More Details On The SR-72 Emerge

Lockheed Martin posted an artist's impression of the craft to its website, with the caption 'The Skunk Works hypersonic design – an aircraft developed to execute Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and strike missions at speeds up to Mach 6.'

Boeing has finally unveiled the potential successor to the legendary Blackbird SR-71 spy plane (pictured)- and it is set to travel at more than five times the speed of sound

National Post/Bloomberg: Six times the speed of sound: America’s fastest spy plane could be making a comeback

Lockheed Martin officials have said the hypersonic SR-72 — dubbed the 'Son of Blackbird' by one trade journal — could fly by 2030

(Bloomberg) — For years, Lockheed Martin Corp. has been developing a successor to one of the fastest aircraft the world has ever seen, the SR-71 Blackbird, the Cold War reconnaissance craft that the U.S. Air Force retired almost three decades ago. Lockheed officials have said the hypersonic SR-72 — dubbed the “Son of Blackbird” by one trade journal — could fly by 2030.

But a rather curious talk last week at an aerospace conference by a Lockheed Skunk Works executive implied that the SR-72 might already exist. 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 word 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.”

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More Details On The SR-72 Emerge

Get Your First Look at the Future of Hypersonic Flight -- Futurism
Boeing unveils its ‘Son of Blackbird’ hypersonic spy plane concept that could travel at 3,800mph -- Daily Mail
Boeing Unveils ‘Son of Blackbird’ Hypersonic Aircraft That Could Go Five Times the Speed of Sound -- Epoch Times
Boeing's 'Son of Blackbird' hypersonic strike aircraft could go five times the speed of sound -- FOX News/The SUN

Boeing Unveils Its Conceptional Hypersonic Jet Design To Replace The SR-71 Blackbird

Boeing

Business Insider: Boeing unveils conceptual hypersonic jet design to replace the SR-71 Blackbird

* Boeing unveiled a conceptual model for a hypersonic jet that would replace the SR-71 Blackbird.
* The jet would hit speeds of more than Mach 5
* No one has committed to building it yet.

Boeing recently unveiled a conceptual model for a new hypersonic jet that would replace the SR-71 Blackbird, according to Aviation Week Aerospace Daily.

The conceptual model was displayed at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics SciTech forum in Orlando.

The "airplane concept and associated technology are targeted for a hypersonic ISR (reconnaissance)/strike aircraft that would have the same type of mission as the SR-71," Boeing spokeswoman Sandra Angers told Business Insider in an emailed statement. "In that sense it could be a future replacement for the SR-71."

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Update #1: Boeing reveals the model for a competing design for a reusable hypersonic plane (Next Big Future)
Update #2: "Son of Blackbird": Boeing Reveals Hypersonic Concept That Could Replace SR-71 (Popular Mechanics)

WNU Editor: Boeing better hurry-up .... rumors are circulating that Lockheed has already built a replacement for the SR-71 .... Skunkworks Boss Hints Unmanned SR-72 Bomber Prototype Has 'Already Been Made' (January 11, 2018)