NASA appears to be pulling its SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest production plane ever made, out of retirement as the Trump administration teases its new line of hypersonic surveillance jets — but doubt…
Seeing Blackbird fly again after all these years would be incredible. I’d love to know what NASA has planned for it.
Modern fighters don’t really do dogfights anymore.
Today’s air-to-air engagements are usually just a matter of launching a missile at the other plane, usually from so far away that they’re beyond the horizon. And in that kind of engagement, there are two things that determine which combatant is more effective: speed and range. SR-71 brings the ultimate in speed to the equation, now it just needs some good, long-range missiles.
It’s probably terrible at dogfights though.
Modern fighters don’t really do dogfights anymore.
Today’s air-to-air engagements are usually just a matter of launching a missile at the other plane, usually from so far away that they’re beyond the horizon. And in that kind of engagement, there are two things that determine which combatant is more effective: speed and range. SR-71 brings the ultimate in speed to the equation, now it just needs some good, long-range missiles.
Stealth and detection play a big part too. Can’t target what your sensors can’t see.