About

Wormholes and Swords is a blog dedicated to Science Fiction and Fantasy, with a bit of real world technical stuff thrown in from time to time. It is managed by T.D. Wilson, author of the Science Fiction book series, The Epherium Chronicles.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

The Next Generation of Speed



I was always fascinated about reading the stories of the SR-71 Blackbird.  It was THE coolest aircraft to talk about.  Made from titanium alloy plates, it leaked and really didn't look like a plane.  When it got to speed, the fuselage sealed up and it could outrun anything in the air. including its armaments.  It wasn't viable as a fighter, so the US Air Force made it a spy plane.

I saw one of the original test planes, the YF-12A at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.  It was really cool and they now have a decommissioned SR-71 in the Cold War exhibit.  If you ever get a chance, be sure to stop by and look at all the displays, including that one.



Now, the next generation of high speed aircraft is coming.  The SR-72 which is a concept aircraft from Lockheed Martin.  Here is a link to their information.  It uses turbine based combined propulsion.  It easier terms, its a turbine jet engine combined with a ramjet.  With the new ramjet that was tested on the HTV-2 hypersonic test vehicle, this new aircraft could go from near standstill to MACH 6 quite quickly.  Just hope the pilot can take it.

Anyway, here is the information:

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