Last night I was talking with someone familiar with our country’s premier spy plane, the legendary SR-71 Blackbird. He sent me a link to this exciting account of a mission over Libya in 1986.
Intelligence agencies hate to give up capabilities. The rule in intelligence is that no system is ever retired unless something has taken its place. There is no known aircraft that can match the Blackbird’s performance. The “sled,” as it was known to its pilots, has been retired. Just imagine what we must have now.
As I wrote this it occurred to me that we may still not have a plane to match the Blackbird’s performance. The Blackbird needed to be fast because it was anything but invisible: its infrared signature lit the skies and its sonic boom was a sure giveaway. The Blackbird survived because it simply outran the more than 4,000 missiles fired at it.
Perhaps the Blackbird’s replacement is a more modest performer, only stealthier.
Bonus: check out this cool video tribute to the magic of the SR-71.