Lockheed unveils SR-72 hypersonic Mach

6 scramjet spy plane

Lockheed Martins Skunk Works has confirmed that it is developing the SR-72 spy
plane. The successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which was capable of Mach 3.5, the SR-
72 will be a hypersonic unmanned aircraft capable of Mach 6, or just over 4,500 mph. At
hypersonic speeds, the SR-72 will be able to traverse any continent in around an hour
meaning, if theyre strategically positioned around the world on aircraft carriers, the
US military can strike or surveil any location on Earth in about an hour. It is also
suspected that the SR-72s hypersonic engine tech some kind of hybrid scramjet
will find its way into the US militarys High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a missile that
can theoretically strike anywhere on Earth in just a few minutes.

The SR-71, or Blackbird as you probably know it, was the pinnacle of the US militarys
Cold War reconnaissance efforts. Introduced in 1966, the Blackbird, with its hybrid
turbojet/ramjet engines, was the fastest manned aircraft in the sky until it was retired in
1998. Despite being utterly massive 107 feet (32 meters) long with a 55-foot (17-
meter) wingspan the SR-71 only had two crew and no weapons (it was loaded up
with cameras, radio antennae, and other surveillance-oriented loadout). Due to high
running costs, and reallocation of funds towards other efforts such as UAVs, the SR-71
was retired after 32 years of active service. Of 32 aircraft that were built, 12 were lost in
accidents but none were ever shot down or captured by the enemy.
 The SR-71 Blackbird

The SR-72, despite the similar name, is a completely new plane. At the moment, the
SR-72 is still only a concept, though Lockheed has now confirmed that the plane is in
active development. An optionally piloted scale version of the plane with a single engine
will be built in 2018, with test flights scheduled for 2023. If all goes to plan (funding
hasnt yet been secured by Lockheed Martin), a full-size SR-72 (about 100 feet long)
will be built and tested by 2030. As it stands, the current plan is for the SR-72 to be
unmanned. It will be a very, very large drone. It will probably be unarmed, too, and
outfitted entirely for intelligence gathering, though its too early to say for sure.
The view out of the window of an SR-71 at 73,000 feet. Look ma, Im in space!

While the SR-72 will undoubtedly be a paragon of stealth and fashioned from monolithic
crystals of titanium wrapped in carbon fiber, its defining feature is its operational speed
of Mach 6 or 4,567 mph (7,350 kph). At this speed, the SR-72 can cross the Atlantic
(or Europe or China or) in about an hour or circumnavigate the planet in six hours.
At an operational altitude of around 80,000 feet (24,300 meters) and Mach 6, the SR-72
will be almost impossible to shoot down.

To reach Mach 6, some aeronautic magic needs to occur, otherwise we wouldve built a
Mach 6 aircraft years ago. Basically, turbofan engines like you would find in every big
airliner are only really efficient up to around Mach 2.5. Ramjets can then take you to
around Mach 4, but then they too lose their efficiency. To get to Mach 6, Lockheeds
Skunk Works lab which has developed such luminaries as the U-2, SR-71, F-22, and
F-35 is working with Aerojet Rocketdyne to create a turbojet/scramjet hybrid engine
that uses a turbine at low speeds, and a scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) at
higher speeds. Like the SR-71, these engines will have the same inlet and nozzle, with
some kind of mechanical system that shifts the airflow between the two portions of the
engine as airspeed changes. Whereas a ramjet decelerates incoming air to subsonic
speeds, a scramjet is supersonic throughout, allowing for much higher air speeds (no
one knows quite how fast, but were talking about at least Mach 10).
 SR-72, hybrid turbine/scramjet engine operation

The SR-72 isnt the first attempt to crack hypersonic flight, too. Boeing has been
working on the X-51 scramjet tech demo for the last decade, and in 2013 it finally
completed a successful hypersonic (Mach 5.1, 3,400 mph, 5,400 kph) test flight. The
scramjet within the X-51 may eventually find its way into the US militarys High Speed
Strike Weapon, an air-launched missile that travels fast enough to evade early warning
systems and countermeasures. Hybrid engines, such as the SR-72s, may eventually
find their way into long-range missiles that can travel great distances to strike almost
anywhere on Earth.

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Hypersonic Jets Could Be High-Flying
Reality by 2023
Lockheed Martin is developing a hypersonic spy plane, called the SR-72, that will be able to fly at Mach 6, or six
times the speed of sound.

Credit: Lockheed Martin Corp.

Hypersonic aircraft and weapons that can fly more than five times the speed of sound may seem like a futuristic
fantasy, but defense giant Lockheed Martin says it is committed to making these ultrafast innovations a reality.

In fact, Lockheed Martin is doubling down on hypersonic aerospace technologies, Lockheed officials said recently
at the company's Media Day.
"Lockheed Martin continues to invest in propulsion technologies and advanced materials needed for hypersonic
speeds," Marillyn A. Hewson, Lockheed Martin president and CEO, said in a statement on March 15. "We're now
producing a controllable, low-drag, aerodynamic configuration capable of stable operation from takeoff, to subsonic,
transonic, supersonic and hypersonic to Mach 6." [Supersonic! The 11 Fastest Military Airplanes]
Advertisement

Hypersonic speed is defined as speed above Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound about 3,800 mph, or 6,100
km/h). For comparison, a 747 airliner travels at about 550 mph (885 km/h). In 2015, Lockheed Martin said its
engineers were designing hypersonic vehicles that could move at 4 miles per second, or 14,400 mph. At such
hypersonic speeds, an aircraft could fly across the Pacific Ocean in 1 to 2 hours.

Although they're not yet in use beyond testing, hypersonic aerospace technologies are not new. "There was a large
push toward it in the 1950s, all the way up to the manned moon missions," said Thomas Corke, the Clark Chair
Professor in Engineering at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Many vehicles, particularly objects falling back to Earth after launching into space, have reached hypersonic speeds.
The first human-made object to exceed Mach 5 was a V-2 rocket launched by the U.S. Army on Feb. 24, 1949.
Though hypersonic jets have been built, they are expensive, and over the years, interest (and funds) for the
technology has waxed and waned. Now, Lockheed suggests they are closer to building a hypersonic craft at an
affordable price.
Hypersonic history

The rocket-powered X-15 was jointly operated by NASA and the U.S. AIr Force from 1959 to 1970.

Credit: U.S. Air Force

The first hypersonic aircraft was developed in the late 1950s as part of the X-15 hypersonic research program, a
project jointly conducted by NASA, the U.S. Air Force and Navy, and North American Aviation Inc. The 50-foot-
long (15 meters), rocket-powered, piloted aircraft was launched from a B-52 plane at 45,000 feet (almost 14,000 m),
and reached speeds exceeding 500 mph (805 km/h). Over the span of nearly a decade and 199 flights, the X-15 set
unofficial world speed and altitude records, traveling 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7 or 7,274 km/h) at 354,200 feet (107,960
m). But progress on hypersonics slowed once ballistic re-entry (re-entry slowed by atmospheric drag) was chosen
over an aerodynamic re-entry for early spaceflights, Corke told Live Science. [Image Gallery: Breaking the Sound
Barrier]
Now, with rising concerns about national defense, interest in hypersonics has been renewed in recent years. "The
[saying] that is used quite a bit is: Hypersonics is the new stealth," Corke said. Newer hypersonic aircraft include the
U.S. military's experimental Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) and Lockheed Martin's
proposed SR-72 hypersonic spy plane.

The unmanned Falcon HTV-2 reached a remarkable Mach 20 (about 13,000 mph, or 20,921km/h) in its second test
flight in 2011. But, both tests of this rocket-launched, arrow-shaped glider terminated prematurely.

The SR-72 has been billed as the successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, which flew from New York to London in less
than 2 hours in 1974. The reconnaissance aircraft reached speeds in excess of Mach 3 and set speed records that still
stand today, according to Lockheed Martin. Skunk Works, the same division of Lockheed Martin that created the
SR-71, has said the SR-72 would fly at twice the speed of its predecessor.

The SR-71 Blackbird was a top-secret reconnaissance aircraft developed in the 1960s.

Credit: U.S. Air Force

By modifying an off-the-shelf turbine and combining it with a ramjet (a type of jet engine with no moving parts that
sucks in air for combustion), the SR-72 could be a fairly inexpensive reality by 2030, Skunk Works engineers said in
an explanation of the aircraft from 2013.

Corke added that this type of combined cycle propulsion is one possibility for hypersonics, which use ramjet engines
to fly at hypersonic speeds but require a different kind of propulsion to get them to Mach 5. (Hence, other
hypersonic aircraft are using rockets.) In her remarks at Lockheed Martin's Media Day, Hewson estimated that a
demonstration hypersonic aircraft the size of an F-22 could be developed, built and flown for less than $1 billion.
Speedy weapons
In addition to hypersonic aircraft, Lockheed Martin is developing hypersonic weapons, including what they are
calling the "Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept." Technically, hypersonic weaponry already exists:
The Navy's electromagnetic railgun shoots a projectile at Mach 5. A maneuverable hypersonic weapon has yet to be
created, though back in 2013, Lockheed Martin predicted it might be able to demonstrate such missile technology by
2018.
"I would say that there are drawings on the books to develop hypersonic weapons that could be available by 2018,
although I don't think [that's likely]," Corke said. "I think that timeline is out there a few more years." [Photos:
Hypersonic Jet Could Fly 10 Times the Speed of Sound]

Defense was a central theme of Hewson's remarks at Media Day, particularly regarding the rise of violent extremists
and militant groups, such as the Islamic State group (ISIS) and Boko Haram. High-speed weapons are promising
developments in national security because they have the potential to strike quickly and stealthily, escaping harm by
flying at high altitudes.

Hypersonic challenges
Altitude is among the chief technical challenges Lockheed Martin cites in the creation of hypersonic vehicles. Flying
high can provide cover; it's also a way for the vehicle to avoid the higher pressures present at lower altitudes, which
could cause it to burn up. The trade-off is that the thin air makes steering difficult, according to Lockheed Martin.

Some hypersonic aircraft are manned vehicles, but the thin air at high altitudes combined with the immense speed
means a pilot cannot react fast enough to potential issues. This means manned hypersonic vehicles have to be
controlled by a computerized system that balances the craft while the pilot directs the larger maneuvers.

The Falcon hypersonic HTV-2 is an unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glides through the
Earths atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds.

Credit: DARPA

Extreme temperatures are another crucial consideration for travel at hypersonic speeds. The Falcon HTV-2, for
example, recorded surface temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,927degrees Celsius) during its fateful test
flight. Friction at these speeds can melt steel the more turbulent the air is, the higher the surface temperatures.

"Right now, we have no confidence in being able to predict where and if the airflow over a hypersonic vehicle is
turbulent," Corke said.

To study and address these problems associated with hypersonics, researchers need to use computational simulations
and ground experiments. The University of Notre Dame is building the largest quiet hypersonic research wind
tunnels, a Mach 6 tunnel and a Mach 10 tunnel. Engineers working on hypersonics are making use of newly
developed heat-resistant materials, while giving also close consideration to the vehicles' overall form.

Lockheed Martin has said that hypersonic aircraft won't be part of consumer air travel any time soon, since the focus
is more related to current defense needs.

Hewson did, however, reiterate a more fantastic potential future for hypersonic crafts that aerospace companies have
dangled in front of us for years that hypersonic developments could be an eventual path to quick, affordable
passenger flights to space.
"It's a fascinating field," Corke said. "It's in this area that's in between aircraft and spacecraft. There's tremendous
complexities to it that make it a good topic to study for 50 years."

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