can someone identify this hypersonic plane?

[dickie]

Is this simply an illustration meant as a point-of-reference or does it imply the existence of a possible mach 6 aircraft designed for a similar role to the sr-71? Why include it at all? The document is dated 1980.

Found in SOC's scans of sr-71 derivative mission plan documents in the following thread.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,355.0.html

 

[dickie]

Hate to double-post, but thought it best for visibility and organization...

I realized that the aircraft depicted in the above image could represent any number of UNMANNED vehicles as well, something I had previously neglected to consider. D-21?

 

[Sentinel Chicken]

I don't think the D-21 was capable of Mach 6, was it?

 

[SOC]

D-21 was a Mach 3 vehicle. That aircraft likely just represents the fact that a Mach 6 aircraft at 120,000 feet would be able to operate above the defenses you see there, providing a reference point for a design that would be immune to the threats that the SR-71 at Mach 3.2 and 80,000 feet would face.

 

[Orionblamblam]

Doesn't look like a "design" so much as a theoretical Mach 6 capability. Additionally, look at the SR-71 and the F-15: not exactly stunning examples of accurate drawings.

 

[dickie]

my thoughts exactly, orion. the most simple and sensible explanation is that its just a reference point, but all the same i was hoping there was some type of project tied to it

 

[dickie]

a patent application from lockheed-martin for a thermal protection system designed for a proposed hypersonic cruise aircraft included this image.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Is this simply an illustration meant as a point-of-reference or does it imply the existence of a possible mach 6 aircraft designed for a similar role to the sr-71? Why include it at all? The document is dated 1980.

Found in SOC's scans of sr-71 derivative mission plan documents in the following thread.

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,355.0.html

Could you re-upload this photo so anyone can do extra scrutiny? I remember that when I was at the library in Lincoln Elementary School I was reading a book from the 1980s about future aircraft and it contained an image of a potential hypersonic successor to the SR-71, which once again rekindled my weighing in on the matter of the alleged Aurora spyplane.