Did the US peak with the SR-71?

[AndrewR]

The F22 is *not* invisible to radar by any stretch. It has stealth/low observable technologies incorporated into it, but a powerful enough radar (like the Russians have) have a good chance of seeing it. Once external hardware gets tacked on (like oh, I dunno, extra BOMBS and MISSLES) the radar signature climbs up like a 16 year old pecker in a whorehouse.

Which is why they aren't going to externally mount weapons unless we've already achieved air dominance. Which radar are you referring to that the Russians have? I'm curious.

F22 is "superior" to the F35 in what way? Air superiority? I'd likely agree with you. But what about A/G? Cost/perfomance ratio? Take off/landing requirements? Slow speed handling characteristics? Variety of munitions? Which F35 in particlar are you comparing it to?

The Raptor is an air superiority fighter with the ability to attack surface targets. The JSF is multirole aircraft which sacrifices specialization for jack-of-all-trades. The Raptor is the new flagship of the USAF and costs quite a bit more. It's the more capable aircraft from a variety of perspectives, except (perhaps) surface attack.

As for the version, there isn't much difference among the three in terms of capability other than carrier landing and S/VTOL.

F22 will not be offered to other countries? Yeah.. right. Give it time.

Well, no kidding. We have had AEGIS for quite some time before exporting it. The same can be said for a variety of weapons systems. We don't export our best right off the bat because it's stupid to trust even our best allies with the exception of the British and perhaps one or two others.

I could see us exporting the F-22 to Japan fairly quickly, but that's hardly a given by a long shot.

Screw this fast and invisible crap--gimme an A-10 Warthog any day of the week.

Let me acquaint you with some friends of the A-10: SA-18, SA-8, SA-11, SA-6, SA-13, SA-15, SA-17, SA-9, Roland...to name a few.

As for some other outrageous claims made in this thread, the BS is piled mile high. Thanks for the laughs though! :beer:

 

[ruffilb]

Originally posted by: JoeKing

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
Dude this is my forte. There's (apparently) a new plane called the Aurora. It uses a new form of propulsion called pulse detonation wave engine. It sets off a sound wave, and then the plane rides the edge of that wave (or something like that).

I heard about "Project Aurora" a while ago with the jet trail having rings and stuff. You'd think by now they'd have some shaky amateur footage to show for it.

I'm thinking we reached the threshold of our materials. Composites are usually incredibly brittle, along with things like the tiles on the shuttle. We probably need to develope something like titanium (quatanium? trademark me!)

Relax, he's just been playing too much CNC: ZH

 

[Jon855]

SR-71 is still in service not by the air force but by the NASA...

 

[Jon855]

Originally posted by: alien42
i would still bet money that scramjets will become a viable reality within my lifetime. the x43a set a new world speed record of for jet-powered aircraft of mach 9.6 less then a year ago.


comparing the x43 to the sr71:

"In March 2004, the X-43A set the previous record of Mach 6.8 (nearly 5,000 mph). The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the U.S. Air Force SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3.2. The X-43A more than doubled, then tripled, the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71."

Well, when you consider that the SR-71 has a badge thst shows Mach 4.5+ doesn't it makes you wonder if this is even accurate?

 

[Aquaman]

Originally posted by: JoeKing

Originally posted by: cruiser1338
Dude this is my forte. There's (apparently) a new plane called the Aurora. It uses a new form of propulsion called pulse detonation wave engine. It sets off a sound wave, and then the plane rides the edge of that wave (or something like that).

I heard about "Project Aurora" a while ago with the jet trail having rings and stuff. You'd think by now they'd have some shaky amateur footage to show for it.

I'm thinking we reached the threshold of our materials. Composites are usually incredibly brittle, along with things like the tiles on the shuttle. We probably need to develope something like titanium (quatanium? trademark me!)

They already showed the Aurora in action......... JAG Season 9.......... Harm flew one


The One That Got Away
Mac defends a Marine whose actions may have caused the deaths of two fellow Marines and the capture of the rest of his team, while the accused found his way to safety 200 miles away. Meanwhile, what starts out as a test flight for Harm in the CIA?s top-secret, super-sonic Aurora spy plane turns into a dangerous mission to take photos over North Korea to see if they?re preparing for an invasion of South Korea.

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[JWeaks]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: QuitBanningMe
No we didn't peak.

The newest aircraft fly using magnets.

Simplified and no doubt won't be believed but you will actually see them in 30-40 years (they already exist).

Magnets? lol

It is true....
if you charge it it will fly..............

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: SNiPeRX

due to sat tech, we really don't need the sr-71 or aircraft of the kind. the speeds that aircraft went was to fast for air to air and to fast for bombing. the b-1 and b-2 cover the bombing area good enough. the f-22 and f-18 do the job for air to air. and the f-15 does hte job of both good, and hopefully i will be flying one of those soon.

btw my shift key does not work...

Satellites do not replace spy planes. Satellites follow predictable flight paths and the enemy knows when they'll be overhead. Because of this, they surely won't have what they're trying to hid out in the open when a satellite is overhead.

Also, satellites don't have the resolution that spy planes do. While a spy plane might be 80,000 feet up, a satellite is about 300 miles up.

Another thing about spy planes and satellites for that matter is that they don't talk about where or when they're using them. For all you know, they could still operate spy planes over territory such as North Korea, and they probably do.

well the main reason was that early satellites had to send film down in canisters. a process that lagged intelligence by days. current satelites have good resolution i'm sure..and without the risk of losing a plane.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: PhasmatisNox
I guarantee that there are at least two more planes in service and five in development that we don't know about.

Like all the V shaped UFOs that sounded like vaccum cleaners in nevada and arizona 10 years before the F-117 was announced

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: SNiPeRX

Originally posted by: kaizersose
i am bookmarking this thread. it's too funny reading some of this stuff.

-basing real-life commentary on video-game experience
-thinkin' that a pulse-jet engine (the pre-cursor to current jet tech) to a pulse-detonation enginer (future jet tech)
-etc.

it's not all about speed people. the sr-71 was and is a great plane, but if the govt still wanted/needed it, they would be using it.

thank you... well said. if we needed the aircraft we would be using it.

due to sat tech, we really don't need the sr-71 or aircraft of the kind. the speeds that aircraft went was to fast for air to air and to fast for bombing. the b-1 and b-2 cover the bombing area good enough. the f-22 and f-18 do the job for air to air. and the f-15 does hte job of both good, and hopefully i will be flying one of those soon.

btw my shift key does not work...

Not an air superiority fighter, but I think the YF-12 would've made a great interceptor. Problem was, we didn't really need a great interceptor.

If you read Skunk Works there were proposals for making Blackbird strike aircraft. It presents the decision not to build them as a puzzling mistake, but the author might be a bit biased towards his own bird.

It would be ideal for carrying a single light nuclear payload, thats for sure.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Upon further review, I find this thread to be 99.8% clueless.

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: Jon855

Originally posted by: alien42
i would still bet money that scramjets will become a viable reality within my lifetime. the x43a set a new world speed record of for jet-powered aircraft of mach 9.6 less then a year ago.


comparing the x43 to the sr71:

"In March 2004, the X-43A set the previous record of Mach 6.8 (nearly 5,000 mph). The fastest air-breathing, manned vehicle, the U.S. Air Force SR-71, achieved slightly more than Mach 3.2. The X-43A more than doubled, then tripled, the top speed of the jet-powered SR-71."

Well, when you consider that the SR-71 has a badge thst shows Mach 4.5+ doesn't it makes you wonder if this is even accurate?

No way. Shens. The Air Force spec is 3.2, and it's typically thought that the SR-71, or at the very least the A-12, could hit 3.5 in short bursts, but 4.5 is just impossible for an air-breathing plane with 70s tech.

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: JoeKing
It's been almost 40 years since the Blackbird was introduced, and officially the SR-71 has been retired since '97. No plane we know of has flown even close to that envelope.

Has supersonic speed peaked with the the Blackbird?

that you know of....

there are Aircraft at Dreamland being developed that is gonna make that thing look like a paper airplane...

 

[CaptnKirk]

Well, when you consider that the SR-71 has a badge thst shows Mach 4.5+ doesn't it makes you wonder if this is even accurate?

Last 'Official' SR-71 'Badge' that I saw while they were considered operational and confirmed for public knoledge was 3.5+ -
and that was on flight test crew members.

 

[Jon855]

Alrighty so seemingly I were wrong about the 4.5+ it was 3.5+

Manufacturer: Lockheed Aircraft Corporation
Length: 107' 5"
Length of Nose Probe: 4' 11"
Wing Span: 55' 7"
Wing Area: 1,795 ft. sq.
Wing Aspect Ratio: 1.939
Wing Root Chord: 60.533
Wing Dihedral Angle: 0 degrees
Wing Chord: 0.00
Wing Sweep: 52.629 degrees
Inboard Elevon Area: 39.00 ft. sq.
Outboard Elevon Area: 52.50 ft. sq.
Total Vertical Rudder Area: 150.76 ft. sq.
Moveable Rudder Area: 70.24 ft. sq.
Rudder Root Chord: 14.803 ft.
Rudder Tip Chord: 7.833 ft.
Height: 18' 6"
Empty Weight: 59,000 lbs.
Maximum Weight 170,000 lbs.
Fuselage Diameter: 5.33 ft.
Service Ceiling: 85,000'+
Maximum Speed: Mach 3.3+ (Limit CIT of 427 degrees C)
Cruising Speed: Mach 3.2
Engines: 2 Pratt & Whittney J-58 (JT11D-20A) with 34,000 lbs. of thrust.
Range: 3,200 nautical miles (without refueling)

DATA FROM : http://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/sr-71/

EDIT UNCLASSIFIED INFORMATION ARE NOTED NOT THE CLASSIFIED ONES, WE MIGHT WILL NEVER KNOW FOR SURE.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Alrighty so seemingly I were wrong about the 4.5+ it was 3.5+

Not trying to be picky (succeeding maybe, but not trying) just pointing out an inconsistency.

Anyway, what's another 763.59 MPH when you're already able to go over 2,672.57 MPH
(That's Mach 3.5 STP in air)

(Hint - unofficially they'll do over 3,000)