SR-72 'Son of Blackbird' is the Mach 6 plane that could reshape aviation in the United States

Lockheed Martin’s SR-72 ‘Son of Blackbird’ could be a Mach 6 successor to its legendary sibling.

It might just reshape aviation in the United States as we know it.

The project has been rumored since as far back as 2007.

But it now appears that an SR-71 successor could finally be on its way.

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Could there finally be a ‘Son of Blackbird’ coming?

The Lockheed Martin SR-71, known as the Blackbird, is arguably the most iconic military aircraft ever made.

It was first retired by the US military in January 1990.

But NASA continued to operate the aircraft all the way until 1999.

Since then, rumors have swirled about a hypersonic successor.

And it now appears that the ‘Son of Blackbird’ could finally be on its way.

This story actually takes us all the way back to 2007.

This was when reports first surfaced that Lockheed Martin’s legendary Skunk Works division was considering a ‘Son of Blackbird’.

Since then, the so-called SR-72 Darkstar has been heavily rumored to be in development.

But is there any truth to the rumors?

Well, it turns out that there might actually be some truth to it all.

For one thing, Lockheed Martin has never publicly denied the rumors.

In fact, the defense firm has even broadly acknowledged the existence of the project.

Lockheed executives have occasionally referenced the SR-72 project by name.

This suggests that the ‘Son of Blackbird’ project at least exists in some form.

The United States Air Force, however, has not confirmed the authorization of any sort of prototype.

A formal statement would have been made by the military specifying the needs for an aircraft that meets certain criteria.

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SR-72 technology actually exists

The lack of a statement puts a bit of a dampener on the possibility.

But there is another intriguing element to all of this.

The research to develop the SR-72 is currently underway and has already fed into America’s hypersonic missile programs.

Several breakthroughs have already been made in this field, including scramjet propulsion, materials that can withstand high temperature,s and the creation of new guidance systems that can survive Mach 5+ environments.

But what does this all mean?

These developments suggest that the SR-72 ‘Son of Blackbird’ might not be that far away.

Some have suggested that such a program could be active as soon as the 2030s.

But nobody really knows how advanced – or how far behind – an SR-72 project might be.

Either way, it is incredibly exciting to see.

One thing we can say for sure is that a future ‘Son of Blackbird’ might change the aviation industry forever.