On Mon, 23 Aug 2004 06:02:23 -0400, Venik wrote:

Vello wrote:

What stops SR-71 project was achievements in area of taking pictures from
the orbit and Soviet potential to build land-air missiles.

Satellite photography will never replace aerial photography for four
obvious reasons: an recon aircraft is much close to the target, it
usually can carry more equipment, it's equipment is more up-to-date and
can be customized for each mission, and it's usually less expensive.

SR-71 was originally retired in 1990 - four years after one was
intercepted by six MiG-31s over international waters in Barents Sea on
June 3, 1986, subjecting the Blackbird to a potential all-angle AAM
attack.

The fact that it happend a grand total of ONCE and it took six of the
USSR's top of the line interceptors to do it makes your claim that it
was the reason for the SR-71's retirement pretty weak.





I am not aware of any such close encounters between the SR-71
and the Soviet SAMs.

There are accounts of SR-71s flying *directly over* SA-5 sites. In
other countries.



This would have been unlikely, considering the fact
that the SR-71 missions were usually planned far from the coastline and
outside of the effective SAM range. Not the the Soviets really wanted to
bring down a US spy plane over international waters.