Is The Lockheed SR 72 Son Of The Blackbird Already Flying?
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2021
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Traveling over our heads at hypersonic speeds beyond Mach 7, lies the future of spy plane technology. It can be anywhere in the world in one hour, enter any country unnoticed, and be out before their jets can even get into the sky.
This future plane doesn't need a pilot, flies twice as fast as the SR-71 blackbird, and further development has rumored that it will be equipped with hypersonic missiles.
and most shocking about this top-secret project, perhaps its even flying... today.
This is the son of the blackbird, the mysterious, SR-72.
Spy planes have always filled an important role in intelligence gathering. At the start, they were the only way to get a birds-eye view on what was going on over others' borders, and then even when satalights became more fesible, still had advantages. they are fast, can be deployed much quicker than orbital cameras, and can avoid being shot down.
The SR-71 Blackbird is commonly known as the most famous spy plane, and was during its operation, one of the fastest us aircraft in the air force.
But with the retirement of this older spy plane in 1998, the usa government was left with a problem. there was a gap in their ability to spy betweens py satalights and remote drones.
Enter the new version of the SR-71, called the son of the blackbird. This is what this top-secret project is all about.
Work on this project was announced to be started way back in 2007, although likely engineers at the Lockheed martin skunk works started research development years earlier. Initially, rumors were that they were working on a new aircraft that could fly Mach 6, up to 4,000 mph or 6400 k/h, at an altitude of 80,000 feet (24,400 m). This means this plane could reach anywhere in the world... in one hour.
to achieve this insane new speed, Lockheed is developing a special hybrid jet and rocket engine.
The challenge is to create an engine that can perform at all three speeds. The sr-72 is believed to fix this by having both a turbine engine for low speeds, and converting into a scramjet for high speeds. Both engines will have the same inlet and exhaust, but different airflows inside the aircraft. Lockheed is working with Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop this engine, called the turbine-based combined cycle propulsion system.
The aircraft will also need to be able to survive flying at such high speeds. Aerodynamic heating will cause massive gains in temperature, hot enough to melt convential aircraft materials. Thus this plane will be built from a special fabrication of metal and cermaic composites, like those used in the space shuttle.
Much of this research is based on the Hypersonic Techoloy vehicle 2, or HTV-2, that was developed in 2010 for the defense advanced research project agency.
Looking at this planes specks, it makes sense that any design should be built with the ability to strike targets using special hypersonic missiles.
“Hypersonic aircraft, coupled with hypersonic missiles, could penetrate denied airspace and strike at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour,” said Brad Leland, Lockheed Martin program manager. “Speed is the next aviation advancement to counter emerging threats in the next several decades. The technology would be a game-changer in theatre, similar to how stealth is changing the battlespace today.”
The one issue is though that no such weapons exist yet.
Overall, Lockheed is confident that its conceptual SR-72 hypersonic plane will be able to reach mach 6, cost only around 1 billion and by fyling by 2025.
But you might notice that throughout this video i have said, future, or under development, but if this aircraft is following anything like the SR-71 development - then its already flying today.
This is where things get a little fuzzy
The original timescape for this project was that construction would begin in 2018, and that the prototype would fly in 2025 and be actively deployed by 2030 - but heres the funny thing, generally the us military is years ahead of what we know.
We know there are rumors of several other spy planes in active service, or various protoype stages, such as the Aurora or the black triangles. Whos to say that the SR-72, or at least a flying prototype version is not already in active service.
Do you really think that the US government would leave its spy plane defence or offense role, unfilled for the last 20 years? Well, i'll let you decide in the comments below.
As for the SR-72 progress, so far the US airforce is still deciding between it, and the Northrop RQ-180 drone - which has already flown and has greater stealth capabilities - although is not a hypersonic aircraft and thus built with conventional technologies.
It remains to be seen which project will be put into service - or which will ever be publically acknowledged.
At our local air Museum, we have a Blackbird. A docent told us of the time a former Societ fighter pilot visited the museum. He walked up to the plane, grabbed the wing and said "finally caught you"
Lol
What's a "docent" ?
@@Olkv3D a person who leads guided tours
@@discovolante6624 ah. So kinda lika tour guide.
@@Olkv3D only the guided tours, not the fire and forget type.
If I know how these thing usually go, it's been flying for 20 years by now.
You are correct.
They don't show their Aces, until they become a pair of 2's.
Knowing the timeline of the Sr 71 and the nighthawk, which have been flying for years way before they were even publicly acknowledged, there's a big possibility there are already multiple test versions of the sr-72 like its predecessor.
Thank you! Because, it has been! And so is its replacement! Hey, spying, never rests!
@@stankygeorge And we never find out anything about it until it's no longer important. As it should be.
These "Auroras" flew out of Edwards AFB in S. Calif starting around 2000. Sunday mornings they would pass over the Hollywood Hills. You never saw the plane or heard it, but the " donuts on a rope" contrail was very unique, and appeared instantly. I was told by an AF Colonel that Aurora was not a plane - it was a program.
WE HAVE EVIDENCE FOLKS. AURORA CONFIRMED
AURORA BOREALIS IN YOUR KITCHEN?
@@vst6727 can I see it?
Just because you see contrails in a circle doesn't mean it's the auroras
@@ombre_blanco1725 uhh, no
The biggest flaw of the SR-71 isn't that there's a pilot. It's that the incredible heat made the plane expand so much that it leaked like a sieve when on the ground.
I walked around the Concorde in a hanger once. It was the only aircraft in there, because of all the fuel it was leaking. The floor was littered with buckets everywhere, trying to catch all the fuel. The doors were kept wide open, to try and get rid of all the fumes. I think if someone lit a cigarette anywhere near that hanger, it would have gone up in flames in a second. Everybody was nervous AF until it left again.
Exaclty, but that's not the reason it leaked. It's the other way around. It didn't leak in the air because the fuselage expanded due to extremely hot temperatures. It leaked on the ground because it was built with expansion joints.
And yet people think the SR-72 is right around the corner or already flying. HA!
@@crsv7armhl SR-71 first flew in 1966. That's 56 years ago.
If Elon Musk can create a better moon rocket I'm sure the US could create a better SR-71.
But I said could.....not did ....America isn't what it was.
@@agen1man it wasnt that it had expansion joints that made it leak, it leaked because to save weight the skin of the wings are the fuel tanks themselves and with repeated heating and cooling the sealant used in the tanks would wear down causing leaks. this was an easy enough fix by just applying more sealant but it was expensive and took time, so the airforce made a special chart of how much the plane was allowed to leak before being sent to meintenance. the exspansion joints really dont have as much of an effect as people believe and the leaks are more so caused by weight saving on fuel tanks. if they had put a sepparate fuel tank in instead of using the skin of the plane it wouldnt leak much at all but it would be heavier and have less range
That’s one of the coolest looking aircraft I’ve ever seen. That’s one things I love about aviation. The cooler the aircraft looks, the faster it goes, most of the time.
Usually a sleek and smooth exterior is more aerodynamic, so there is a correlation
yf-23 is still the coolest in my book
its generic
sr71 lookes dope, sr72 looks even better,
Ready to g-get offffendedd? It was designed by almost entirely if not entirely white American men, no women.
What has happened to Welfarica in the past 70 years?
You dont retire one without having a replacement.
The U-2 is still being used
@Arsenal Bismarck Im liking just because you support Arsenal
Tell that to the UK government who retired the entire fleet of Harriers with no aircraft ready to replace them for years...
Space Shuttle???????????
@Austin 🤣
Did you watch UEFA 2020 match lastnight. Stressful but we did it
They would probably have to eject the weapons out of the rear of the craft. Then they could fall away from the slipstream prior to engaging their onboard propulsion.
Forget the inability for any material to withstand the heat and air friction at Mach 7. Just imagine the turbulence created by opening a panel to a cavity void within the aircraft. The buffeting and vibration would shake the plane apart.
Actually, there are materials that can withstand such friction at Mach 7. For example, a type of material called Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC), used on the hottest areas of the reentering Space Shuttle, could withstand the heat at 17,000 mph for about 6 minutes, as it gets stronger as it gets harder. I believe that it could withstand hours at about 5400 mph.
Eject from the rear of the fuselage like the A5 (A3J-1) Vigilante.
Russia already has hypersonic missiles that fly Mach 7; 5200mph. That’s 2 miles per second. The fastest U.S. missile known flies 3200 mph. That’s like a VW bug trying to catch a Ferrari. Russia’s nuclear hypersonic missiles at this time will hit target before they can be picked up by satellite. Research it!
@@tomschmid582 What does any of that have to do with my original comment about doors opening at Mach 7 and the turbulence that would create?
@@hillarysemails1615 you said that no materials can withstand the friction at Mach 7 before your main poin
It did *not* take a week to turn around a Blackbird from post-mission to FMC. The scheduling was always done such that anyone happening to watch these things never really had the skinny on what took how long, etc. They practiced basic operational security and it worked marvelously since here we are talking about it all these years later. Those guys knew *exactly* what they were doing.
Yes and as to speed every SR71 pilot said that at top speed it felt like there was much more left in it.
Opening weapon bay door on the bottom at mach 7, priceless :D
Well it couldve slowed down....
@@StrelitziaLiveries Why would it do that? Just yeet the missiles at mach 7 and hope they work
@@infinitespace2520 well
Opening weapons bay at extremely high speeds may cause unfavorable aerodynamic effects due to opening a hole in your aircraft at mach 7
Could melt things, could rip open the bay doors
@@StrelitziaLiveries they'll probably go with slider doors
@@StrelitziaLiveries It's still worth it
The SR-71 was not one of the fastest aircraft in the Air Force, it was _THE_ fastest. In fact, to this day, no other piloted jet aircraft -- that we know of -- has flown faster or higher than the SR-71. Just in case someone brings up the X-15 -- it was rocket powered ;)
I found some HIGHLY CLASSIFIED documents on the internet (after some longggg research). I can tell you the SR-71 was NOT the fastest. We have something WAYYY faster than that.
@@chrism6904 link?
@@chrism6904 the fastest : pilot BABA YAGA and her vehicle STUPA is undisputed. & weapon METLA is terrifying
@@chrism6904 That's why I made sure to use the qualifier 'that we know of.' There's no telling what black projects the government is working on.
@@hitlerssecondcoming2523 I dont have the link (after looking for hourssss I randomly clicked on a webpage). I ended up downloading them, saved them to multiple flash drives, and printed it out. Had 30+ pages of classified material. Im guessing it was leaked secretly. I literally just sent it all to different media sources (still waiting to hear back from them). *This information will literally change the world forever....*
The original published maximum operational ceiling for the SR-71 was 82,000 feet. The absolute ceiling of the SR-71 is classified, but some estimate it to be at 100,000 ft
I worked on the F-15 in mid 70's, and it could run up to 80k no prob. Just sayin' 🚁👽
Correct. Also on the A-12
The max known (According to SR-71 Pilot) was around 94,000 feet that they ever dared to go, and didn't elaborate further but you should be able to guess why. But for the record and on official pages they stopped at the conservative 82,000 feet.
Lockheed: "Shit some random pilot of the navy just filmed our latest SR-72 test flight."
US government: "Don’t worry we’ll just say it’s space aliens."
Lockheed: "What?"
US government: “What?"
facxxxxxx
Lol
There is No Such thing as SR-72, nor will there ever be one. More likely to be RX- something like (RX-26) Shadow Fox
"rumour has it equipped with hypersonic missiles"
if the plane is flying mach 7 then any missile it fires is hypersonic
at least till it lets go. That's kind of the point. In the past we have had issues with planes that could fly faster than the missiles they carried (or their own bullets in the case of the F-111). They would have to slow to fire them.
@@evalyer the problem with bullets is that they decelerated after firing, now missiles have their own onboard propellant so it shouldnt be a problem
@@spawnof200 yes but drag exists and the second that missle drops it will fly behind the plane unless activated slightly before launch, also making a hypersonic missle is kinda hard since instead of a jet engine its a rocket engine which can only be so good for the missles size, now im not a engineer so idk how hard it is to make a fast rocket engine but looking at missle speeds vs planes it seems jet engines are easier to make faster while keeping small meanwhile rockets get bigger the faster they are. just gotta realize that anything at mach 7 thats launched wont be a easy task to make faster or keep up lmao
@@littlecreeper8543 most missiles use rocket motors not jets, rockets are more powerful than jets engines, rocket powered missiles are faster than jet powered missiles. the reason jet engine missiles are used is it possible to get more range out of them for a given fuel load.
@@spawnof200 AFAIK, Alot of rocket powered middles come down to fuel management/size. Alot of R&D for hypersonic is being used for different fuel types, as conventional rocket fuel, while can make it hypersonic, it just needs enoomugh burn/flight time, which increases size/then more drag/then more fuel needed, rinse repeat, ECT. So fuel R&D is being developed for better combustion vs weight I'd assume.
"ONLY cost a billion dollars!"
"So...With overruns, we'll call it an even $5 billion, okay?" - Lockheed Martin
If this is a hypersonic spy plane with near low orbit capabilities, then it can do the work of a dozen satellites. Plus, it is proof of concept and a testing platform for a new generation of aircraft. So worth it.
Well considering the proposed development budget for Marin One (the US President's personal helicopter) was originally set at $6 billion but has now grown to $11 billion...I'd say Lockheed is actually spending their money well.
The best I can do is $7 billion with a $2.5 billion maintenance contract for 4 years.
@@xavariusquest4603 Yes but if you take into consideration the cost and stuff we wont see this flying before 20 or 30 years.
The Fed just 'prints' cyber $ at will
I mean the defence budget is more than 600 billion, and who knows what goes on inside those super-secret bases, anyways this concept is amazing.
775 billion last year
@@anguswaterhouse9255 And that`s why we`re the greatest Military in the World, if we could only clean up the Waste.
"You don't retire a system, without having a replacement."
Tell that to NASA's SST program.
Q: How does the USA send astronauts into space?
A: On Russian rockets.
Loool true. At least now we got SpaceX Dragon. But if that had flopped, the USA would still rely on Russian rockets
Not anymore, companies like space x are taking astronauts up now. Ever Russian cosmonauts
The SST was not a military program, well not entirely. The Boeing X37 is in many ways similar to the shuttle, without a crew of course. Despite its smaller size, sources say the X37 can be modified for a crew if needed, and I suspect the yanks would if they didn't have the Russian rockets to use.
That was part of the Deal made for the ISS and some other stuff.
falcon 9
Over three decades since sr71 last flew, they've had a replacement for a while. In fact they should a couple generations ahead
The SR-91? The funny thing is the SR-91 has a side by side cockpit, from what I've heard. So its safe to say the SR-91 is a piloted Hypersonic Spy plane.
we had these things called satellites but anti satellite missiles and better tracking have only just started making them non-viable for reconnaissance
@@AsbestosMuffins Orbital espionage is limited by orbits, altitude and what you can launch, they're not a match for say the SR-72
Is there a need for recon planes with satellites in space getting such hi res imagery, I assume. I would love to know what resolution they get from space now. I'm betting they're near seeing individuals on the ground with IR. Once these satellites start being armed game over for bombers.
@@sundhaug92 in fact I guarantee you current satellite imagery is far superior to sr71 imagery. Not just resolution but multi band including some pretty sophisticated sensors starting with rgb and multiple IR bands.
"Can avoid being shot down." Shows picture of U-2.
Gary Powers has left the chat.
Gary Powers did not have speed in his Lockheed U-2. The much faster Lockheed SR-71 was never shot down in combat. That is progress for you.
We still use the U-2
@@texasforever7887 The Boeing B-52 and Boeing KC-135 is still in service today. But, so what?
@@user-kc1tf7zm3b the SR-71 was retired while the aircraft it was designed to replace is still doing the job. Don't get me wrong I love the Blackbird, but the irony of it is to good. Especially with your "That's progress for you" statement.
@@texasforever7887 I know a pilot
The SR 71 aircraft has been tested for speed and superiority in the air. From the design alone shows this plane is very scary for the opponent. unlike other jets whose bodies look beautiful. for me the shape and color of this plane is really crazy. even like a monster.
I saw an SR71 take off back in late 80s. I commented on the fuel leaking, since did during takeoff. Didn't know then they're designed that way for takeoff process. As soon as airborne pilot throttled up and angled up hard!
sounds very cool!
"I commented on the fuel leaking, since did during takeoff. Didn't know then they're designed that way for takeoff process."
They aren't designed to leak fuel for take-off. The constant expansion and contraction of the panels caused the fuel leaks. It was something that was expected and they lived with it, but not exactly purposeful design.
@@martinw245 I don't know. If it was designed to have the gaps to allow for expansion which caused the leaks whilst on the ground then isn't that the definition of purposeful design?
That was why they had very little fuel in the plane on takeoff, I think just enough to take off and meet tanker plane to fuel for the trip.
@@pegasusted2504 you're misunderstanding. The expansion and contraction of the panels caused the leaks because they didn't use traditional tanks. When they discovered this, they tried to fix it. When they realized a complete fix was not feasible, they monitored the amt of leak.
"Sir, we've spent billions of dollars on a superplane and we have no idea what to do with it yet."
"Eh, go send it over some conspiracy nut's house and watch 'em go mad. It'll be hilarious!"
Arguably a better use for it
And America's enemies just walk over the border for their welfare check and Democrat Party voter registration.
@@totallysmooth1203 You are the conspiracy nut's house the plane will fly over. Your Mentality-ill president Trump Businesses Hires illegal's Going back to the 1980s .
@@ProfessorFickle Snowflake.
@@tonyallen2279 : Tony that is correct , @totally smooth1 , is also a “snowflake “ .
Looks like the legendary Aurora.
More like something from elite dangerous
Agreed 👍
@John Smith ; Nobody knows if she even existed which is why she is legendary.
@John Smith it likely never existed except as a disinformation project to keep the Russians looking for something that they couldn’t find.
@@Justanotherconsumer Not just Russians...
“During its operation one of the fastest us aircraft in the Air Force”
That’s a bit of an understatement. Only faster known aircraft to this day is the X15. But that’s rocket powered, and can’t take off from the ground..
X37B faster then both, just took altitude to space with flight time's exceeding 1 year at a time.
This thing is like the spy plane in top gun maverick
I remember when a graphics picture of the F-117 was on the cover of Popular Mechanics I think it was way back. Had the title of something like is this some top secret alien technology our government has? Everyone was thinking that there is no way an airplane is going to look like that! In about a year and a half later, THERE IT WAS! 👀🇺🇲
"I'm not smart enough to conceive of this, so no other human is either! Must be aliens!"
When my father retired from the Skunk Works in the late 70’s, Lockheed was working on a new advanced plane. During the gulf war, he said the f117 was what they had been working on before he retired. He was alway very closed mouthed about projects he worked on, and told even me very little... He did grin a lot when mentioning that he had talked a lot with Kelley “Bird” Johnson about “saucers”. I got the impression that they were trying out designs a long time ago.
@@robmoore423 No, must be the Dunning Kruger effect !
I had a copy of national geographic that had an article and pics of the B-2 spirit bomber in the 80’s. That issue was retroactively classified for giving too much accurate info. OOPS
...and trying to do what it was made to do, it got shot.
If it can go from horizon to horizon in a minute, while twice as high as a commercial jet that looked like it was barely moving, then yes it exists.
They test this stuff over my property in Northern Arizona.
we need more stories!
Sure they do, so everyone can see it with cameras, telescopes, sure they do……….lol
@@billpugh58
They're gonna fly an aeroplane that high only above Area 51. Sure they are.
I'm in San Diego, and you can hear the sonic booms all the time, so I'd expect they're testing off the coast to avoid blowing out windows. If that's the case, it would not surprise if this guy was running scramjets because at the rate the sonic boom moves, it's probably hypersonic and then some. And yes, they're probably a couple gens ahead by now, scramjets where first becoming practical in the early 90s. That's 30 years of progress, and how many operational scramjet craft have you heard about?
@@billpugh58
visual detection of experimental aircraft never matters when you're concerned about missiles detecting and or catching you if that same craft goes into production
I've seen it fly early in the morning a couple of years ago at work. It flew really low over my office and you could barely hear it as it caught me off guard. I work not far from SkunkWorks in the high desert and this baby flew directly over me. And I new it was a new aircraft and those scramjet stood out very clearly. It was around 3:30 a.m. when passed over me.
I witnessed something flying at very high altitude and extremely fast just before dawn last week. Much faster than commercial or even military flights which go over regularly here. The upper atmosphere light caught the wispy exhaust trail but I could not see any aircraft with my eyes it appeared to be too high. Something different.
The SR-71 replacement was flying the 1970's. We are 4 generations past that one.
I built a model of the SR-71 back in 1964 or 65! It was already flying before I built the model!
@@stankygeorge yes! Frist flight:22 December1964/number built:32
By 'replacement', I think they mean what the public knows about... not what's actually in use.
@@hxhdfjifzirstc894 Then that makes a conversation about something we know not to be true kind of silly, doesn't it?
@@stankygeorge I built one in 1968.
"...much like those used in the space shuttle." Shows photos of Gemini capsule.
Opps
Oh no😂😂 that's definitely the Gemini capsule
@@NickVanRegenmorter And then there's Neil Armstrong whose last flight was part of the Apollo program.
very interesting video!
Great Editing. Liked & Subcribed!!
The huge turning circle is a direct factor of the speed. This (lack of) turning ability equally applies to anti-aircraft missiles so unless they can predict its trajectory the missile still can’t hit it.
Well that sucks because most of today’s tech can easily calculate the trajectory
I find it pretty weird that all these "secret" projects are widely known, this, the new fighters, the B21, the new drones, Skyborg, Golden Horde, FARA,and so on. It's almost as if this is not the REALLY good stuff.
There are always like 10 years ahead which is keept secret , all we see is "old" stuff .
@@Nonpain more like 40 or 50 years.
the SR72 was retired a few years ago, thats why were hearing about it.
It's not the good stuff. The tr3b and alien reproduction vehicles are the good stuff.
@@F14thunderhawk Not it wasn't, they plan on fielding it in the 2030s.
I think I saw this in 2006. I was sitting outside one night in Tahoe city California looking up at the stars when this plane flew over very low that looked like it went by at super sonic speed but made no noise. I never saw it again but I'll never forget it.
The head hypersonics engineer at Boeing already hinted at having succeeded at developing dual mode scramjet, and the US has been developing materials technology for hypersonic aircraft for years.
Just put some wings on a Saturn V and call it a day (32 000 kmh).
Landing might be a problem!
@@stanleybuchan4610 Well I guess kaboom then
@@artelislt Yes Rico, kaboom.
The Pumpkin Seed Drone. Oh yes.
Aviation Leak gonna love this one.
There is only one group in the world that can pull this of. Skunk Works.
You talking about the Auroras, I distinctly remember witnessing as a child a type of aircraft that was much faster than anything we know of in the dead of night. I have never figured out what it could've been. Maybe it was a SR71 or indeed an Aurora. SR71 retired from flight around 1998 which would have put it in the right time frame. The funniest thing is I cant even be 100% sure if it was all just a dream or I actually witnessed it.
What if the UFO sightings are just testing of these concept spy planes after all most of the UFO sightings are in USA😁😁
Yes I thought that to
No flight characteristics are nothing like that is described in video two different subject.
More sightings are seen outside the US.
Now you can assume that it's the US testing R&D aircraft over foreign countries.
That’s honestly probably the case
@@ENDtheFED-it4bo I wouldn’t be surprised to test in different environments because temp heavily affect sr-71’s efficiency it can come down to stuff like that.
I witnessed hyper-sonic overflight less than one year ago. It was pre-dawn with very clear atmospheric calm. Guessing roughly 120,000 feet altitude so horizon to horizon visibility could be as little as 800 miles lasting from 60 to 90 seconds. Anti-collision white strobe 40 per minute with continuous forward lamp on. Flying west to east from Denver then slow arc toward north east near Chicago. I stepped off my semi tractor to pee and habitually began accounting for planets and constellations. Noticed Arcturus to my west overhead and super fast oncoming flight captured my attention. Diesel truck engine idled so I noticed no propulsion noise.
I have viewed satellites and air traffic at night for 8 years with my naked eye and Celestron Cometron 12 X 70 binocs. I am very knowledgeable of relative speeds and heights for all overflights. Horizon to horizon jet traffic is miserably slow. This thing moved like the ISS which I have witnessed dozens of times. These binoculars reveal satellites orbiting in every direction except west. I am now desensitized to surprising or shocking overflight phenomena.
The anti-collision lighting convinces me that this is common continuously reusable hyper-sonic air and space aircraft. It did not follow conventional efficiency of great circle flight. It seems that intentional elongation of flight pattern reveals the delicate limitations with respect to manueverability at great speeds. Almost as if point and shoot targeting is necessary to a certain degree.
wow dude that is sick
I seriously doubt you would be able to see a strobe at 120,000 ft. I think your estimate of it altitude is a bit off.
Absolutely incredible, you must be in an area without light pollution, ( possibly the Midwest) to be seeing the stuff you see. I've been out at sea and witnessed things I couldn't exactly explain. We're not the only country with experimental aircraft, that's a fact. 😎
@@jcf20010 He did mention he lived on farm so it would be minimal light pollution as opposed to someone living more urban
@@jcf20010 I cannot be certain of my claim since this is my only observation with these characteristics. It is my best guess explanation with ten years of intense and purposeful amateur alertness. Look at the night sky with 12 x 70 celestron binocs. I have seen satellites intersect orbital paths in the field of view. Low earth orbit includes heights up to 1200 km. These are clearly identifiable only because sunlight is reflected off of planar surfaces. Human visual acuity is very subjective yet miraculously encompassing. I wish you had been there. Even then our juxtaposed perceptions would have been undoubtedly quite dissimilar.
"Top secret"
Also Skunkworks
"Oh yea, use this in your new film, go ahead."
Further to my last comment, Macrihanish in Scotland was long enough to also take the space shuttle if needed. I knew a mil radar op in the UK who 30 yrs ago would be briefed when the Aurora was going to show on the scope , and an engineer at Macrihanish who said the Aurora would land and take of at night from there, he remembers the loud sound and seeing the afterburners in the dark. So yes it did exist.
Ryanair: We'll fill that with 100 passenger seats!
Cost you extra to take luggage!
What the left wheel well?
and charge you to use the bathroom.
What, you want to wear shoes!? That'll be a 40 pound shoe charge
Elon Musk: Hmmm...We can reconfigure its engine entirely so that this baby can travel to Mars. People get me direct line with the Pentagon!
SR71 was built in 1965. We seen it first in 1981. It was already retired. They would have something to replace it for sure. The Aurora is probably in service but costs are prohibiting so the SR72 would be in line with economic pressures. Makes sense doesn’t it. The Aurora is reported to have speeds as high as Mach 13 of course it doesn’t exist.
Drones have replaced it. Satellites have replaced it. They are cheaper, can stay on station for days and don't risk pilots.
@@crsv7armhl Stealth drones maybe, satellite can only stay on-station if it is in a preplanned orbit @14,000 miles altitude. That's good for communications but not reconnaissance.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if we didn't already have an aircraft like that in the air after what I saw while stationed on an aircraft carrier in the late 80s. The things I saw then blew me away and after my pilot friend who flew an F14 explained to me what it could do and what the actual speed was I was blown away.
How the plane that you saw looked like?
My grandpa was a Korean war vet ....he and his buddy saw a black triangle floating silently above the tree tops back in the 70s.... this technology is so old..... I was army too....
SR 71: *chuckles*, I’m in danger
NEVER THAT!
The Blackbird will forever fly through history with the likes of the Phoenix and the Pegasus.
@JZ's Best Friend Must to realize it has been retired for quite some time.
@@artonline01 The SR-71 is actually an Autobot named Jet Fire that arrived during the cold War era.heard it's still rambling about it's old spy days to every visitors at the National Air and Space museum in Chantilly.
@@lancasterbristow9410 My first expesive transformers toy as a child was Jetfire even tho in the cartoon he was called Skyfire. Either way he was my favorite big ass transforming Jet in 1984
0:41 "Top secret project"
*proceeds to make an entire video about it*
Love your videos btw
haha i love it!
Skunk Works, by Ben Rich. Written in the 90s by the guy who lead the team that developed the F-117, he personally designed the propulsion system for the SR-71 under Kelly Johnson. His book will blow your mind.
They developed stealth ships and submarines. Their small missle ship would be placed a few hundred miles around the main fleet and be used to shoot down Russian bombers. The problem was it appeared on radar as a black hole in the waves the stealth was so good, it had to be reduced to blend in. The skunk work guys attempted to sell the ships and subs to the Navy, who rejected them for no known reason. The smark folks at the skunk works determined it's probably because naval admirals are ego driven and they would not have much notoriety if they commanded a stealth fleet that was kept top secret. Not a good place to be for an admiral, politically. Lol.
Oh, and the F-117 when they stuck in on a radar range the first time it did show up on radar, and the Air Force wasn't impressed. They figured out it was the pole the model was mounted to, and had to design a stealth pole to continue the test. They built a flying prototype and flew it by a radar shack and the Marines operating it weren't impressed when they picked up a jet on radar... As is flew by it was identified as the chase plane that was flying several miles behind the stealth jet. They never saw it fly by.
Plus all the details about trying to make the SR-71, they had to develop a titanium alloy because none existed for aerospace, they made their own allow that could be machined and formed and not crack in service. They purchased the titanium from Russia and the USSR via bogus LLCs set up by Kelly Johnson and the CIA. Lol!
They also built a drone to launch off the fuselage of the SR and ended up losing one over Russia. A Soviet spy or someone ended up asking them about it later on, because he was called in to inspect the crash site and unmanned object... Yes the SR was also weaponized at one time or another. It could also out run a SAM missile when the throttles were pushed to maximum afterburner. It became more fuel efficient the faster it went. And the celestial navigation system with a photoreceptor eye would see the stars and begin tracking it's pre-planned route once the jet was rolled out of the hangar even in broad daylight. Crazy tech for the 1958-70s era.
Can't imagine what those smart guys worked on after that... They had 50+ years to make something new. The F-117 and the F-22 are two examples, of course.
Great book, highly recommend.
There's no need for the SR-72 to turn with higher Gs than the SR-71. The SR-71 airframe wasn't designed to turn hard because it didn't need to, nor is there a need for the SR-72 to make tight turns. Whether or not a pilot is onboard is irrelevant.
5:14 Legend has it he's still watching the part print out. Maybe at the last couple of layers the print will shift. 😂
Very cool seeing the cones on the SR-71 move.
My grandfather help build the first scramjet engine. For sure that is already flying. The SR-71 could go faster then it did but it was a fuel problem and heat issue from what he told me. That's why it leaked fuel because of the heat would expand the plane. It was built to go fast, kinda over built the engines. lol. I'd love to see this one. I watched an SR-71 take off a few times and it was breathtaking.
I always love those "Top Secret" movies. LOL
One missing link here is that since SR71 has been retired, satellites has taken over the role of it. So yeah it could be possible the US has not had anything flying in service all this time, because satellites are pretty darn good at what they do.
satalites have a ridiculous amount of draw backs, they are great sure but their will always be a need for suborbital recon
Would you like to buy some high and dry swampland in south-west Florida???
SKYNET is going to love this thing.
the sr-71 is my hero plane and seeing how cool and better the 72 may be.
it makes me so exited to one day see it actually fly and do cool things
The big problem I see is the aerodynamic friction/heating from hypersonic airflow.
Radar signature can be reduced but what could be done to reduce the I.R. emissions ?
As always, a high quality video. Great rendering, narration, content and editing.
"one of the fastest US aircraft in the air force at the time"
god damn, you're telling me something beat it?
More than likely Found and Explained was referring to the Experimental X-15, which clocked at Mach 6.7 a year after the SR-71's introduction, but I'm not entirely sure. 🤷♂️
You would be surprised at how fast one of those SR-71 classified glitches actually could fly.
there was a couple of planes that flew faster including the a-12
great vid
The SR-71 is my favorite aircraft. Maybe not as heavily armed as the Eagle but it's gonna sneak up on them MiGs real quiet like and shoot them with its camera.
My neighbor is an old F-4 Phantom pilot. He saw a little action in Vietnam. I keep telling him to write a book. He had his share of close calls and narrow escapes from MiGs.
These are my 3 favorite aviation books:
- Her Majesty's Top Gun by Sharkey Ward
- Scream of Eagles by Robert Wilcox
- Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy 1 by Tim Gibson
I look at it this way: Ever since the SR-71 was retired, *SOMETHING* has been flying. But I'm kinda doubting that "something" is exactly the SR-72 or something like that. I think it's much more economical and somewhat less technologically extreme, relying on more conventional materials, engines and construction.. Think something very stealthy instead, that doesn't fly faster than Mach 2 - 2.5, but does cruise at that speed, and need that speed primarily for reaching a very high ceiling, not for invulnerability, and carries a huge camera.
Mach 2? make that Mach 7
@@hammyjammy SR-71 had two faults. Too expensive to fly. And detectable. So while it could fly over some technologically backward and politically unconnected countries, it couldn't fly wherever. Meaning other reconnaissance was limited to satellites.
A Mach 7 plane would be even more expensive to operate, and even more detectable. Once you go hypersonic you will turn up on radar screens.
"Can avoid being shot down" - voiced over video of a U2. "Ceramics like on the space shuttle" - shows video of Gemini. "Can travel at 6,000 kph and reach anywhere in the world in one hour" - Earth's circumference is ~40,000 km.
Scramjets START at 6000 kph. Near-orbital velocities (mach 26) are possible.
Always over promising as the political leaders
In the early 80's I was flying a private Falcon 50 south to north. I was mid country, myself and my co pilot spotted an aircraft flying east to west. It had to be 80,000 ft or more since the sun had set at my altitude of 38,000 about 1.5 hours before. At first sighting we thought it was a meteor. It was so fast but never lost altitude. It only took about two minutes to go from our right cockpit window and disappear from our left window. WE assumed it was the XR-71. We did call ATC but they didn't have radar contact.
I find it hard to believe that the us government would retire a tool as powerful as the SR-71 without having an already active successor.
Agreed 100%
You broke the code. It's about a 20 year cycle so think SR-72 .... SR-73 .... SR- 74 in prototype.
@@barrettjet You mean 20 year contract intervals for Lockheed 😎
This aircraft is incredible. 3D printing entire systems, space worthy design, and my favorite part is objectively that the technology used here could be put into a space plane.
Scram-jet can't get you to space. You need rocket engine to do that.
@@GreyDeathVaccine you can add an extra vacuum engine to propell the aircraft in space. And some (probably 2) fuel tanks that can be jettisoned
It's probably flying now, at least the pre-production versions.
No. Probably flying since the early 90s or some 25 to 30 years ago .
Project dates back to 85, early versions have been spotted flying since around 92-95. Project Aurora.
She was IOC in at least 2014, putting FOC around 2017. Secondary exhaust is a beautiful green. Strictly recon.
My grandfather was a pilot in the blackbird’s second flight over Russia. Helped develop it as well.
Yeap been flying for ages, a friend of mine saw it while they were finishing a night of star gazing.
Anyway it was 5am sun was rising and they noticed something shooting across the sky very very fast out running its vapour trail. They got the binoculars and focused in on it. It was very very high up and they described it as dagger shaped. That was in 1999.
Something can't actually fly before money has been spent to build it. So it wasn't an SR 72, in 1999. Probably some other military aircraft. And not necessarily super sonic, otherwise he would have heard the sonic boom.
@@toboterxp8155 Not necessarily. The new supersonic airplane that's been testing to replace the Concorde has a new design that makes the sonic boom much much quieter based on the shape of the wake it leaves. They might have had that type of design with the plane LV 246 described.
@@toboterxp8155 "otherwise he would have heard the sonic boom." dont be so sure about that.
@@VerisimilitudeDude That sort of stuff was only made possible with advanced computational fluid analysis, something that was still quite limited in 1999. And he still would have heard it. Or at least, someone would have heard it. You basically can't fly on land without someone being directly below you.
@@VerisimilitudeDude And "it was very fast and high up" isn't really the type of information that can be trusted, coming from an untrained ground observer.
I was in the SR program in 1970. They had a 5 mile per hour window of operation at cruising speed. And at that speed an engine stall could destroy the aircraft. Which almost happened on several fights over Russia.
Maintaining the spike inlet system was a bitch. A 16th of an inch difference could cause some serious problems at speed.
@@wayneallen8469
As a tech we only knew what they wanted us to know. But, we could tell a lot from the systems tapes ( Time, speed, altitude, spike position, fuel consumption, among others). We would play the time and distance game. But, Russia was definitely the target. Okinawa was one of the divert locations at the time. So we had to stage a refueling tanker and maintenance team there when they were working over Asia.
Yes, everyone had an interest in knowing where that plane was going. It wasn't a tourist looking for a great beach. It was
the high tech snoopy neighbor. Taking pictures of your house as they drive by. 😁
I’ve seen something..at night. Fly over sw west Florida …. It changed flight pattern in a very long and slight s curve. It was like a fireball but with a silhouette of a arrow dynamic plane flying faster than any plane I’ve ever seen…but yet slower than a meteorite. My jaw dropped when I witnessed it. Pulled over in my work van. It was way up high but the amazing part was that it was still close enough to cast a light from it… enough light to illuminate the topside of my van. Literally I could see the white top roof of my van in the pitch dark night. 2016ish Bonita springs Florida. It was fast man and definitely man made… not alien.
I live in the northern US, it's really dark at night during the summer we look at the stars, and every so often you can see a satellite moving across the sky. One night I seen what I though was a satellite moving across the sky until it changed direction from a south east course to a north east one. I have no idea what it was, all I know is that it was very high, and moving really fast compared to the other satellites we see move across the night sky.
It's funny, there is a similar plane on the top gun 2 trailer, that would be so American if it was announced at the movie premier like that
LOL so true tho and with who else other than Tom Cruise? Its so meta
I wonder if routinely arming such an aircraft would produce too great a risk of enemy miscalculation of an inbound strategic threat to the point it made using it as a spy plane too dangerous. Certainly I could see strong reasons to avoid making it nuclear capable to avoid potential overreaction...
It's a stealth aircraft, you'd hope others wouldn't be aware you've launched it
@@cncgeneral the Sr 71 was tracked multiple times
@@thesupreme8062 And it outran Russian missiles of the day.
@@keithschneidly3922 that was its job
8:47 that sounds like a nice price. cant wait to buy one
The M-10 "Reaper" is an A-10 (pilotless) with tons of weapons technology and surveillance equipment and special ram jet engines.
"The United States of America reserves the right to preemptively deploy weapons and systems related thereto for the express purposes of locating, identifying, and killing select foreign nationals and assets related thereto, without consent, under the assumption that any other nation would/is/going to do the same to the citizens, assets, or material property of the United States of America.
"Corollary: if we (ie: The United States of America) can do it, so can anyone else. Therefore, we need to be able to do it _first."_
Amen.
Treating your enemy as equal anytime is wise.
It's already flying. This thing has been flying in one form or another since the late 90s. This explains Russia's and China's recent interest in Hypersonic missiles.
Russian and Chinese interest in hypersonics has nothing to do with us potentially having a hypersonic aircraft. It's our missile defense technology that pushed them towards the development of hypersonic boost glide missiles that can't be intercepted with current technology, unlike the various ballistic missiles that our systems have been developed to take down. From the Patriot's PAC-3 missile and THAAD all the way to SM-3 and GBI.
@@markbrisec3972 When you regularly swallow the official declassified government report and are unable to read between the lines and put 2 and 2 together. Suuuuure.
its an conspiracy lmao, either you are looking for attention or are misinformed
I love watching his videos. I just wish they would let us or they would say more.
When it comes to supersonic fluid flow, gradual transitions in cross sectional area are absolutely paramount. What most designs seem to fail to realize is that area rule is a real thing, and even in less exotic craft, just stretching the longitudinal dimensions by 2 or 3 times would dramatically reduce the overall drag, friction, pressure, and wave drag all combined.
The humble F-5 fighter was a weak little plane with a weak little engine, but thanks to aggressive though primitive application of area rule design, it could easily go supersonic.
They could do better if they actually tried. The only thing I see the US military-industrial-complex doing is wasting as much money as fast as possible.
Besides this, a plane that can breathe air, go ballistic beyond the atmosphere then re-enter would use less fuel, and give the multi-hyper-mach speeds to go anywhere on Earth.
I'm sure all those highly trained aeronautical engineers will be beating a path to your door to take advantage of your amazing knowledge. Stuff they have no idea about..
the Scramjet makes me remember a certain engine in KSP
One issue with such a platform is that it is going to stand out on IR
Maybe not: there are some clues that electrodynamics are used to direct air flow around the air frame, eliminating heat and sonic boom, a la Aurora
Heart shaped box
Heart shaped box
not necessarily. you think the americans didn't think about that when they were developing assets such as these.
Me when he says the plane is going to me more a drone than a vehicle: It's not the plane, it's the pilot
I love this new
The strategic reconnaisance role hasn't been unoccupied since the retirement of the SR-71.
Ever heard of the RQ-180 for instance?
Yeah the White Bat
@@williamwhitney5266 Ah finally someone who is actually knowledgable about the subject.
@@generalripper7528 Hell Yeah Technology in general I like, so Warframe Tech Hell yeah, one of my Favorite classes was History, and about War and Understanding what war truly is in Life
God Bless
@@generalripper7528 Can wait til they integrate the White Bat with a Mini-gun and a weapon bay area, as of right now it just a Advance Stealth Spy/Scout Drone
Look into the Valkiyer Drone XQ-58 by Kratos Defense
You just need to fire the weapons backwards at that speed
If there is a UA-cam video about it... it's been around and in our skies for over 20 years already.
ohhh yehhh good 3D animation and PR :)))
I wonder how can engineers who work on this project didn't even took any photos of it.
Yeah good one... you would go to prison as a spy.
Probably cuz they'd lose their job, family, house, and freedom. They're called NDA's, and you sign them before you work on anything classified. You dont breach those unless you've got a death wish, and even then the government won't admit anything, they'll call you crazy while they throw you away for the rest of your life
Did you ever see photos of what appeared to be a strange airplane not painted black next to and on the deck of an aircraft carrier? The Aurora. What I want to know is WTF is it doing on a carrier?
Theyve done it, and continue to do it many, many times. I know some men and women who still cant speak about huge portions of their lives because they once had Top Secret clearance (or A top secret clearance, theres more than one). They respect their jobs and they respect what their doing, they keep their word because they swore that they would. But, in case thats not enough, there are plenty of consequences to doing so. Its not treason, so they cant kill you for it (legally anyway), but they can definitely lock you up for long enough for it not to matter whether you talk or not.
National Disclosure Agreement. NDA People who do this work know the significance of it. Plus have you ever heard that song? I always feel like someone is watching me LOL. There is little birdies all over you just never know who is listening and when they could be right in front of you and you would never see them. SWORN TO SECRECY.
The Chinese: 写下来
* write it down
Can it withstand lazer hit!? The speed of light is priceless!
Love the music at around 244
Can someone explain to me how a plane that flies at 4,000 mph can be "anywhere" in the world in ONE hour? The opposite side of the world is 12,000 miles away
Multiple planes at multiple airbases. Use the one that's 1 hour away.
Likely cause, some will be stationed in japan, some in hawaii, some in alaska, etc. so basically, from a number of forward or peripheral bases, you can get one of these anywhere around the world in an hour.
Flat Earth🤫
@@trippiii7715 velociraptor earth
Also flying over the north pole or other longitude lines at super high altitude is sometimes an easy way of saving travel distance compared to flying primarily along the latitude of the earth.
Do a video on the finance of the black budget and AURORA black triangle aircraft!!! Heavy duty content.
true but theres so much information about the aurora already i dont think theres much point in covering it
If the general public can watch information about it on UA-cam, then it has existed for YEARS. The narrator was right, no way this info is out without a finished product already in service.
Saw the 71 land at Wright Pat in 1994 which was going to the AF Museum there. It’s replacement was already in the works…..