Lockheed Martin’s “Son of Blackbird” the SR-72 will be the world’s fastest-ever plane and is set to hit the skies in 2025 as it promises to fly past staggering speeds of over 4,000mph.
The SR-72 plane is part of a top-secret mission by the US Air Force to improve their aviation abilities and rule the skies.
Considered to be a near-perfect plane, the SR-72 is designed to be an extremely fast, hypersonic, high-altitude surveillance aircraft.
It is said to be able to fire projectiles, including hypersonic weapons, more quickly than anything that has come before it.
The SR-72 is designed to outpace its predecessor the legendary SR-71 Blackbird and boasts the ability to maintain hypersonic speeds for extended durations.
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As part of Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs known as “Skunk Works,” the SR-72 is expected to be a game-changer in military aviation with plans for a human-less cockpit potentially transforming how the military employs aircraft.
The previous record holder, the Mach 6 with speeds exceeding 4,100mph now faces competition from the SR-72 which targets similar velocities.
This extraordinary speed holds strategic importance enabling rapid travel between continents with the potential to cover the distance from the US to Europe in just an hour and a half.
The moniker “Son of Blackbird” pays homage to its iconic predecessor, the SR-71 Blackbird renowned for its untouchable status in the skies during the mid-1960s.
The SR-72 inherits the high-flying legacy reaching altitudes between 80,000ft to 85,000ft and 50,000ft higher than commercial planes.
Unlike the SR-71, the SR-72 eliminates the need for a pilot and spacesuits introducing a self-flying model. While this marks a significant improvement, the aircraft faces new challenges from advanced weaponry including directed-energy weapons like lasers and hypersonic munitions.
Lockheed Martin’s Rob Weiss highlighted the SR-72’s impressive capabilities emphasizing its potential invincibility.
As the successor to the legendary Blackbird, the SR-72 represents a leap into the future of military aviation where speed and autonomy converge in a formidable force.
Lockheed announced it was developing the SR-72 in 2013, and that the “Son of Blackbird” would hit Mach 6 — over 4,500 mph — and possibly be operational by 2025.
