The world of aviation is full of rumors swirling around Lockheed Martin’s SR-72 Darkstar, a hypersonic jet straight out of science fiction that will leave the legendary SR-71 Blackbird in its dust. Its replacement may be just around the corner to do what its predecessor, SR-71, did during the Cold War: high-altitude reconnaissance at Mach 3+ speeds.
Since 2007, there has been so much rumor about the SR-72. The word spread that “Skunk Works” — a division of Lockheed Martin, was working on the airplane. The plane is speculated to hit speeds of up to Mach 6, equivalent to about 4,000 miles per hour, more than twice as fast as its predecessor. Attributed to this very speed is an advanced propulsion system, which would most likely be a scramjet engine to accelerate it from zero to hypersonic speed using one engine.
Its potential was touted in the 2022 movie “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Tom Cruise’s character, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, flew a hypersonic “Darkstar” aircraft. Although this was a fictionalized aircraft in the movie, it had been designed with the help of engineers from Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. “The reason it looks so real is because it was the engineers from Skunk Works who helped us design Darkstar for this film,” said Joseph Kosinski, the film’s director.
Even though the SR-72 was not public, there have been reports, not confirmed, of a subscale version of the aircraft flying into the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, since at least 2017. According to sources, this aircraft is highly stealthy, capable of reaching Mach 6+, and if detected, it would prove very difficult to intercept.
But the SR-72 could also be an ISR aircraft, filling a very particular gap that neither satellites nor existing UAVs can fill. The hypersonic speed will let it gather intelligence and get back to base before adversaries have time to react. Some experts even surmised that SR-72 would make a very good hypersonic bomber, although doing a bit of spying or dropping bombs at Mach 6 would come with its unique engineering challenges.
Interestingly, the SR-72 appearance in “Top Gun: Maverick” had Chinese aviation experts taking note, and they were reportedly at great pains to get a glimpse of the film prop. “The Navy told us that a Chinese satellite turned and headed on a different route to photograph that plane,” said producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “They thought it was real. That’s how real it looks.”
While the SR-72 has remained a mysterious beast in its development, it has gained quite an interest among flying enthusiasts and military experts. If such an aircraft ever became operational, it would give a whole new meaning to aerial reconnaissance and maybe other military applications. It is in this that Lockheed Martin will continue their tradition of pushing the boundaries of aviation technology if the plane sees operational service.