The SR-72 will travel at six times the speed of sound—the fastest military jet ever made—and fly as high as 80,000 feet.
Popular Science: Inside America's Next Spyplane
A secret, hypersonic replacement for the legendary SR-71 promises to transform military aviation.
Born in the spy-vs.-spy cauldron of the Cold War, the iconic SR-71 “Blackbird” remains the fastest air-breathing military aircraft the world has known. It flew so high and so fast that enemy defenses were powerless to intercept it. Eventually, satellite technology and advanced radar eroded its advantage. In 1998, the U.S. Air Force retired it. Now, with regional threats growing and portable surface-to-air missiles evolving, engineers have once again set out to build the fastest military jet on the planet.
This time, it will take the form of a 4,000-mile-per-hour reconnaissance drone with strike capability. Known as the SR-72, the aircraft will evade assault, take spy photos, and attack targets at speeds of up to Mach 6. That’s twice as fast as its predecessor.
WNU Editor: I suspect that it is still on the drawing boards .... and will be there until they are able to overcome many of its engineering obstacles. But it is still fun to dream.
War news when will you comment on Mozgovois death? Would be interesting to read your opinion. I am very unsure of who could have killed him since he also had some conflict with the leadership in LPR. It could have been an internal conflict or an assassination by the Ukrainians but, I think the former is more plausible than the latter.. : http://lifenews.ru/news/154411 (in Russian this is in English: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150523/1022496740.htmlIt There is not yet activity in western media about it, but it has been confirmed by his staff, I have also read that there is talk of his unit the Prizrak ("Ghost") unit is being disarmed...
ReplyDeleteSorry forgot the link to the LPR briefing, and I can't edit the post I made so sorry for dobblepost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1U1Th1PUrPE Is in Russian but have english subs. Also this video,: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIoN0KAXkFI May he rest in peace...
ReplyDeleteI have stayed away from the Ukrainian news for the past few days Rhaegar. I am hearing a lot of bad news from my family and friends.
ReplyDeleteI did see the news of Alexei Mozgovoi's death .... and my first thought was that a Ukraine hit squad got him. But where he was killed was in separatist territory, and he is hard-core in every way, even demanding a resumption of a full scale war .... this in turn has alienated many of his fellow commanders and political leaders who do want him out of the way.
I will be posting more on this story on Sunday.