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SR-72B Son of Blackbird

9,180 Simplemike  5.3 years ago
932 downloads
Auto Credit Based on Simplemike's SR-72 Son of Blackbird

About:

The SR-71 Blackbird retired in 1998,[2] leaving what was considered a coverage gap between surveillance satellites, manned aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike missions. With the growth of anti-satellite weapons, anti-access/area denial tactics, and counter-stealth technologies, a high-speed aircraft could penetrate protected airspace and observe or strike a target before enemies could detect or intercept it. The proposed reliance on extremely high speed to penetrate defended airspace is considered a significant conceptual departure from the emphasis on stealth in fifth-generation jet fighter programs and projected drone developments.[3]

There were unconfirmed reports about the SR-72 dating back to 2007, when various sources disclosed that Lockheed Martin was developing an airplane able to fly six times the speed of sound or Mach 6 (4,000 mph; 6,400 km/h; 3,500 kn) for the United States Air Force.[4][5] Lockheed Martin Skunk Works' development work on the SR-72 was first published by Aviation Week & Space Technology on 1 November 2013.[1][2] Public attention to the news was large enough to overwhelm the Aviation Week servers.[6]

To attain its design speeds, Lockheed Martin has been collaborating with Aerojet Rocketdyne since 2006 on an appropriate engine. The company is developing the system from the scramjet-powered HTV-3X, which was canceled in 2008. The SR-72 is envisioned with an air-breathing hypersonic propulsion system that has the ability to accelerate from standstill to Mach 6 using the same engine, making it about twice as fast as the SR-71.[1] The challenge is to design an engine to encompass the flight regimes of subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic speeds. Using turbine compression, turbojet engines can work at zero speed and usually perform best up to Mach 2.2.[7] Ramjets, using aerodynamic compression with subsonic combustion, perform poorly under Mach 0.5 and are most efficient around Mach 3, being able to go up to around Mach 6. The SR-71's specially designed engines converted to low-speed ramjets by redirecting the airflow around the core and into the afterburner for speeds greater than Mach 2.5. Finally, scramjets with supersonic combustion cover the range of high supersonic to hypersonic speeds. The SR-72 is to use a turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) system to use a turbine engine at low speeds and a scramjet engine at high speeds.[2] The turbine and ramjet engines share common inlet and nozzle, with different airflow paths in between.[8]

At speeds of Mach 5 and above, aerodynamic heating becomes hot enough to melt conventional metallic airframes, so engineers are looking to composites such as high-performance carbon, ceramic, and metal mixes, for fabrication of critical components. Such composites have been commonly used in intercontinental ballistic missiles and the retired US Space Shuttle. - Wikipedia

Armament:
4 hypersonic cruise missles

Controls:
Standard flight controls
AG8: toggle Ramjet
AG1:(when AG8 is deactivated) open weapons bays
*cruise missles only active when ramjet is toggled off

This model will comfortably cruise at 90k ft at 3500mph. I made some minor changes to the flight characteristics, specifically several RCN nozzles to help maintain control post stall. i recommend leaving the ramjets off until over 40k ft. takeoff and landings should be around 300mph

General Characteristics

  • Predecessor SR-72 Son of Blackbird
  • Created On Android
  • Wingspan 48.0ft (14.6m)
  • Length 94.3ft (28.8m)
  • Height 16.5ft (5.0m)
  • Empty Weight 52,556lbs (23,839kg)
  • Loaded Weight 95,636lbs (43,380kg)

Performance

  • Power/Weight Ratio 3.665
  • Wing Loading 29.0lbs/ft2 (141.7kg/m2)
  • Wing Area 3,295.1ft2 (306.1m2)
  • Drag Points 6428

Parts

  • Number of Parts 183
  • Control Surfaces 0
  • Performance Cost 1,326
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    Interesting, im glad the US is still proactive in air superiority. I hope they can fix the fuel leakage issue & heat. Looking fwd to reading stories like the sr71 had like mockingly asking for speed checks.

    +1 5.3 years ago
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    9,180 Simplemike

    @mmdben thanks!

    5.3 years ago
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    @Simplemike no problem, great build!

    +1 5.3 years ago
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    9,180 Simplemike

    @aircroftdesigin @sol3908 @lightsaber70 thank you all!

    5.3 years ago
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    9,180 Simplemike

    @feanor thanks!

    +1 5.3 years ago
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    9,180 Simplemike

    @chancey21 thanks!

    +1 5.3 years ago