Lockheed Martin SR-72?

FighterJock said:
Perhaps Lockheed had realised that the SR-72 was too advanced for the current time technology wise and has gone back to the drawing boards.
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Lockheed realized nobody was going to give them billions to develop it, especially since several years earlier the estimated cost was much smaller.
 
Flyaway said:
This says differently.

theaviationist.com

Skunk Works Working On A Classified Reconnaissance Aircraft - Reports

The classified aircraft, built by the Skunk Works, would be more capable than the RQ-180. With the U-2S Dragon Lady soon to be retired, there is a big
theaviationist.com theaviationist.com

Considering your one of those who also didn’t think the ‘RQ-180’ existed..,
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From the article:
While there is no confirmation of this, a hypothesis that arises following the description of the “article” points to the rumored SR-71 successor: the SR-72. Lockheed Martin revealed the existence of such a project back in 2013, describing it as an unmanned hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike platform designed for Mach 6.
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The supposed connection between a rumored new Lockheed reconnaissance aircraft and the "SR-72" concept is an unproven hypothesis with nothing to substantiate it.

I have thousands of pages of (expensive) USG documents that show the "SR-72" was never a program. The concept was used in other programs, but it was a dead end and was replaced by something else. The DARPA FALCON program included the HTV-3/HTV-3X hypersonic cruise vehicle. That was later spun off into the "Blackswift" demonstrator competition, which was quickly cancelled. In 2013 Lockheed rebranded their Blackswift concept "SR-72" and put out press releases saying, essentially, "if someone gave us a few billion we could build this". The Blackswift/"SR-72" concept was used for propulsion studies by other agencies - because hypersonic aircraft have tight integration between the propulsion system and the airframe, you can't test/validate/study a propulsion system on it's own. These propulsion studies were various iterations of TBCC concepts and would not have been appropriate for a "SR-72" demonstrator or operational aircraft.

Further discussion of the "SR-72" should be moved to the appropriate thread, it has nothing to do with NGAD.
 
bobbymike said:
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QlMX6TYdU7I
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Throughout weeks of research and interviews
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Weeks...?

I've compiled the most complete and extensive timeline of the SR 72 development ever published online.
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Most complete and extensive?
*Re-reads this thread*
Yeah I don't know about that.

In the video the author has a strange preoccupation with scramjets. Even in the material he shows in the video the *ramjet* is clearly labelled. The "SR-72" was studied with a number of different TBCC propulsion systems, though (IIRC) none of them were scramjets other than one of the NASA propulsion studies that used a dual mode scramjet. They were variations on turbojet + dual mode ramjet. Again, that is illustrated in the video itself as it shows illustrations from various documents.

The video also states:
During this event, O'Banion projected an artist's rendering of the SR 72 on the screen behind him and then discussed the aircraft as though it not only already existed, but had already been seeing successes in testing.
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While ignoring that shortly after that event, Lockheed refuted the idea that an SR-72 had been built:

from https://www.flightglobal.com/singapore-lockheeds-carvalho-kiboshes-sr-72-idea/127007.article
The head of Lockheed Martin’s aeronautics division has dismissed recent media reports that it has
developed the SR-72, a successor to the iconic SR-71 Black Bird.
“I can tell you unequivocally that it has not been built,” says Orlando Carvalho, executive vice- president of aeronautics at Lockheed Martin.
In early January, several media reports indicated that a successor to the SR-71, the so-called SR-72, might actually have been developed. The reports followed a presentation by Lockheed vice-president Jack O’Banion, in which he discussed advanced design and manufacturing techniques.
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“I think Jack’s comments were taken a little bit out of context,” says Carvalho. “What Jack was trying to express was that with the technology we have available to us today, including the fidelity of the
analysis tools we use and the design capabilities – really the whole digital revolution that we all benefit from... and how that applies to aircraft designs.”
“What Jack was trying to communicate was how that enables us to have confidence that if a reusable hypersonic vehicle were desired, then we can have confidence in its design, its capabilities and performance....it was not to imply that there is one that has been built and it’s sitting in a base somewhere. I can assure you that’s not the case.”
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[...] throughout weeks of research and interviews [...]
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The interviewee:
Sock-puppet-008.jpg


I seriously missed the part where he interviewed anyone.
Or the one where he conducted any research at all for that matter.

Reading press releases and articles written by other people and stitching them back together without any critical analysis going into it can hardly be considered research.
This is a school essay for people with 5 minutes attention span, not research.
 
By September 2017, eyewitness accounts of this Flight Research Vehicle flying over Palmdale, California, where Skunk Works is headquartered, began to surface.
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That was a sighting of the “Darkstar” mock-up on the ground while being assembled.
 
Flyaway said:
This compiles different sources rather than the one above.

www.businessinsider.com

Lockheed Martin's hypersonic spy plane, the SR-72, may be in production in secret, emerging evidence suggests

The SR-72, a successor to the SR-71 Blackbird, may still be secretly under development, evidence suggests, as the Air Force faces ongoing budget woes.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com
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This really just talks about reported Lockheed loses on classified programs, then repeats the Sandboxx material. There is nothing that actually connects the financial losses with a single program, much less the "SR-72". Lockheed has definitely incurred substantial "pre-contract" losses by investing in production infrastructure for a hypersonic missile program that has not materialized as a production contract. Which missile? I have no idea, there are so many hypersonic missile programs in such a sad state of affairs I can't keep them all straight.

They also incurred (some) losses in setting up their new facility in Palmdale, at least part of which is to support production of the Speed Racer.

news.lockheedmartin.com

Lockheed Martin Unveils Intelligent, Flexible Factory at the Skunk Works® in Palmdale, California

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has completed construction of an advanced manufacturing facility at its Palmdale, California, campus and headquarters to the Skunk Works®. This is one of four...
news.lockheedmartin.com news.lockheedmartin.com
 
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Ninja said:
Sandboxx can't seem to not make a "new" SR-72 article every 3 months.
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Alex Hollings has a new SR-72 video out:


Lockheed Martin’s mysterious hypersonic aircraft known as the SR-72 appears to be continuing its march toward service, and in fact, may have even already entered low-rate initial production.
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Want to learn more about hypersonic aircraft and how they work? Check out these videos!
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- The race to field America's first hypersonic aircraft
- Figuring out GE Aerospace's hypersonic aircraft engine breakthrough
- Could HERMEUS turn the hypersonic arms race on its head?
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4decaa said:
I am always impressed with these youtubers turning nothing into 25 minutes of video + 5 minutes of advertisement.
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Keep in mind many of these slick videos and websites are created not by "journalists" but by marketing companies. Marking companies that are funded by investors, often private equity groups/funds.

For example, company X owns a popular site "CoolAirplanes.com". Company X has a market valuation of $300m and investment from private equity of $Ym - and less than 100 employees. Because these private equity investors are pulling the strings the content on "CoolAirplanes.com" has to not only make the other companies the private equity entities invest in look good, they also can't make those companies or the other interests of the private equity look bad.

To maximize performance company X wants to spend as little as possible making content while still putting out as much content as possible. And so the content they produce may be .... less than original. And they may have developed relationships with government entities that provide them with content (for free!) , effectively acting as a marking outlet for the government.

Of course, if company X were to find itself in a copyright lawsuit, DMCA takedowns, or other legal liability their value would decrease and the investors would have second thoughts. Like if they published satellite photography they did not have a license for, or if the Department of Defense found they were publishing photos of "sensitive" facilities or aircraft (which would result in all of their papers, computers, cellphones etc. being seized for 5 years while DoD and FBI claim an investigation is ongoing without actually prosecuting anyone).

You never know! It's a crazy world, full of lawyers and potential injured parties. Companies will crank out 25 minute videos of nothing until they realize the cost of defending those actions in court outweighs the value of producing the content.
 
Pershing 2 was interesting in how it had contingency modes for errant flight paths. Prototypes were remotely rapidly disasssmbled when errant. Live rounds would seek an alternative pre-designated target if it failed to see its target fingerprint.
 
quellish said:
Keep in mind many of these slick videos and websites are created not by "journalists" but by marketing companies. Marking companies that are funded by investors, often private equity groups/funds.

Snip.
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An interesting analysis and yesterday I watched this interesting and unusual Sandboxx video about the Emu War.
 
@Archibald Unless a summary of the video's salient points is presented - I don't watch it. With most 25 minute videos, that saves me from wasting 25 minutes of my life.
Naked links without a summary - same deal. Unless it's The Bar's Furry Avatars Of Doom thread.
 
Forest Green said:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siWEaLnRPdA
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Ah yes. Hypersonic aircraft releasing munitions.

Let's take an aircraft in a flight environment we know very little about, and have another, smaller aircraft emerge from it. What could go wrong?

In the 1980s the Air Force was on a path to develop a hypersonic vehicle that was to launch missiles. It did not turn out well for anyone and set all of DoD's hypersonic programs back years.
 
quellish said:
Ah yes. Hypersonic aircraft releasing munitions.

Let's take an aircraft in a flight environment we know very little about, and have another, smaller aircraft emerge from it. What could go wrong?

In the 1980s the Air Force was on a path to develop a hypersonic vehicle that was to launch missiles. It did not turn out well for anyone and set all of DoD's hypersonic programs back years.
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I’m not into these hyped Youtube video’s made by amateurs, but hypersonics might be an excellent example of technology finally catching up with ambitious goals set by programs decades ago.
 
quellish said:
Ah yes. Hypersonic aircraft releasing munitions.

Let's take an aircraft in a flight environment we know very little about, and have another, smaller aircraft emerge from it. What could go wrong?

In the 1980s the Air Force was on a path to develop a hypersonic vehicle that was to launch missiles. It did not turn out well for anyone and set all of DoD's hypersonic programs back years.
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I suspect that whatever I 'think' will turn out to be nothing more than a five second punt from the 200 yard line, but, this...

1. The most realistic form of weapon release would be from the rear of the aircraft, as in the rearwards launched self defence missiles mooted some time ago, and...

2. The biggest result in terms of actual product, would in the case of any other weapon release - be in the seats of any crew members.

Clean up on aisle five please......
 
Someone posted a patent for rear-dropping missile tubes for a hypersonic aircraft, I think it was posted in the NGAD thread.

Rear of the tube pops out from the OML and shoves the item to be dropped out backwards.
 
I would have thought that the SR-72 would have entered service sooner than that considering that the Lockheed Skunk Works is the best prototyping aerospace company in the world, look at how long it took the U-2, SR-71 and F-117A to get designed and ultimately built?
 
Which doesn't mean that there is already one in the Skunk Works that has dissapeared into the black world now. At least that is what I am currently thinking TomS. Ultimately hidden from prying eyes at Palmdale.
 
Scott Kenny said:
Someone posted a patent for rear-dropping missile tubes for a hypersonic aircraft, I think it was posted in the NGAD thread.

Rear of the tube pops out from the OML and shoves the item to be dropped out backwards.
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Sort of like the A-5 Vigilante's nuclear delivery option. There's also this concept from a 1990 issue of Aviation Week that's popped up in the Theoretical and Speculative section. The "flaming pumpkinseed" with external burning (aerospike?) engines Mark McCandlish has envisioned a few times remains speculative as ever, but the munitions ejector system on the left side very much seems like a workable concept to me. Maybe using a compressed-gas piston or something instead of what looks like a...giant spring in the illustration, but it eliminates the problem of bay doors at hypersonic speeds.
AWST 24-DEC-1990 p41.jpg
 

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