http://www.aviationweek.com/Article....632731.xml&p=1
Mach 6 with strike capability:
"Lockheed Martin?s Skunk Works has revealed exclusively to AW&ST details of long-running plans for what it describes as an affordable hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike platform that could enter development in demonstrator form as soon as 2018. Dubbed the SR-72, the twin-engine aircraft is designed for a Mach 6 cruise, around twice the speed of its forebear, and will have the optional capability to strike targets."
And of course, no pilots:
"The outline plan for the operational vehicle, the SR-72, is a twin-engine unmanned aircraft over 100 ft. long (see artist?s concept on page 20). ?It will be about the size of the SR-71 and have the same range, but have twice the speed,? he adds. The FRV would start in 2018 and fly in 2023. ?We would be ready to launch the SR-72 shortly after and could be in service by 2030.?
Interesting read on hypersonic flight with the integration of turbines and scramjets:
"Just as importantly, the Skunk Works design team developed a methodology for integrating a working, practical turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system. ?Before that, it was all cartoons,? Leland says. ?We actually developed a way of transforming it from a turbojet to a ramjet and back. We did a lot of tests to prove it out, including the first mode-transition demonstration.? The Skunk Works conducted subscale ground tests of the TBCC under the Facet program, which combined a small high-Mach turbojet with a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet, and the two sharing an axisymmetric inlet and nozzle."
Mach 6 with strike capability:
"Lockheed Martin?s Skunk Works has revealed exclusively to AW&ST details of long-running plans for what it describes as an affordable hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike platform that could enter development in demonstrator form as soon as 2018. Dubbed the SR-72, the twin-engine aircraft is designed for a Mach 6 cruise, around twice the speed of its forebear, and will have the optional capability to strike targets."
And of course, no pilots:
"The outline plan for the operational vehicle, the SR-72, is a twin-engine unmanned aircraft over 100 ft. long (see artist?s concept on page 20). ?It will be about the size of the SR-71 and have the same range, but have twice the speed,? he adds. The FRV would start in 2018 and fly in 2023. ?We would be ready to launch the SR-72 shortly after and could be in service by 2030.?
Interesting read on hypersonic flight with the integration of turbines and scramjets:
"Just as importantly, the Skunk Works design team developed a methodology for integrating a working, practical turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system. ?Before that, it was all cartoons,? Leland says. ?We actually developed a way of transforming it from a turbojet to a ramjet and back. We did a lot of tests to prove it out, including the first mode-transition demonstration.? The Skunk Works conducted subscale ground tests of the TBCC under the Facet program, which combined a small high-Mach turbojet with a dual-mode ramjet/scramjet, and the two sharing an axisymmetric inlet and nozzle."