SR-91 Aurora: Mach 5 Hypersonic Spy Plane or Myth?
By
Peter Suciu
In the 1980s an idea was conceived by military planners to develop a hypersonic spy plane that could reach Mach 5+, making it truly the fastest manned aircraft ever to fly. While there have been reported sightings of the prototypes, the SR-91 Aurora, if it even existed, likely never made it much best the concept stage.
The goal of the project was to develop a replacement for the aging and expensive to maintain a fleet of SR-71 Blackbirds, which cost around $200 – $300 million a year to operate. Technically known as a Special Access Program (SAP) – a “black program†that isn’t generally for public knowledge – little has been released about the SR-91. Even the name “Aurora†was only disclosed when censors failed to catch a reference to it a 1985 budget request that also discussed the state of the SR-71 and U-2 programs.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/01/sr-91-aurora-mach-5-hypersonic-spy-plane-or-myth/
