Guy Norris of Aviation Week broke the story on the first of the month that Skunk Works is working on a successor for the SR-71 - Aviation Week's website was brought down by the overwhelming amount traffic as a result.
What we know so far:
- Being referred to as the SR-72
- Optional weapons carriage and strike capability
- Top speed of Mach 6
- Powered by a combination military OTS turbine and scramjet engine
- F-22 sized, optionally piloted demonstrator planned to be built by 2018
I can only imagine what the pitch to the possible test pilots for the demonstrator is going to be like: "Okay, we built a plane that goes twice as fast as the next fastest manned air breathing aircraft - which had a loss rate of 38%, using technology never before tested on this scale and most of the unmanned aircraft we have launched at this speed have failed - many due to vehicle break up. Who wants to fly it?"
