Aurora, also known as SR-91 Aurora aircraft is the fastest hypersonic jet you’ve probably ever heard of – and it’s capable of unprecedented speeds.
Thought to be capable of Mach 5+, the fighter jet is a rumored reconnaissance aircraft for the US military.
The story is that it was created in the 1980s or 1990s by Lockheed’s Skunk Works, now the Lockheed Advanced Development Company.
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That’s the same company who recently developed NASA’s X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft.
It was said to be taking the place of SR-71 Blackbird, which was aging and costly.
But does the SR-91 Aurora, capable of Mach 6 performance actually exist?
Evidence includes footage of a triangular plane over the North Sea in August 1989 by oil-exploration engineer, Chris Gibson.
The famous ‘sky quakes’ heard over Los Angeles since the early 1990s are also thought to point to its activity.
It’s thought the SR-91 Aurora aircraft was bound for the secret Groom Lake in Area 51.
However, like Area 51, its existence has been routinely denied by US officials.
While its name nor existence have ever been revealed, it first came to light via a censor’s slip in 1985.
The hypersonic jet appeared below the SR-71 Blackbird and U-2 in a Pentagon budget request.
Even if that were the hypersonic jet’s original name, it would have been changed following such a major compromise.
‘Black programs’ or Special Access Programs (SAPs) such as these are highly secretive.
On 6 March 1990, one of the United States Air Force’s (USAF) Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy planes shattered the official air speed record from Los Angeles to Washington Dulles Airport.
The SR-71 was retired to save the $200-$300 million a year it cost to operate the fleet.
Reporters were told the plane had been made redundant by sophisticated satellites – like this one that was used to track the climate and is now due to return to earth after 30 years in orbit.
A British Ministry of Defence report released in May 2006 refers to USAF priority plans to produce a Mach 4-6 highly supersonic vehicle, per Defense Aviation.
But there’s no conclusive evidence for this.
It’s thought the Aurora project may have been cancelled due to a shift from spy-planes to high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles and reconnaissance satellites.
These do the same, but eliminate the risk of casualties.
Some of the images for this article were created using AI.
