The SR-72 is a new hypersonic demonstrator aircraft to be developed by Lockheed Martin under its Skunk Works or Advanced Development Programs, to meet the requirements of the United States Air Force (USAF).
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The high-speed SR-72 plane will be designed and built as a successor to Lockheed Martin’s SR-71 Blackbird, which retired from the USAF’s service in 1998.
The development of the SR-72 hypersonic aircraft in demonstrator form is expected to commence in 2018. It will be an optionally piloted flight research vehicle (FRV) with a length of approximately 60ft. It will be equipped with a single, full-scale engine to manoeuvre for several minutes at a speed of Mach 6.
The SR-72 aircraft will have the capability to perform high speed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike operations. The first flight of the SR-72 demonstrator is anticipated in 2023, while the full scale aircraft is expected to enter into service by 2030.
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Background details of SR-72 aircraft development
Lockheed Martin has made an attempt on various successors to the SR-71 since 1998, but could not succeed in developing the high speed aircraft.
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works developed the rocket-launched Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) aircraft as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Falcon research and development project.
The HTV-2 project was developed for the collection of data on aerodynamics, aerothermal effects, and guidance, navigation and control. The HTV-2 completed its maiden flight in April 2010 and the second flight in August 2011. The vehicle attained a maximum speed of Mach 20 (13,000mph). The experience and substantial data gained from the HTV-2 is utilised to devise better design for the SR-72.
SR-72 aircraft features
The SR-72 aircraft will be a hypersonic strategic reconnaissance aircraft incorporating state-of-the art hypersonic technology. It will be sized for similar missions and range offered by the SR-71 aircraft.
The new aircraft is expected to strike targets anywhere across a continent in less than an hour when equipped with hypersonic missiles such as Lockheed Martin’s High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW). The high-speed of the aircraft ensures penetration into protected airspace.
The SR-72 will be optionally equipped to fight in combat operations. The aircraft development is supported by the long-term hypersonic road map of the USAF.
Engine details of the Lockheed Martin hypersonic demonstrator
The SR-72 unmanned aircraft will be powered by two engines. The aircraft will receive thrust from the turbine engine until it reaches a speed of Mach 3, while the dual-mode ramjet will deliver power for the flight at hypersonic speeds. The aircraft will use a single inlet nozzle for both the turbine engine and ramjet for reducing the drag.
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works is collaborating with Aerojet Rocketdyne on the turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system to enable the aircraft to achieve a cruise speed of Mach 6, twice the speed of the SR-71 aircraft.
The subscale ground tests of the TBCC system were performed by integrating a small off-the-shelf turbine engine with a dual mode ramjet / scramjet integrating an axisymmetric inlet and a nozzle.
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