Hypersonic Successor to Legendary SR-71 Blackbird Spy Plane Finally Unveiled

Airspeed and the speed in which you get the information are two different things. Flying out of japan or england, getting two guys in space suits, refueling, developing film all take longer than the process today. Drones have live video and picture feed, much lower heat signature and are expendable. We still have the U2.

 

SR71 was op in Black Ops 1.

 

The military is all about creating redundancies and contingency plans. In the not so distant future, it will become pretty easy to start destroy/disable satellites. Spy satellites are not so spyish. Everyone tracks them. Our enemies know the positions of our spy satellites.

I think technology like this is important. In the least, it creates many well paid jobs. At best, it advances technology.

 

The SR-71 is history today, so whatever we say here ultimately makes no difference, of course. I have to add, however, that I can see no reason why the Blackbirds' image technology had to remain that of the 1960's. My take would be that a Blackbird with cutting edge image tech, along with other goodies we have now, would be extremely valuable. In my opinion, on survivability alone the current U-2's are more akin to an F-4, with the Bird an F-22 in comparison. A comparison made because I just enjoy this stuff.

 

You need to spend money to update these planes. I don't understand why we don't just celebrate the plane for what it was in the time it existed. The fact that it's successor doesn't exist, and will never again exist, is great for it's rep.

The problem is money so you could lose 2 drones per flight and it would be cheaper than running an SR-71 and certainly cheaper than replacing it. No risk to having a pilot being used as a pawn. Any updates would ultimately be a multi billion dollar compromise. The U2 was easier to update with it's generic fuselage but drones are the ultimate future. We don't need planes like this anymore no matter what wet dreams Lockheed Martin has of government contracts.

Build more F-22s, keep the A-10, replace the B-52. You can't update everything with the latest and greatest.

 

I seem to remember you arguing dozens of engines on heavy launch vehicles are better because redundancy. So I will take this criticism for what it is worth.

 

more war-p*rn

Airplane giant Boeing granted patent for FORCE FIELD technology
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style...atent-Boeing-Star-Wars-Force-Field-Technology

BOEING has successfully obtained a patent for a 'Force Field'-like technology designed to protect targets from fatal explosions and shrapnel.

 

Interesting.

50 years worth of tech and it's *only* twice as fast as the predecessor. SR 71 was early 60's technology.

Compare aviation advancements from 1915 to 1965 vs 1965 to 2015. What's more impressive?