Why haven't we created something faster than the SR71?

Question

its a 40 year old and still the fastest? and the technology has advance a lot as far as computers, transistors, has come very far from 40 years, is there anything faster out there?

Answer 1

Who says we haven't... The SR 71 flew for several years before the Air Force acknowledged it even existed, let alone how fast it was.

Answer 2

There's little call for it. There are a lot of problems to be solved before something like that has anything better than extremely limited usefulness.

The SR71 couldn't linger very long, so it was only useful for reconnaissance if people knew what they were looking for. It was expensive, somewhat dangerous, and environmentally un-friendly to run. Most of what it did can be done by satellites.

The only advantage the SR71 absolutely had over a satellite is the fact that an adversary didn't know for sure where or when it would appear. Once a satellite is detected, it will be pretty predictable.

(This is why the U2 is still used, BTW)

The need just isn't that huge. Not as big as the problem, anyway.

For any other use...for actual transportation...there are huge problems to overcome to make flight that fast economical.

And yes, NASA and the US Military (and possibly other militaries) are working on those problems...because even if it isn't important NOW, at some time in the future it could be.

Answer 3

The Lockheed SR-71 retains the OFFICIAL record for the fastest and highest manned, air breathing aircraft at mach 3.2+ and 85,000 feet (or, in the words of a former SR-71 pilot my dad once spoke with, "that's what they'll tell you"). However, other aircraft have gone higher and faster, just not while simultaneously carrying people and breathing air.

Kelly Johnson's magnificent recon jet, the SR-71, never held the record for the highest and fastest manned aircraft; that title belonged to the North American X-15 rocket plane. On March 2, 1961 - over a year before the SR-71's predecessor, the A-12 OXCART, first flew - the X-15 clocked a speed of mach 4.43. By the end of that year, It had gone over mach 6 and was probing the upper reaches of the stratosphere. By the end of it's career, the X-15 had hit mach 6.70 and 67.0 miles (354,000 ft, or 108 km) - meeting the current international definition of spaceflight. Yet, the first ever manned hypersonic aircraft used rocket motors, leaving the title of fastest air-breather open for the SR-71 to take.

Other rocket-propelled vehicles have gone faster and higher; Sputnik 1 had reached orbital velocity in the previous decade, prompting Kennedy to request we put someone on the moon (Niel Armstrong, by the way, was an X-15 pilot). The Apollo spacecraft passed Earth's exit velocity. One impressive example of speed and acceleration is the Sprint anti ballistic missile, which could launch from a silo and reach mach 10 within 5 seconds. The fastest spaceplane is the Space Shuttle Orbiter, which reenters the atmosphere at around mach 25.

Besides the air-breathing/ rocket distinction, there is also the distinction of being manned. The SR-71 has been beaten on this count as well. The scramjet-powered X-43A shattered the SR-71's speed record for air-breathing jets in 2004, clocking mach 9.6 at around 100,000 ft. Ramjet propelled missiles, such as the CIM-10 Bomarc, have flown at mach 4+ speeds (The SR-71's engines are effectively turbojet-assisted ramjets).

So, there are (or have been) plenty of aircraft faster than the SR-71. the SR-71 really just holds the official record on a technicality, because it set its record while carrying people and breathing air. The scramjet is arguably the biggest advance in supersonic propulsion since the SR-71 entered service, and may well produce some fancy jets in the future. But now high-speed recon jets and interceptors are effectively obsolete with the advent of satellites and ICBMs, and supersonic transportation has fallen by the wayside with the grounding of the Concorde. Sometimes, you have to ask yourself: "Is there a market for it?"

Answer 4

The main reason we don't have a faster aircraft (assuming we don't have one) is that the need for such an aircraft is extremely limited.

The SR-71/YF-12 was developed as a reconaissance/intercepter project in the 1960's, but was not practical as an interceptor. Operationally it was used as a high-speed, long-range spy plane. It was useful, but was extremely expensive, difficult to support and demanding on crews.

It is entirely possible a hypersonic vehicle that combines characteristics of both an aircraft and a spacecraft may be in development or already being tested, and this is the most likely avenue for this technology in the future.

Answer 5

My first guess is that there are already aircraft that can best the SR71's records. I would also guess that these aircraft are top secret, and that we won't be learning of their existence for a while.

If that's not the case, it's because of physical limitations of the materials used to build aircraft, and of our atmosphere.

Answer 6

its not really needed. sure its great to have the record but why fly 2000mph when you are only making short reconnaissance flights. the blackbird can go roughly 3000 mi. a 747 can go almost 9000mi. so there is no reason to unless you are in combat. the new f-22 raptor can go mach 2.4 and a has a little less range than the blackbird. and that is a combat aircraft

Answer 7

Necessity is the mother of invention.

With all of the other surveillance capabilities we have, it is possible that we don't need a faster plane at this time.

Answer 8

one word, satellites, why should the government spend billions on developing an aircraft when they already can see what they want, heck the average person can even do it try mapquest

Answer 9

there is probably a faster plane but it is most likely top secret.

Answer 10

there is something called "aurora" out there which should be as fast as mach 12 and more, but, of course, secret.....