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America's Fastest Spy Plane May Be Back -- And Hypersonic (bloomberg.com)
A Lockheed Skunk Works executive implied last week at an aerospace conference that the successor to one of the fastest aircraft the world has seen, the SR-71 Blackbird, might already exist. Previously, Lockheed officials have said the successor, the SR-72, could fly by 2030. Bloomberg reports: Referring to detailed specifics of company design and manufacturing, Jack O'Banion, a Lockheed vice president, said a "digital transformation" arising from recent computing capabilities and design tools had made hypersonic development possible. Then -- assuming O'Banion chose his verb tense purposely -- came the surprise. "Without the digital transformation, the aircraft you see there could not have been made," O'Banion said, standing by an artist's rendering of the hypersonic aircraft. "In fact, five years ago, it could not have been made." Hypersonic applies to speeds above Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The SR-71 cruised at Mach 3.2, more than 2,000 mph, around 85,000 feet.
"We couldn't have made the engine itself -- it would have melted down into slag if we had tried to produce it five years ago," O'Banion said. "But now we can digitally print that engine with an incredibly sophisticated cooling system integral into the material of the engine itself and have that engine survive for multiple firings for routine operation." The aircraft is also agile at hypersonic speeds, with reliable engine starts, he said. A half-decade before, he added, developers "could not have even built it even if we conceived of it."
"We couldn't have made the engine itself -- it would have melted down into slag if we had tried to produce it five years ago," O'Banion said. "But now we can digitally print that engine with an incredibly sophisticated cooling system integral into the material of the engine itself and have that engine survive for multiple firings for routine operation." The aircraft is also agile at hypersonic speeds, with reliable engine starts, he said. A half-decade before, he added, developers "could not have even built it even if we conceived of it."
The programme was killed because they were a pain to maintain. Advancing needs meant that they would have on top of that had to spend money on a tech upgrade (such as adding a realtime data link). Meanwhile, there were programmes hungry for its budget, including stealth aircraft (B2) and drones (Global Hawk).
That said, in today's threat environment, I'm sure mach 5 would be appreciated ;)
Santa Ana Winds: Like the Dustbowl, but with awards shows.
The point is that "let's spend more on the military" always gets you votes, and hypersonic spy planes are extra cool. Whereas if you tried to spend it on dirty ungrateful poor people you'd get booted out of office.
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Maybe if America stopped being such a global dick, it wouldn't have to worry about hostile nations. Maybe try not being a dick? Not bombing the shit out of countries? You'd be surprised how angry and hostile people get when American drones are killing innocent civilians in the pursuit of terrorists that American policies created in the first place. I'm just saying, maybe give it a try.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
The days of spy satellites in low earth orbit may be numbered. Shooting down a plane a 2000+mph that has anti missile defenses and can do active avoidance may be somewhat harder.
You've mentioned 2 countries. I'd add a few more, but your 'every county' claim is obvious bullshit. Those that indulge in this dickish behaviour could take a leaf out of the books of those countries who don't indulge in economic OR political imperialism
... whatever happened or is happening with the Lockheedâ(TM)s nuclear fusion project?
For those of you who didnâ(TM)t hear, 3 years ago (2014) they claimed theyâ(TM)d be able to make a nuclear fusion power plant capable of fitting in a box car/shipping container IN FIVE YEARS. I presume they mean a power plant that generates substantially more amount of electricity than it requires (Iâ(TM)ve heard that you can âoeeasilyâ make nuclear fusion happen, getting more energy out than in is the trick).
https://lppfusion.com/lockheed...
Anyway whatever happened to this game changing (civilization changing?) technology? The only reason why I didnâ(TM)t dismiss it out of hand was because it was supposedly being developed by their âoeSkunk Worksâ, makers of the F-117, SR-71 amongst other things.
So where is it?
The gov in Syria invited Russia in. Govs can do that. Together they stop terrorists.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"