Mach 6.5 At 100K Feet…

Perhaps you remember this:

or this:

Roll out the TFH crowd because:

“The Air Force has awarded Lockheed’s Advanced Development Projects arm a top-secret contract to develop a stealthy 4,000-mph plane capable of flying to altitudes of about 100,000 feet, with transcontinental range. The plan is to debut the craft around 2020. The new jet — being referred to by some as the SR-72 — is likely to be unmanned and, while intended for reconnaissance, it could eventually trade its sensors for weapons.”

…can you say son of Aurora? Truthfully, it is an interesting development in light of earlier AF statements about going subsonic for the new long-range strike aircraft and going very high/very fast puts extraordinary pressure on an air defense system. Imagine the energy required for an intercept of a mach 6.5 aircraft at 100K ft and consider how unsuccessful The Other Side was in trying to bring down a mach 3+ SR-71. The other interesting fact is that at mach 6.5 you don’t have to mess with exotic (really exotic) metals, engines, fuel, etc. For example, at those speeds a ramjet vice the order(s) of magnitude more difficult scramjet (supersonic ramjet) engine may be used.

Two key missions come to mind with a platform like this: (1) Out-of-cycle reconnaissance and (2) Prompt strike. The first is when overhead reconnaissance is unable or for a variety of reasons (including having been taken out by EMP or an ASAT) unavailable, this would be a rapid, survivable alternative. Prompt strike goes back to the “How do you kill a time sensitive target in denied territory half a world away?” which previously had conventionally armed ICBM’s (pretty much a non-starter) as the preferred solution. This will be interesting to see develop. Oh, and for the TFH crowd – why was mach 6.5 settled on so quickly? 😉

(h/t: The DEW Line)