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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: New USAF Spy plane?
Message-ID: <1990Jun4.193345.3245@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 4 Jun 90 19:33:45 GMT
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)

>From: tmarshall01@cc.cut.oz.au
>I was wondering if someone could tell me what SR stands for
>(as in SR-71. )

Originally, it was RS, standing for Reconnaissance and Strike, with Strike
meaning nuclear.  Yes, the RS-71 could carry a bomb, although this ability
has never been used.  One of the attempts to save the B-70 program renamed
it RS-70, more or less as a public-relations trick although there were
some changes in equipment and mission, and so the USAF version of its
highly-secret smaller counterpart naturally got RS-71.  LBJ botched the
designation when he announced the project, though, and this was fixed up
retroactively by deciding that SR stood for Strategic Reconnaissance.
(Would *you* want to argue with LBJ?)

>	Also , if the SR-71 has been put out of service, what
>aircraft is replacing it. The F-117? I don't think so. Does
>this mean the U.S. has a new Secret Spy plane, or do they feel
>it is unnesecary to have one...

The true answer to this is almost certainly classified.  The official
answer is that satellites have made the SR-71 unnecessary.  A pragmatic
answer is that the USAF had to pay for the SR-71 but made very little
use of the data -- the customers were elsewhere in Washington -- and it
got tired of this eventually.  (Attempts to get the SR-71s transferred to
the joint-intelligence budget that pays for things like the satellites
didn't succeed.)  A cynical answer is that USAF reconnaissance planning
is in near-total disarray and so nobody was able to cite a specific,
documented need for the SR-71 when USAF bean-counters came hunting for
weak spots.

Also, there are a number of reports which suggest the existence of a
new hypersonic spyplane, perhaps unmanned.  If it exists, it is very
highly secret.  The F-117 is definitely not an SR-71 replacement.

                                    Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu