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Top Gun: Maverick’s ‘Darkstar’ – When Will the SR-72 Be a Reality?

SR-72
SR-72. Image Credit: Artist Rendering from Lockheed Martin.

What do we know about the real-life SR-72 Darkstar that was featured in Top Gun: Maverick?: With the blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick dominating the box office for a second straight week, military aviation is enjoying a rare moment of relevance in mainstream popular culture. Relatedly, the general public has taken an interest in the airframes depicted in Tom Cruise’s latest hit. One of these is particularly mysterious, inspiring viewers to ask, “Is that real?”

The airframe in question is the Lockheed SR-72Darkstar,” also known as the Son of Blackbird. In Top Gun: Maverick, a CGI rendering of the SR-72 is foundational to the film’s first act. Tom Cruise’s character, now-Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, is a test pilot operating from a secret airfield in Nevada. Housed at the airfield is the SR-72, complete with Skunk Works decals. In the spirit of preserving plot points for the eight or nine of you who have yet to see the film, I’ll say only that Maverick does indeed fly the SR-72 – and that it is a fast, fast bird. 

A Shroud of Mystery

As far as we know, the SR-72 is still just a design proposal. Conceptually, it is a hypersonic, optionally piloted craft capable of reaching Mach 6 speeds. The SR-71 Blackbird, the SR-72’s spiritual predecessor, maxed out at Mach 3. Like the SR-71, the SR-72 Darkstar would be used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance – although at much higher speeds. And perhaps, as rumors suggest, the SR-72 could carry bombs. 

The SR-72 program has been shrouded in mystery for 15 years. Unconfirmed reports about the hypersonic jet surfaced in 2007. In 2013, Aviation Week & Space Technology first published an article about the SR-72. The article generated so much web traffic that Aviation Week’s servers crashed. Speculation about the Skunk Works project reached a zenith perhaps, when the Top Gun: Maverick trailer dropped, revealing footage of what many believed was the SR-72. Indeed, the SR-72 featured in the film, but it was a speculative depiction. Lockheed did announce in 2017 that the SR-72 would enter development in the early 2020s, but its executives are very reserved about the prospect. 

“We’ve been saying hypersonics are two years away for the last 20 years, but all I can say is the technology is mature,” Lockheed Executive Vice President Rob Weiss stated. “We, along with DARPA and the services, are working hard to get that capability into the hands of our warfighters as soon as possible.”

To reach speeds of Mach 6, the SR-72 will rely on a combined cycle engine, which incorporates two or more operating modes within a single flowpath. With multiple operating modes, the combined cycle engine has a more dynamic operating envelope and can reach higher performance levels. For the SR-72, the engine will include both a rocket engine and a scramjet. Engine tests have apparently been conducted, paving the way for future development of the airframe. 

SR-72

SR-72, maybe. Screenshot from Top Gun 2 Trailer.

If the SR-72 takes flight this decade, it will represent a long-overdue return to hypersonic experimentation, which has been mostly stagnant since the days of the X-15. Keep your ear to the ground for SR-72 updates – although updates may be a closely guarded secret, kept tight at clandestine airfields in Nevada.   

Harrison Kass is a Senior Defense Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon, and New York University. He lives in Oregon and regularly listens to Dokken.

Written By

Harrison Kass is a Senior Defense Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, he joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison has degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon School of Law, and New York University’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. He lives in Oregon and regularly listens to Dokken.

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