Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: mclean@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Brent D McLean)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: SR-71
Message-ID: <13878@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 12 Feb 90 04:26:06 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
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From: mclean@en.ecn.purdue.edu (Brent D McLean)
> From: christ@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Chris Thompson)
>
> I see in Saturday's paper that the Air Force has decided to ground the SR-71
> fleet.  The rationale is that it costs too much ($200-$300 million/year for
> the fleet) and that the KH-12 satellites being sent up now will replace the
> planes admirably.  Any thoughts?  
>
> Chris

I believe the Air Force has a successor to the SR-71 and the cost rationale
is just a cover up for this successor.  Apparently, this aircraft is code
named Project Aurora.  This aircraft is capable of at least mach 5 flight at
over 100,000 ft and has already been flown, although I don't know how much
farther the program has gone from that.  This knowledge is not a very well
kept secret as Av Week had a blurb about it and Popular Science did a whole
article on the plane.  Of course, in these days of budget cuts the Aurora
could get cut too.

						
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*  Brent D. McLean (mclean@gn.ecn.purdue.edu)		Purdue University   *
*  Aerospace Engineering				W. Lafayette, IN    *
*    - 1.35 yrs and counting 					             *
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*   'I can just barely make it out.  It's in Russian.  It says 'This face   *
*    towards enem...'"                                                       *
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