FLYING Classics: Lockheed Created the 'Impossible' SR-71 Blackbird to Replace the U-2

FLYING Classics: Lockheed Created the ‘Impossible’ SR-71 Blackbird to Replace the U-2

Scott Mall

Friday, September 09, 2022 at 08:26 AM ET

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Stealth, beauty, and speed are the hallmarks of the SR-71. [FLYING Archives]

Key Takeaways:

The SR-71 Blackbird was developed by Lockheed's Skunk Works in the 1960s to address U.S. Cold War intelligence needs, designed for unprecedented speed, high altitude, and minimal radar cross-section following the U-2 incident.
Its revolutionary design achieved sustained speeds of Mach 3.3 and altitudes over 85,000 feet, pioneering advanced technologies such as titanium alloy construction and stealth features like radar-absorbing paint.
The Blackbird successfully conducted strategic reconnaissance missions for over 30 years without a single loss to enemy fire, primarily relying on its extreme speed to evade over 1,000 launched missiles.
An iconic aircraft of the Cold War, the SR-71 set unbroken speed and altitude records, was later used by NASA for high-speed aeronautical research, and remains a testament to extreme engineering and innovation.

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Following the loss of a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft over the Soviet Union on May 1, 1960, the Eisenhower administration sought a new aircraft from Lockheed (NYSE: LMT)—“one that would fly faster than any aircraft before or since, at greater altitude, and with a minimal radar cross section,” according to Lockheed Martin. Lockheed needed “to build the impossible—and do it fast.”

Development work on an aircraft to improve the United States’ intelligence-gathering capabilities had already begun at Lockheed’s Skunk Works in Burbank, California.