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 during the Cold War, created for strategic reconnaissance with unprecedented speed, altitude, and minimal radar detection after the U-2 incident.
Its revolutionary design employed extensive titanium for extreme heat resistance, special black paint for thermal management and radar absorption, and pioneering stealth technologies, enabling sustained flight at over Mach 3.
Operating for decades, no SR-71 was ever lost to enemy fire, famously evading missiles by outrunning them, and setting enduring speed and altitude records, cementing its legacy as an iconic Cold War aircraft.

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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.