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IHS Jane's: Defense & Security Intelligence & Analysis
 

Blackswift paves the way for US hypersonic aircraft development

By Caitlin Harrington

3/10/2008

The United States military will release a request for proposals (RfP) in the coming weeks for Blackswift: a programme that will lay the technological groundwork for a successor to the venerable SR-71 Blackbird supersonic reconnaissance aircraft.

US Air Force (USAF) Chief Scientist Mark Lewis said Blackswift, a project of the USAF and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will pave the way for the development of a hypersonic aircraft, which he notionally dubbed the SR-72.

"Blackswift itself will not be the SR-72 but it will be the air force's first important step in seeing if we can get there," Lewis told Jane's following a 5 March briefing in Washington.

Lewis said he envisions an SR-72 conducting reconnaissance missions similar to an SR-71 but doing so at "hypersonic" speeds, which are considered to be M5 or higher.

Flying an aircraft at such high speeds will require a highly specialised hypersonic propulsion system; Blackswift aims to begin developing that technology.

Image: A proposed successor to the SR-71 is likely to be unmanned and not have a strike capability (Jane's) 160 of 577 words

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USAF SR-71 Blackbird
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