Much debate circulated as to the reality of the seemingly US’ future fastest bomber to have ever
made. Fondly dubbed as the “Son of the Blackbird”, there is no doubt that the production of the SR-72
Darkstar is still ongoing. But whether it will be ready for flying remain to be a question.
Hi everyone, welcome back to another episode of Military TV.
In today’s episode, we are going to talk about the US’ Lockheed Martin SR-72 Darkstar. If you
want to know more about this future aircraft, relax, and stay until the end of this video.
The Lockheed Martin SR-72 Darkstar is an American hypersonic unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
intended to be in service for intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance privately
proposed by Lockheed Martin as a successor to the retired Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
The proposed reliance on incredibly high speed to infiltrate defended airspace is considered
an essential movement from the US side since the growth of anti-satellite weapons, anti-access/area
denial tactics and counter stealth technologies give ways to high-speed aircraft that could
penetrate protected airspace and strike a target before the enemies could detect or intercept it.
Moreover, the SR-71 Blackbird which was retired by the United States Air Force (USAF)
in 1998 left a huge coverage gap between surveillance satellites, unmanned aerial
vehicles for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike missions.
There were several unconfirmed reports about the development of SR-72 which dated back to 2007,
when some sources claimed that Lockheed Martin is in the process of developing a future hypersonic
airplane for the USAF. And then on 1st of November 2013, Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine
shed some lights about Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Program (ADP) Skunk Works’ development
on the SR-72. At that time, the public were quite interested with the development of the
future airplane. Subsequently in June 2017, Lockheed Martin then announced that the SR-72
would be in development by the early 2020s, with the enormous speed in excess of Mach 6.
And lastly by November 2018, Lockheed Martin mentioned that a prototype of the SR-72 was
scheduled to fly by 2025. The aircraft will be capable of firing hypersonic missiles.
So, what is this Mysterious SR-72 predictably capable of?
Well, it said to have a turbine-based combined cycle propulsion system that combines a modified
production fighter turbine engine with a dual-mode ramjet (also known as a scramjet). Scramjet
is a type of ramjet in which the forward motion of the craft forces oxygen to mix
with fuel at supersonic speeds. This allows the plane to accelerate from a standstill to Mach
6, which is twice as fast as the previous record-holder, the SR-71 Blackbird. With this
speed, it is undeniable that the Darkstar could reach any destination in the world in record time.
What’s more, the jet is expected to have the capability of loading weapon which
could be launched to remote corners of the world from the unthinkable edge of space.
While many have argued that the future airplane would an enhanced version of the SR-71 Blackbird
and be used in an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) role, the hypersonic
speed that it will have would enable it to be undoubtedly capable bomber,
of course depending on different kind of factors. Though there are still so many questions left
unanswered for this SR-72, the one fact that we could almost all agree is the time it takes to
develop the aircraft will not be a short period. Even if it is certainly built based on past
aircraft, the SR-71, enhancing the ability that is so out of this world will absolutely require
more time and patient on the side of the military. Not to mention the issue on budget and funding.
To date, the United States has ample evidence of developing new modernized
military tools and equipment and of course some of them might be prioritized over the SR-72.
That’s all for today! Thanks for watching and see you in the next episode!