but honestly, how fast does a spyplane really need to be? are we overdoing it with the almost mach 10 speeds?

I don't think that their only purpose for testing these devices at such high speeds is using them for spying, they could also be used for space travel

Amazing shots of the SR-71 BlackBird

X-15






X-43

Originally Posted by behemoth79

it was when it first came out. the X series is taking over now.

hasnt the SR-71 been retired?

lol the man that married my parents flew a sr 71 he says that they have been retired for a while. man they had to where space suits to fly those things, cool.

Originally Posted by behemoth79

but honestly, how fast does a spyplane really need to be? are we overdoing it with the almost mach 10 speeds?

Fast enough to out run SA Missiles. I remember hearing about the SR-71 flying over the Soviet Union and they had a couple of missiles on their tail...they just threw the throttle a bit more forward and out ran them.

I would still like to research that incident (and the many others that undoubtedly occured). I'm curious to see how Soviet SA Missiles faired against the Blackbird. From my reference material on the Soviet Army (published circa 1981), the SA-2, SA-10, and SA-11 have the written stats to contend with the SR-71, though the SA-2 is fairly outdated in terms with the SR-71 (probably highly susceptible to counter-measures and evasive maneuvers) and the SA-11 would have to catch the SR-71 quickly since it is just under the max speed. SA-10 seems the likely choice to attack the SR-71, with a Mach 6 speed, 30km (18+ miles) ceiling, and a very high acceleration, though I am not sure if the Soviet Union had a large defense of these (perhaps just stuck with older SA models).

However, I do believe the spyplane has lost most of its use, now that it is in competition with the spy satellites.