[kach22i]

PICTURES: Skunk Works reveals Mach 6.0 SR-72 concept
By: STEPHEN TRIMBLE WASHINGTON DC 05:27 1 Nov 2013
PICTURES: Skunk Works reveals Mach 6.0 SR-72 concept

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works is proposing to develop a new aircraft for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions that is capable of Mach 6.0 flight, or nearly twice the top speed of the long-retired SR-71 Blackbird...........................

The US Air Force has a hypersonics roadmap that envisions fielding a hypersonic strike weapon, to succeed the X-51 Waverider proof-of-concept demonstration. The roadmap envisions a follow-on programme calling for a reusable unmanned aircraft with M6.0 speeds................

A hypersonic missile “must be price competitive with a conventional subsonic missile, or it would only be a silver bullet,” he says. “We need something that will be mass-produced and flood the battlefield, and when you do that that’s really a game-changer.”