Do we need the SR-71?

Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

Mike
MU-2


"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message
...

"Mike Rapoport" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Nothing is invulnerable. All that was required to shoot down the
Blackbird
is a networked radar system that could track it before it came over the
horizon and a SAM with enough fuel to reach 80,000'. Sooner or later
one
would be shot down.

Yet it never happened.

Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

It also flew directly across the middle of the Soviet Union on many
occasions. And China.

Both countries saw them coming. The Soviets would scramble their MiG-25s,
also capable of Mach 3+ speeds, in an effort to meet the threat.

Because the Blackbird was able to maintain speeds better than Mach 3.3+
without afterburners (I.E.: "Super cruise"), and because it was flying
nearly 20 miles high, the MiGs -- with their inability to fly that fast
without fuel-guzzling afterburners -- would simply run out of fuel, time, or
both before interception.

The Soviets also tried firing radar-guided missiles at them from the
Foxbats, which -- considering they were "only" 20K feet or so below when
fired -- SHOULD have been able to hit the Blackbirds.

However, the stealthy design of the Blackbird made for a very small radar
cross-section, and they had some pretty effective (and still Top Secret)
counter measures on board.

Bottom line: The plane was invulnerable to enemy action for almost 30
years -- a remarkable record.

Of course, we managed to bring 15 of them down ourselves, between mechanical
failures and stupidity. For example, NASA managed to destroy a YF-12A in
flight by trying to see how much side-stress the bottom strake (unique to
the YF-12) could take at high mach numbers.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Sun, 9 May 2004 at 03:44:29 in message
,
Orval Fairbairn wrote:

Simply put, we don't need supersonic speeds to loiter over terrorist hot
spots. Their weapons are short-ranged, so an armed TR-2 or Global Hawk
or something else that has a high loiter time will do the job, as the
British say, "spiffily."

I am British but, to the best of my knowledge, I have never said
'spiffily' in my entire life. (Except after reading your message - just
to try what it might sound like.)
--
David CL Francis

The Blackbird used afterburning in all supersonic flight.

I'm not sure what you mean by fly "across the middle" since the USSR was so
large that mid air refueling would be required while still over hostile
terrain.

I agree with you that there were none lost to enemy action but I think that
would be different now 30yrs later. The Blackbird's basic defense was that
once it was close enough to track, there wasn't enough time for a missle to
climb to altitude and make the intercept. It is soley a targeting problem
since many missles travel faster than M3. I think the Navy's Pheonix is a
M5 missle, about 1000mph faster that the SR-71 for example.


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:yLQnc.64372$0H1.6146627@attbi_s54...
Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the
Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka
peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

It also flew directly across the middle of the Soviet Union on many
occasions. And China.

Both countries saw them coming. The Soviets would scramble their MiG-25s,
also capable of Mach 3+ speeds, in an effort to meet the threat.

Because the Blackbird was able to maintain speeds better than Mach 3.3+
without afterburners (I.E.: "Super cruise"), and because it was flying
nearly miles high, the MiGs -- with their inability to fly that fast
without fuel-guzzling afterburners -- would simply run out of fuel, time,
or
both before interception.

The Soviets also tried firing radar-guided missiles at them from the
Foxbats, which -- considering they were "only" 20K feet or so below when
fired -- SHOULD have been able to hit the Blackbirds.

However, the stealthy design of the Blackbird made for a very small radar
cross-section, and they had some pretty effective (and still Top Secret)
counter measures on board.

Bottom line: The plane was invulnerable to enemy action for almost 30
years -- a remarkable record.

Of course, we managed to bring 15 of them down ourselves, between
mechanical
failures and stupidity. For example, NASA managed to destroy a YF-12A in
flight by trying to see how much side-stress the bottom strake (unique to
the YF-12) could take at high mach numbers.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:yLQnc.64372$0H1.6146627@attbi_s54...
Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

It also flew directly across the middle of the Soviet Union on many
occasions.

Which part of its middle? And what's your source, anyway?

Jay Honeck

Dima

In a previous article, "Jay Honeck" said:
Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

It also flew directly across the middle of the Soviet Union on many
occasions. And China.

As far as I know, the US NEVER disregarded the treaty they signed with the
Soviets to stop recon overflights after Frank Gary Powers was shot down.
So the SR-71 probably never flew directly over the USSR.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
It isn't the volts that kill, it's the missing brain waves.
-- Matt Roberds

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:eNJnc.63251$kh4.3830904@attbi_s52...

I'm not 100% certain, but I don't think the U-2 is actually being used for
recon anymore. High altitude research, yes, but I don't think they've sent
one over a hostile nation in many years.

You're incorrect on this one. The U-2 is being heavily used for recon.

The Blackbird used afterburning in all supersonic flight.

The Blackbird used afterburners to accelerate for takeoff, and to achieve
supersonic flight, not unlike the Concorde.

At speeds above 2000 mph, however, the J-58 engines became ramjets, and
operated in supercruise, enabling Mach 3+ flight for anywhere from 2500 to
3300 miles without refueling.

The unique thing about the Blackbird was that the faster it went, the faster
it could go. The only thing limiting its top speed was heat -- the engines
and airframe aerodynamics would have allowed even higher speeds, except that
critical things started to melt.

Still, it flew faster than a rifle bullet for hours on end -- a truly
remarkable aircraft.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Which part of its middle? And what's your source, anyway?


--
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"Dima Volodin" wrote in message
news:U1Rnc.23121$iy5.4285@okepread05...
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:yLQnc.64372$0H1.6146627@attbi_s54...
Yes, and when was the last time the Blackbird actually overflew the
Soviet
Union? '70s? '60s? It usually flew from Japan up the Kamchatka
peninsula
staying out of Soviet airspace.

It also flew directly across the middle of the Soviet Union on many
occasions.


Jay Honeck

Dima

Which part of its middle? And what's your source, anyway?

Whoops -- shouldn't hit "Send" until you've written something...

Lots of things happened with the A-12, YF-12A, and SR-71 that haven't hit
the history books yet, Dima.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"