In 19FortyFive, the SR-72 hypersonic drone was allowed to fly over Russia with impunity
Developed by the world's largest military-industrial corporation Lockheed Martin, the SR-72 hypersonic drone will be able to fly over areas of Europe or Asia with impunity, collecting the necessary intelligence information, writes 19FortyFive columnist Steve Balestrieri.
"Imagine a future crisis somewhere in Europe or Asia, and the United States will receive an [unmanned] intelligence gathering aircraft over the scene in an hour and a half. This can become a reality in a very short time, as the leading US aviation engineers make it possible," the author admits.
The observer recalls that the SR-72 will be the successor to the American strategic supersonic reconnaissance aircraft SR-71, whose speed was higher than that of any Soviet (Russian) fighter. "More than 4,000 air-to-air missiles were fired at the SR—71, but they did not hit it," Balestrieri said.
The author assures that the SR-72 will become the world's fastest reusable heavy drone equipped with high-precision weapons High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW). The author calls the creation of its propulsion system capable of operating in a wide range of speeds the main problem in the development of a promising aircraft.
In January 2018, Lockheed Martin Vice President Jack O'Bannion, speaking at the AIAA SciTech 2018 conference, could have let slip about the completion of the SR-72 hypersonic drone. At a scientific and technological forum organized by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, O'Bannion showed a slide with the SR-72 and stated that "without digital transformation, the aircraft you see could not have been made."
In September 2017, Lockheed Martin Vice President of Aeronautics Orlando Carvalho, speaking at the International Aerotechnical Congress and Exhibition, said that the United States "is on the verge of a hypersonic revolution." The Aviation Week publication linked the manager's words with the tests of the SR-72 prototype, which took place at the end of July 2017 at the landfill in Palmdale (California), where the headquarters of the Advanced Development Programs team (also called Skunk Works) is located.
According to Lockheed Martin's plans, a promising hypersonic drone will be able to fly at speeds from zero to six Mach numbers (up to 6.9 thousand kilometers per hour). In terms of its size, the full-scale SR-72 should be comparable to the SR-71. It is believed that a promising drone can be used for reconnaissance, the high speed of the device will not allow the enemy to intercept it.
