The SR-71 Blackbird

Lockheed Martin · Creating The Blackbird

Piloting the Blackbird was an unforgiving endeavor, demanding total concentration. But pilots were giddy with their complex, adrenaline-fueled responsibilities. “At 85,000 feet and Mach 3, it was almost a religious experience,” said Air Force Colonel Jim Wadkins. “Nothing had prepared me to fly that fast… My God, even now, I get goose bumps remembering. ”

Whats the point? There is already a thread on this.

My bad - I did not notice that thread.
Just found it very interesting reading and wanted to share.

Is this is what you object to?
You seem to be obsessed with attacking every spiritual thought you encounter.

The SR 71 was forced into an early and premature retirement by the Bad Ass Mig 31 Foxhound

Just type Mig 31 vs SR 71 in google and see the results

I loved the design of SR - 71...don't know why it was grounded..

Newer satellites with improved imaging capabilities were more economical...

I think it has nothing to do with Mig31. Note that the older Mig25 at Mach 3.2 is faster than Mig31 at Mach 2.8 and has a higher service ceiling at 20,700 meters as compared to 20,600 meters of the latter aircraft.

But apparently the U-2 still flies.

Lockheed U-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Satellites alone cannot give the complete picture.

Fixed wing aircraft have to supplement.

SR 71 was used for reconnaissance, but now they use satelites. Same thing with IAF which used Mig 25 for reconaissance until we got the first satelites.

AFAIK, satellites are just one part of a triad of recon efforts - satellites do a basic sweep to identify buildings, new constructions, troop buildups etc, recon aircraft (nowadays hovering drones) look at troop movements, radar locations etc and ground recon (spies, recon teams and intel agents) provide finer situations and ground details.
Satellites may have replaced strategic recon aircraft, but they are still supplemented by tactical recon planes/ drones.

Ever wonder what the real difference between the CIA’s A-12 Oxcart Mach 3 spy plane and its legendary successor, the Air Force’s SR-71 Blackbird?

Well, these declassified documents from 1967 compare the two jets performance side by side. Basically, the Blackbird could carry a lot more spy gear and electronic countermeasures than the A-12 could. What Specifically could the SR-71 carry that the A-12 couldnt?
Here’s a quick breakdown.

On a single mission an SR-71 could carry:

two “technical objective cameras”

two “operational objective cameras”

one “terrain objective camera”

one “high resolution” side-looking radar

one infrared camera

one electronic and communications intelligence-gathering package

three electronic warfare (countermeasures) systems, “CFAX, APR 27 and System 13C”

While the A-12 could carry some of this gear individually, it had to swap out particular sensors per-mission, according to the report. This meant that the A-12 was lighter and could fly 2,000 to 5,000-feet higher than the SR-71 at comparative speeds. Still, this wasn’t enough of a performance gain to warrant keeping the Oxcarts in service alongside the Blackbirds whose increased sensor loads and better countermeasures made them more useful and survivable than the A-12s, according to the documents.
Click through the jump to read the report.

cia-sr71-a12

http://defensetech.org/2012/05/31/ci...71/#more-17384