Son of Blackbird: SR72

[webmaster]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/tech/innovation/new-spy-plane/

Mach 6?! An article on CNN today discussing the successor to the Blackbird. And of course it is unmanned.

I wonder how much of an impact on international treaties the introduction of hyper velocity missiles and weapons platforms will have? Conventional alerts and response times kind of go out the window.

 

[lowflier03]

And exactly when will this hyper velocity technology actually work reliably? I remember reading similar articles back in the 90's, things like aurora and such were gonna travel at Mach 12+ using a combination of ramjet and scramjet engines. And of course that technology was going to lead to commercial transports skipping around the upper atmosphere at Mach 6+, yet the only aircraft that came close "SST" was shut down.
If it does actually work at some point unmanned is an easy sell as ejection would likely not be survivable, and at those speeds a plug and play route done before takeoff would probably be sufficient.

 

[Flash]

And exactly when will this hyper velocity technology actually work reliably?

More importantly, where is the money going to come from?

"No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

......that technology was going to lead to commercial transports skipping around the upper atmosphere at Mach 6+, yet the only aircraft that came close "SST" was shut down.

The Supersonic Transport was little more than the American competitor to the Concorde and Tu-144 with a top proposed speed of Mach 3 instead of Mach 2 like the other two. Hypersonic transports have been proposed but I don't think it has gotten past the idea stage like the SST.

If it does actually work at some point unmanned is an easy sell as ejection would likely not be survivable, and at those speeds a plug and play route done before takeoff would probably be sufficient.

I would guess more likely method of punching out of a hypersonic aircraft would be an escape crew capsule along the lines of those used on the B-58, F-111 and B-1A.

 

[lowflier03]

The Supersonic Transport was little more than the American competitor to the Concorde and Tu-144 with a top proposed speed of Mach 3 instead of Mach 2 like the other two. Hypersonic transports have been proposed but I don't think it has gotten past the idea stage like the SST.

I would guess more likely method of punching out of a hypersonic aircraft would be an escape crew capsule along the lines of those used on the B-58, F-111 and B-1A.

And even the Concorde was eventually shut down.

As nice as an escape capsule would be, the speeds we are talking about here make survivability much less likely than those other planes. Remember what happened to the shuttle after re-entry with a "minor defect" in the wing tile? Even if the crew capsule survived an ejection/breakup, the deceleration, sudden exposure to aerodynamic heating, etc would probably kill the crew.

 

[707guy]

As nice as an escape capsule would be, the speeds we are talking about here make survivability much less likely than those other planes.

What ya need here is a hatch with explosive bolts...

 

[BusyBee604]

As nice as an escape capsule would be, the speeds we are talking about here make survivability much less likely than those other planes. Remember what happened to the shuttle after re-entry with a "minor defect" in the wing tile? Even if the crew capsule survived an ejection/breakup, the deceleration, sudden exposure to aerodynamic heating, etc would probably kill the crew.

When they called asking me to volunteer as a hypersonic capsule ejection Test Pilot, told 'em "er... I'll have my people get in touch with your people"!
BzB

 

[EODDave]

I shaved with a Mach 6 today.

 

[Renegade One]

Tanker posit? The artist's rendition doesn't appear to have enough internal volume for whatever…unless it launches with something like the space shuttle main fuel tank and then goes clean for penetration and immediate recovery.

Hm…clean penetration and immediate recovery…that may be my mantra…or the name of my new rock band.

 

[BigRed389]

More importantly, where is the money going to come from?

"No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

Merge it with Next Generation Bomber.

If you can drop bombs at Mach 6, why bother with a B-2 replacement?

 

[Flash]

......As nice as an escape capsule would be, the speeds we are talking about here make survivability much less likely than those other planes. Remember what happened to the shuttle after re-entry with a "minor defect" in the wing tile? Even if the crew capsule survived an ejection/breakup, the deceleration, sudden exposure to aerodynamic heating, etc would probably kill the crew.

You could make the crew escape system like the F-111 one where the cockpit and the rest of the nose detached from the airplane and parachuted to safety, a lot like how the the launch escape system worked on the Mercury and Apollo spacecraft making the crew capsule the escape system. Since it is an integral part of the aircraft it would already have the protection from elements/reentry as long as the escape section wasn't compromised. It is definitely feasible.

Merge it with Next Generation Bomber.

If you can drop bombs at Mach 6, why bother with a B-2 replacement?

Frankly I think a modernized B-52 would be the best option of for a new manned bomber, someone is always going to be able to defeat stealth or speed but it would be a lot harder to hit 30 or 50 inbound cruise missiles launched from 1000 miles away.

 

[Hozer]

 

[707guy]

"Sperm Motility Factor..."

 

[Hozer]

^^pretty good 'stache too.

 

[busdriver]

someone is always going to be able to defeat stealth or speed

Think about how far you could loft a bomb from that high and that fast, not to mention hitting buried targets.