Could a Mach 5 SR-72 Spy Plane Already Be in the Sky?
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By Caleb Larson
April 09, 2020
If anything about the SR-71 program can be gleaned, it is that the existence of the SR-72 will likely be unacknowledged for some time after it is operational. For all we know, the SR-72 could already be in the air.
In the late 1990s, the SR-71 Blackbird — the world’s fastest, highest-flying plane ever — was retired. Perhaps preemptively.
Slow Satellites
Although satellite reconnaissance has largely overtaken the role of spy planes, they are not always a perfect solution, particularly when intelligence information is needed very quickly. Satellites can take up to 24 hours to get into the correct place in their orbit, which is considerably slower than the SR-71 Blackbird, which can make LA to D.C. in just over an hour.
The other drawback to satellites is their potentially vulnerable to attack. Since they travel in relatively predictable orbits, countries hostile to a satellite can potentially track their flight path and bring them down in the event of war with the manufacturing country — a crucial vulnerability.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/04/09/could_a_mach_5_sr-72_spy_plane_already_be_in_the_sky_115187.html
