What if they used the B-2 platform as a night spyplane? They could use thermal imaging or synthetic-aperture radar, although I guess the radar would compromise the stealth aspect.
The Big Bird was an LEO satellite. 
Not a problem. I’m sure we can* land *a plane on a treadmill.
That’s back when the Russians had a manned spy satellite complete with a cannon to shoot at any attacking satellites.
All very expensive when you consider how easy it would be to launch a micro unit from SO people on the ground or stealth UAV from a border country. I would expect any replacement for the SR-71 to be a multi-stage unit launched into sub-orbit as a way to get around known satellite trajectories.
I really don’t see the need for such an aircraft given the cost and return on investment. The Russians spent a huge amount of money on a manned satellite and got less from it than if they had just flown around the US in a private plane.
Of course, people have photographed some strange contrails so who knows.
Just posting to “me too” the OP. I’ve always wondered about this Aurora.
Yeah my bad , I should have remembered 
Declan
Considering how long the F-117 was operational before finally being revealed, I suspect that the military, at least, is using more and more effective means to keep classified projects out of the public eye.
Having said that, I suspect that there is very likely some sort of high-speed reconnaissance manned or drone aircraft. As has been said before, satellites are governed by the laws of physics and people on the ground can easily predict when and where they will be overhead and act accordingly.
Most of the publicly-acknowledged spy planes (drone and manned) aren’t necessarily stealthy enough to prevent a shoot-down if they fly overhead, nor are they fast enough to outrun missiles, as the SR-71 was. I suspect the reason the SR-71 was retired was because either missile technology had improved so they could catch the SR or that detection technology had improved so you could lead the target by enough to actually hit it. A fast A/C like the SR can’t “jink” effectively at 2100 (or therabouts) knots (it can’t turn on a dime). All a missile has to do is arrive at the point the SR is headed when the SR gets there and be sufficiently maneuverable to compensate for any “jinking” the SR can do (not much).
If America does have a superduper spyplane, it’s a tossup whether it would be manned or unmanned, but it would be extremely stealthy and either quite maneuverable or extremely fast and might, even today, be completely secret.
I used to think the SR-71 was pretty untouchable but supposedly Swedish pilots flying the Viggen would practice trying to target lock the SR-71 and succeeded on a few occasions at least. I read (I forget where) the simulations they ran on the ground suggested their missiles would be capable of intercepting the SR-71 (of course they never fired on it). IIRC this was not an easy intercept by any means and really pushed the Viggen to its limits but it was possible.
I would like to think the US has some spy plane capability left as satellites just are not sufficient in many cases. Not sure if UAV’s can really fill the role yet if penetrating far flung, well defended air space.
Yes, it could…sorta. The U.S. did not admit we have the F-117 until after the invasion of Panama in 1989. There were rumors in certain circles about the airplane, including even some video games featuring a stealth fighter loosely modeled on the F-117, but there was no official confirmation until after Operation Just Cause.
The landing speed was 155 mph with a drag chute and The SR-71 used a 3 tire main gear with special tires. It wasn’t a huge problem.
There was one crash from blown tires during a maximum takeoff weight test and another crash from blown tires during an anti-skid test. There was also a crash due to a brake assembly failure that tore into the fuel cells.
Here is a good site listing all 20 crashes of the A12/M12/YF12/SR71 series. There’s a link in there showing a video of the D21 drone crashing into an M12.
FYI, there’s a YF12A, an SR-71 and a D-21 drone at the AF museum in Dayton.
Given all the subsonic stealth drones that litter the museums I imagine there’s a stealth drone designed for rapid deployment. If I were tossing out ideas to develop I would suggest a rocket launched drone designed to sub-orbit and release a stealth drone over a target. It would be faster than anything launched off a runway and require less technology to build something large enough to navigate half way around the world at high mach speeds.
Command and control issues, Magiver. Drones are still controlled from places we have a notational presence in, not too far away. This theoretical drone you’re talking about would have to be remotely controlled in places we don’t actually have a communications setup or a convenient satellite.
That said, not impossible, but that would still count as an Aurora-type project. Not sure if it’d be fast enough, there’s still the question of getting that beast out of harm’s way and into a recovery zone at subsonic speeds. Plus the fact is, that rocket drone would make a reasonable racket. The best defense against being spotted is not stealth: it’s having nobody know you were there to start with. The second best is having nobody be able to reach you in time, which is what the Blackbird and U-2 did. Being just ‘really unlikely to be seen, but touchable’ is a distant third. Ask Gary Powers.
You’ll have to wait until the grim future when there is only war.
I would think such a rocket launch would be picked up by the early-warning systems of countries like Russia and China, and possibly mistaken for an ICBM.
The Pentagon always hedges its bets. I vote yes (though possibly unmanned).
Hard to say. As hobbyists have gotten better at finding clues to secret government programs, the government has gotten better at hiding them.
Consider the alleys that have been looked into (and found to be dead ends):
-Public statements of where hot shot pilots are stationed.
-Odd, unexplained purchases of raw materials by aerospace companies.
-Unexplained profits by aerospace companies.
-Unexplained accidents and deaths of aircrew.
None of these have turned up solid proof. Still if the Air Force is not up to something sneaky, I want a partial refund of my income taxes.
So what could the USAF be cooking up? Maybe:
-Drones and cruise missiles with advanced capacities. Odd drones sprung up so well with very little “black” involvement.
-Fighter-bombers (a la the F-117)
-Bombers (the B-2)
-Recon (to replace the SR-71)
-Advanced transports and tankers
-new ground-support systems (like the A-10)
-Electronic and other systems that are very important but boring.
Or something else so exciting and interesting we cannot even imagine it.
Yeah, it was named the F-19 Stealth Fighter in the popular media at the time. I remember this very well, being way into miltary aircraft in 7th and 8th grade in the late 80s. Testors sold a model of the artist renditions of this aircraft and Microprose had a game for the Commodore 64 and other platforms based around the “F-19.”
Around the same time, Testors also produced a model with a hypothetical Soviet design for a stealth fighter, called the Mig-37B Ferret, whose angular nature more closely resembled the real F-117 stealth fighter than the original, very smooth and curved assumptions for the F-19 stealth design.
I also remember the Aurora (hypersonic) project being discussed at the same time (1988/89) and appearing either in Popular Science or perhaps Popular Mechanics.
For all the unfounded speculation that we must have some super-secret, ultra-high speed replacement for the SR-71, DARPA is still working on rather basic hypersonic aircraft. This program began in 2003, long after Aurora was first speculated about.
If the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is just now trying to build a Mach 6 aircraft the size of a small fighter, with no weapons or sensors or anything, the speculation that we already have something faster than the SR-71 seems highly… illogical.
That’s not true at all. If we define Aurora as a Mach 6+ aircraft, then yes, but there’s no reason Lockheed (or whoever) couldn’t have built a Mach 3.5-5.5 aircraft.
Heh. I had that game for the Commodore 64. Interestingly enough, I was also…involved…with the real airplane at about the same time, prior to Operation Just Cause. It was pretty frakkin amazing to actually see the thing after playing the game and reading all of the other speculation out there. It isn’t all that stealthy…I achieved radar lock on it from the backseat of an F-4D–but I knew where to look, and the F-117 we were using had “enhancers” on it to make it easier to track on radar.