SR-72 Top Speed? Sometimes art imitates life, or vice versa.
The beginning of Top Gun: Maverick is arguably the film’s best scene. We see Tom Cruise’s character walk through the hangar where the “Darkstar” aircraft is located, and then, of course, he puts the aircraft through its paces, pushing the speed past Mach 10.
The only thing prettier than the Darkstar zipping across the dark sky was Jennifer Connelly’s character Penny, but that is a story for another time.
The scene captures the very essence of hypersonic flight. What makes it even more realistic is the Darkstar itself. This aircraft wasn’t some cool AI-generated hypersonic video (although the flying sequence was).
No, the Darkstar was made with the cooperation of Lockheed-Martin’s Skunk Works, who helped the producers construct what a real hypersonic aircraft would look like.
Of course, everyone wants to know now: Can the SR-72 Darkstar, or Son of Blackbird (SOB), actually go Mach 10?
Meet The SR-72 Darkstar:
The SR-72 is the replacement of the SR-71 Blackbird; however, unlike Cruise’s aircraft, this unmanned SR-72 will focus on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. The jet will feature a turbine-based cycle propulsion system, combining a turbofan and scramjet for efficient hypersonic travel.
The SR-71 Blackbird was well ahead of its time. It could streak across the sky at Mach 3.2 (some claim even faster) and outrun enemy missiles. Over 4,000 missiles were fired at it during its operational life, but none ever hit it. Now, its namesake will be flying even faster.
“We partnered with the Top Gun: Maverick film’s creative team to collaborate on bringing our expertise in hypersonic capabilities and aircraft design to the big screen,” Lockheed Martin’s website says, leaving it up to the readers if any of the features are real.
“With the Skunk Works’ expertise in developing the fastest known aircraft combined with a passion and energy for defining the future of aerospace, Darkstar’s capabilities could be more than mere fiction. They could be reality…”
Talk about the ultimate tease…
The Darkstar is scheduled to fly sometime in 2025. The SR-72 could be a launch platform for hypersonic strike weapons, integrating the High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW) currently under development. This groundbreaking project draws upon the operational legacy of the SR-71, enhancing speed and survivability with a fundamentally different propulsion system.
The program’s potential in-service date is supposed to be by 2030, when the Air Force plans to have its hypersonics online. However, this timeline will ultimately depend on the Skunk Works overcoming the propulsion, thermal management, and materials challenges inherent to sustained hypersonic flight.
“I Feel The Need,… The Need For Speed”:
A Top Gun quote seems appropriate here. The SR-72 program is focused on developing a fully reusable turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) hypersonic propulsion system.
This propulsion system is a kind of air-breathing jet engine that combines the turbofan engines used in many modern tactical aircraft with a supersonic combustion ramjet (also known as a scramjet) that is capable of achieving and sustaining speeds above Mach 5 and even potentially exceeding Mach 10.
Limited information exists surrounding Darkstar’s potential capabilities. Currently, no payload exists that could be deployed at Mach 6.0 speeds; however, Lockheed may already be spearheading this new capability.
Hate To Burst Your Bubble…But?
The SR-72 is expected to be a hypersonic aircraft with speeds up to Mach 5 (approximately 4,000 mph), perhaps Mach 6, but not Mach 10. But zipping along at Mach 5 is nothing to sneeze at.
Lockheed’s program manager, Brad Leland, noted, “Hypersonic aircraft, coupled with hypersonic missiles, could penetrate denied airspace and strike at nearly any location across a continent in less than an hour.”
SR-72 Image: Creative Commons.
Image: Creative Commons.
Image of an SR-71. Image: Creative Commons.
He added, “Speed is the next aviation advancement to counter emerging threats in the next several decades. The technology would be a game-changer in theater, similar to how stealth is changing the battlespace today.”
Reaching Mach 10 (or even hypersonic speeds of Mach 5 +) poses significant challenges, including extreme heat, fluid dynamics, and structural integrity issues. The Darkstar in the movie exaggerated the capabilities of hypersonic aircraft for dramatic effect.
About the Author:
Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in many military publications
