We are able to make the SR-72 operational within two years. With an "unexpected" announcement, Lockheed Martin has informed the world that it has matured the technology to create the first operational hypersonic platform on the planet. During the annual report, the defense giant said he was ready for the technology that gives a system a speed superior to Mach 5.
That the specifications of the sixth-generation platforms specifically concerned hypersonic velocity had long been known. "Our aerodynamic configuration is stable in all flight profiles: subsonic, transonic, supersonic and hypersonic." Reading between the lines, Lockheed admitted that he had therefore completed the development of a technology, still experimental in the rest of the world. Specifically, a profile superior to Mach 6 involves the implementation of new thermal protection systems as well as aerodynamic design. The latter, considering the absence of moving surfaces, has been optimized to obtain stability at different speeds.
Until now, at least in the known development processes, the hypersonic platform was dropped at high altitude from a support platform. This is because a hypersonic aircraft could not exploit conventional take-off and landing runways. The SR-72, on the other hand, would have overcome these limitations.
Skunk Works, a special projects division of Lockheed, would deliver a final project able to reach North Korea in 90 minutes, fly over the entire peninsula in two, carry out very high resolution surveys and behave like a standard aircraft, without the need for launch or recall aircraft.
"The combined cycle engine concept bypasses the traditional limitations of reactors, statoreactors and scramjet, which can only operate at different speeds. The new propulsion system aims to solve this problem by using a low-speed turbine engine and a high-speed scramjet engine. "
The Lockheed demonstrator will cost less than a billion dollars and will be the size of an F-22 Raptor. Lockheed, in fact, has confirmed that the SR-72 prototypes have been flying for some time thanks to classified programs. Yes, we are talking about the Program Aurora.
We know that between the years 80 and 90, Skunk Works got money for some Black Projects which gave life to the F-117 (photo on the right) as, previously, also to the U-2 spy aircraft. The "black aircraft production" of Lockheed, obtained funding for several billion dollars, were 5 in the 90s, for the "production of a system covered by military secrecy" never disclosed. It has never been identified, but over the years we have seen numerous "UFOs" in the sky.
As we have always reiterated, the gap between secret and known experimental technology is about 25 / 30 years. In 98% of cases, what is seen in the sky responds to terrestrial physics. In the remaining 2%, we could also agree with theDrake equation. Considering a series of factors and the announcement of Lockheed for the first operational flight of the SR-72 set at 2018, it seems plausible to assume that this is indeed the Aurora.
The main advantage of the SR-72 is the "persistent recognition". Invisible to the radar (to most of them), it could fly deep into enemy airspace and circumvent the problem of satellites, confined by their orbits. If armed, the SR-72 could hit any target on the planet in 90 minutes. However, the real cost of an operational fleet is questioning considering the existing alternatives. The first and probably the most realistic, would be to arm submarines with hypersonic missiles.
(photo: Lockheed Martin)
