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Normally we need to ignore speculation on such unconfirmed 'black' programs, but Aviation Week and Space Technology is arguably the most prestigious journal in aviation and if they speculate, we need to take it seriously.

An amazing story if true...

Thanks for the good read. Nothing like top secret government spy planes.

....even if they may not exist! But this does seem plausible. The one thing that really struck me when they retired the SR-71 was the the USAF did not protest it at all...and the concept of the USAF not wanting to have such a glamour plane replaced with new technology is a lot harder to swallow than the idea of a bunch oif little grey guys running around in underground bases!

thats pretty ineresting!! i love stuff like this! i would love to go check out area 51 one day lol

You can go any time...just remember me in your will before you do...

Hahahaha... good one Boz.

But you're very right in your point about the USAF not protesting the retirement of the SR-71. It could be argued that the SR-71 was the the pride and joy of the USAF (until the B2 Bomber came about) ...so to retire such a plane, you'd expect ripplewaves of protest and concern from military officials.
The reasons I've most read to justify the SR-71's retirement was simply that the USAF can now rely on satellite techonology to perform reconnaissance/spy missions, but the article brings up a good point about how using satellite's for reconnaissance/spy purposes has been pretty much negated due to the predictability of satellite positions and timing.

So it does provide plausible reasons for such a 'black' program to exist, but as with many of these top secret programs, funding is a key issue..but the US Gov' could well be using the large increment in funding for war in Iraq as a smoke-screen for increased funding for such 'black' programs. I know, sounds like another conspiracy theory... but if there ever was a reason to believe in conspiracy theories, then USAF 'Black' programs is that reason.

* Just on a side not, how many of you guys have actually had the luck of seeing a SR-71 in real life ? On my recent trip to USA, I paid a visit to the Atwater Military Museum (California, about 2 hours drive S-East from San Fran')..and there was a SR-71 sitting right at the entrance. Now considering that the SR-71 and the B-52 Stratoshphere bomber are my two favourite military aircraft, I was absolutely over-the-moon when I saw them both for the first time. The SR-71 was everything I could imagine it to be. Long, sleek, intimidating and pure machine! All the pictures you see could not prepare you for the real thing. It's a stunning aircraft... gave me goosebumps as i stared at it and thought of its amazing flight capabilities.
The B-52.. oh what a plane! I actually got to touch it.. (i know i sound like a little kid, but boy do i love that plane) ....so to see that massive thing just sitting there... what a sight! There were a host of other military planes too.
I thought i'd share a few pics:
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For anyone who's in the area and is interested in aircraft.. specifically military aircraft, I really do advise you to go and visit this place. It's dead cheap to enter...but the knowledge and appreciation you'll gain from seeing both new and old military aircraft is priceless. I can't recommend it enough.!!

Great photos!!!!

We can all have a 100% guarantee that in no way could satellites offer the flexibility of a high speed aircraft. Whilst there is no question that modern sattellites offer an amazing picture of the ground, as you stated they tend to follow predictable patterns, being in stationary orbits or having predictable flight paths. And even though some US satellites can be manuevered in space, this costs a lot in fuel burn. However, the article mentions that the Blackstar system may have had a role in servicing satellites in space, which certainly makes a lot of sense.

No, there has to be a plane that replaced the SR-71. The USAF would not want to have a Mach 3 vehicle removed from its inventory without having something better to replace it.

I have only seen an SR-71 once...and yes, I fell in love. To think that this plane was built at a time b4 supercomputers. It not only had high cruise speed, but early stealth technology. Amazing to thing that the key technology is around 45 years old.

They have had to come up with something better - it just defies sense that the USAF would allow the Blackbird to retire barren...

The SR-71 blackbird is a tie for my fav plane with the F22 Raptor. I've seen a an Sr-71 in real life, that thing is a beauty.

I admire the Raptor and no doubt it is the best fighter in the world today and will be for a long tiem to come, but the SR-71 is in a differrent league. The SR-71 just was in a class by itself, 15-30 years before many people here were even born. And it still can outrun any known adversary plane today.

Surely, their must have been something better developed since then. The USAF has had many hundreds of billions - and possibly over a trillion - in black funding over the past 3 decades. Surely the B-2, the F-117 and maybe some nice satellites are not all there is to show for that?

As soon as you said that, I had to take off my 'love for SR-71' cap...and put on my 'Marketing 101' cap.

A product is only created if there is a need for it. People wanting a product may not be enough of a reason if there is no real need for it. I don't know how much the USAF actually follows the trends and assumptions of consumer-based marketing...but the reason why there hasn't been a documented replacement of the SR-71 could simply because they have not needed it so far.

They key use of the SR-71 was that of spying on the Soviets during the Cold War ear and the years the followed, but the SR-71 was retired in 1990, and the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, but its threat had been lost well before 1991. So, I guess the USAF saw the threat of the Soviets as nowhere near as serious as it once was, and by the beginning of the 1990's satellite technology was up and running, so there was no real need for such a reconnaissance aircraft.
Yes it was an icon, it was a symbol ... it had a reputation and it was unrivalled in its time (and even today there is no real comparison), but unlike consumer based marketing where brand name, the image the product elicits as well as the the products reputation are all useful characteristics to use when producing a replacement, in the military aircraft industry all those characteristics are worth squat because previous models dont matter, just what's at hand. So what I'm trying to say (in a very confused way) is that, no matter how great the SR-71 was, just because it had such an image and reputation is not enough of a reason to warrant the development of a successor to the SR-71.
I make that statement in the context of the late 1980's to 1990 when the future of the SR-71 was under review.
Ofcourse if you pulled the dusty SR-71 file out from the USAF retired aircraft cabinet, you could well make a case for a successor to the great aircraft. As you stated Boz, "We can all have a 100% guarantee that in no way could satellites offer the flexibility of a high speed aircraft." there actually has developed a need for a SR-71 type of aircraft since satellite's have become rather predictable. The main point in the case for a successor would be as you mentioned, greater flexibility and lesser predictability.

Just to finish off this post, I found a rather simple website describing the SR-71 ( - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.. note that the aircraft in the pictures is the exact one I visited) ...and the first paragraph is a very true statement of this aircraft:

No aircraft is probably more recognizable than the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Much of the history and capabilities of the Blackbird remain shrouded in mystery, but what has emerged makes this one of the most fascinating aircraft ever flown.

It sure would be great to a modern day SR-71 grace our skies again. The design need not change, but boy would it be awesome if it received all of the high-tech gadgetry that modern day military aircraft posses. Imagine having a modern day SR-71 in your aerial arsenal... it would be the show stopper at every airshow and the envy of the military world.
Golly... all this talk of the SR-71 makes me want to start petition for the development of a Blackbird successor. ...hehehe... riiiiight, like the USAF is going to care.