The SR-71 Blackbird has monopolized the record books for years as the fastest jet aircraft ever designed and built; it had unprecedented speed at altitude. Fast forward, and now the Skunk Works team at Lockheed Martin works on its successor to push that threshold a notch higher in the form of the SR-72 “Darkstar”. It targets speeds of Mach 6.0, which is twice as much compared to what the top speed of the Blackbird was reportedly capable of, at Mach 3.2.
The SR-72 rumor started in 2022 and can be seen in the latest movie of Top Gun. As opposed to its predecessor, it shall utilize advanced materials that would withhold the extreme temperatures generated by hypersonic speeds. It is said to sport hypersonic missiles which should be employed to give the U.S. Air Force unprecedented speed and strike capacity.
The SR-71 Blackbird, developed by Lockheed Martin more than five decades ago, was capable of flying as high as 85,000 feet and reaching over three times the speed of sound. Its retirement in the late 1990s did little to dampen its legacy as a technological impetus for many other aviation wonders. The SR-72, popularly known as “Son of Blackbird,” would try to regain all those capabilities and even better them.
The SR-72 team has been part of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works since 2022, but development work only went public back in 2013. The Pratt & Whitney J58 turbojet engine inside the original Blackbird established the same engine admired for choosing high speeds with its afterburner. Power for the new plane will probably come from a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine under development with Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The SR-72 is not just a speedier SR-71 but rather a quantum leap in technology and capability. Ceramic, carbon, and metal mixes that can form high-performance composites are in consideration for the harsh conditions of hypersonic flight. Just what payloads are contemplated for the SR-72 is classified, but hypersonic missiles slung under its airframe might change the face of aerial warfare.
The program manager of Lockheed Martin has emphasized that a hypersonic aircraft, along with hypersonic missiles, would have the capability of breaking through any airspace and targeting every place within a continent in just one hour. That would indeed be a priceless asset under the present geopolitical conditions considering the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The SR-72 will also be supposed to be used as a hypersonic testbed for aerodynamics, cockpits, and construction materials. This would set the stage for future civilian hypersonic aircraft, maybe revolutionizing commercial travel.
In concert with its surveillance and strike capabilities, the SR-72 will also be able to undertake a nuclear deterrent role that had long been played by its predecessor. A by-product of the SR-71’s speed was Russia developing the MiG-31 Foxhound, a Mach 3-class interceptor designed to counter the Blackbird. With its hypersonic speed, combined with its low observability, the SR-72 will be an unmatched asset on the modern battlefield.
Quarterly filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission outline the depth of investment by Lockheed Martin in this secretive project: losses have mounted to 335 million dollars since 2022. The unit housing advanced development programs have added more than 2,300 employees in five years, growing 75 percent.
The SR-72 Darkstar is fully poised to rewrite the face and direction of aerial warfare with unprecedented speed, strike capability, and technological advancement. And as Lockheed Martin continues to push the envelope, it is truly a case of the world holding its breath in anticipation of the next chapter in aviation history.