

Air-breather/rocket combo -- sounds good to me. I bet we've had these for a while, considering the articles.

reply to post by Zaphod58



Whilst speed is certainly good enough against anti aircraft missiles. How would it fare against Laser/ Gauss guns that may be used in the future and seem to be in development?

grey580
Came across this site with some pics of the SR-72.
Along with others


notreally.info...

And look at this.
The first 2 are familiar now.
Wonder about that 3rd one.

The third one seems to represent the Lockheed D-21, seen here carried by a B-52

reply to post by waynos


The D-21 I knew about was matched to a 71, IIRC... Looked pretty epic being piggybacked

reply to post by kingofyo1


oh yeah, #1 was Have Blue, followed by #2, which is the htv-3x concept(72 as we now know it)

Reaction Engine Skylon , if they can take a standard engine and get a constant Mach 5 im sure than can get Mach 6 out of an hybrid engine.

www.reactionengines.co.uk...


Bill

Zaphod58
I will say with almost absolute certainty that, regardless of circumstantial evidence, the platform known as Aurora does not, and never has existed.

But....

Something was flying out of Groom after the Blackbirds were retired and during the period the shuttle was grounded.

There were document "skyquakes" over California and the North Sea/Netherlands that are a matter of public record.

Something was tracked by RAF radars at Mach 3+ over the North Atlantic and nothern Scotland, that led the MOD to ask questions of the USAF.

Something left a flight of Tornado's standing still over the North Sea.

Chris Gibson saw something unusual.

And something crashed into the sea off the Isle of Jura in Scotland that prompted a large search and rescue exercise.

Theres more, but most of this stuff is well documented. Something was flying at the time - possibly a couple of test airframes, and whether or not "Aurora" was its official designation, I imagine it was a precursor to what we're seeing here.

reply to post by neformore


Nef, I think you're entirely right.. I had pointed out the skyquakes previously (dont remember if it was this thread or the other sr-72 one) as a point of contention as to whether it was this craft or a similar super/hypersonic. I'm leaning towards this one, but we could all be wrong and it could be something new entirely that NONE of us have heard/seen before

Regan's 'Star Wars' finally coming to fruition... This will be relevant to China's interests.

reply to post by iLemming


maybe their interests to speed up weapons production and technology of SAMs

reply to post by neformore


Read very carefully what I said and how I said it.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Morning, Zaph!

Yeah, you said "Almost absolute certainty that the platform known as aurora "

which leads to speculation as to what other programs were out

Zaphod58
reply to post by grey580

 

By 2018 my right unmentionable. I'm willing to put money it's flying right now and has been for years. Which means it's going to have an incredibly successful and fast test program.

See this thread for more

edit on 11/1/2013 by Zaphod58 because: (no reason given)

Yep, that's the way it seems to work.
Makes me wonder if I may have seen one and just didn't know any better...or anyone one else for that matter.
I remember seeing the stealth for the first time on LI.
They flew over a bunch of us kids playing kickball at the church we all went to.
They were the coolest things we could think of ever seeing, but we knew right away that they were planes, and that they were probably ours, as they were flying from Grumman.

About a week later, I remember seeing a story about it on the news...

As for this "new" bird, I kinda feel like you're right on it having plenty of air time already.

Kinda like those F-35e's...right...?
Maybe?
Meh.

reply to post by kingofyo1


Hey look! What was that?! *walks away whistling*

reply to post by Zaphod58


OOH FLYING TIN FOIL SQUIRRELS!!! Lets ride a bike

Edit: Oh btw? before my HVAC died in the tent over and over last night forcing me to wake up to turn it back on, I had some dreams regarding the discussion of chasing the white rabbit clues you gave me... Suffice to say, I had a couple of thoughts but they turned out to be nothing

grey580

The Aviation Week website is down for maintenance.
However I found this over on gizmodo.
As well as some other pics on the net that seem related to what was released on aviation week.

However. How freakin cool is this!
We get a SR-72 Mach 6 edge of space plane with optional strike capability?
Very badass.

sploid.gizmodo.com...

This is a great thread and topic that I always have interest in and sometimes can provide information on. However, I do not have any real 'inside' knowledge I am of the belief that Aurora did/does exist and is at least Mach 6 and has low-orbit capabilities. I am also of the belief that not used as a weapons system (probably could be) is more of an instant "Reconnaissance" Asset for (USSPACECOM). This may actually be the prototypes. This craft also utilizes JP-7 fuel. Remember, we surpassed mach 4, 5 back in the '60s.



In any event. I am stil in awe of the beautiful and incredible Stealth B-2 Bomber.....ain't she magnificent!!



As far as the SR-71 replacement. I am sure that plans and prototypes are actively being tested. Like others, I would never reveal anything that would jeopardize confidentiality as former military. However, as others have noted, a lot is going on and depending on your network, almost anything is possible. Peace! Love this topic.

S+F

reply to post by ItDepends


They passed Mach 4 and Mach 5 in the 60s with rocket powered aircraft. No air breathing aircraft has been able to do it for long, and they have until now required an assist, usually from a rocket booster, to get fast enough for the ramjet to kick in.

Oh, and your first pic is of a potential Russian bomber design.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Zaph, are you willing to venture a guess as to if they'll do a manned version of the 72? I know it'll be a wee bit of modification for pilot/nav systems to be rerouted into the craft, and then the fly-by-wire controls and oxy systems but with today's awesome tech i'd think it'd at least be feasible

Zaphod58
reply to post by ItDepends

 

They passed Mach 4 and Mach 5 in the 60s with rocket powered aircraft. No air breathing aircraft has been able to do it for long, and they have until now required an assist, usually from a rocket booster, to get fast enough for the ramjet to kick in.

Oh, and your first pic is of a potential Russian bomber design.

Yep, you are correct, I pulled the wrong clip in the first pic is a Russian design which I believe never went operative. Thanks!!

This is the one I had in mind fully stealth with low-orbit capability.