Modern-Aviation

The Lockheed SR 72 - Hypersonic Unmanned Recnaissance Aircraft was developed with the same primary mission as the cold war era SR71 "Blackbird", the new high speed, high altitude SR-72 "son of Blackbird" (th nickname fittingly bestowed by Aviation Week Magazine) was unveiled by Lockheed Martin in November of 2013. The aircraft was conceived as an unmanned system which would not risk pilots to the extreme conditions and danger expected of its super high speed altitude flight with the SR-72 estimated to reach speeds around Mach 6. As with the SR-71 before it, the SR-72 is designed to simply outrun any intercepting threats from the ground.

The original SR-71 Balckbird saw its first flight on December 22nd, 1964 and was introduced in 1966, completing its excellent service tenure with the USAF in 1998 through formal retirement. Despite never being armed, the SR 71 became the ".....most feared aircraft of the cold war" due to its inherent capabilities in flying higher and faster than any weapon the Soviets could field. Amazingly, the ST-71 was commanded through conventional means and its instrument panel dominated by needled dials or analogue, with no high speed digital processing available then. The SR-72 intends to continue the legacy that was brought about by the original Blackbird spyplane and bring all modern advanced technologies into the fold.

Hyperzonic flight, the speeds at which the SR-72 is being designed for, covers the envelope of "highly supersonic" speeds which persists at Mach 5 and beyond. Such speeds bring additional, some not entirely understood, characteristics during flight which require specific design qualities of a given airframe. Hypersonic flight exists beyond supersonic flight (the BAC Concorde airliner) and high-hypersonic flight.

Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin - USA
Service Entry: 2030
Production Total: 0 - ?
Crew: 0 - ?

Structural
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Weight (empty): 0.00ib (0 kg)?

Power
Powerplant: 1 x Aerojet Rocketdyne combined cycle propulsion system with turbine engine and dual-mode ramjet utilising common inlet and nozzle.

Performance:
Maximum Speed: 4,567 mph (7,350 kmh; 3,969 kts)
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Armament
Hardpoints: 0?
Armament Suite: None?

Variants
SR-72 - Company Model Designation

Operators
United States